Katherine Wakeham

Corporate Disputes

• Acting for a group of shareholders in unfair prejudice proceedings brought by a minority shareholder following his exit from the business.

• Acting for a private equity portfolio company in investigating and pursuing insured warranty and indemnity (W&I) claims following two bolt-on acquisitions.

• Advising a BVI company in an unfair prejudice action following a dispute between founders of a property development venture.

• Acting for a co-founder and substantial minority shareholder in a software company in cross-border unfair prejudice claims against the directors following a sale of underlying business to a related party.

• Acted for a leading IFA aggregator in several related warranty & indemnity claims and other dispute resolution processes brought by and against the sellers of a business following a bolt-on acquisition.

• Acting for a UK property developer in a multimillion-pound dispute arising from the expulsion of a member from a limited liability partnership established to develop a £75 million UK residential development site.

• Acted in LCIA arbitration proceedings against a venture capital investor arising from a fund-raising round.

• Advising on both the buy and sell-side of numerous warranty and indemnity claims arising following corporate acquisitions, including insurance-backed W&I claims.

Commercial Disputes

• Acting for a food products manufacturer in breach of contract and fraudulent misrepresentation claims in the Commercial Court and on appeal. Our team was shortlisted for Commercial/Corporate Litigation Team of the Year at the Legal Week Commercial Litigation and Arbitration Awards for its work on this case.

• Acting for a sports data business in the defence of complex, multijurisdictional tort claims linked to alleged unlawful data collection activity.

• Advising a Middle Eastern public body on the successful, early strike out of a circa £50 million claim involving parallel proceedings in the UK and New York courts, arising out of a consulting agreement with a US-based firm.

• Acting for a European private equity fund in High Court litigation against a former introducer over the payment of fees relating to a fundraising.

• Advising an importation and distribution company in London High Court proceedings relating to repayment of finance, leading to a favourable settlement.

• Advising employers on a range of restrictive covenant breach cases arising out of employee team and individual moves, including involving misuse of confidential information.

• Advising a marketing agency in litigation and arbitration proceedings in connection with disputes over digital advertising space.

Contentious Financial Services and Investigations

• Assisting an FCA regulated business in dealing with over 300 claims arising out of the failure of one of its authorised representatives and the collapse of a well-known mini-bond issuer. This included designing and using innovative case management systems to cost-effectively handle the volume of cases.

• Acting as a skilled person in s.166 review under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, focusing on AML and sanctions compliance.

• Acting for a lender in claims arising out of the non-payment by a borrower under a multi-jurisdictional secured loan.

• Defending a business owner in High Court proceedings brought by the FCA alleging that the individual was knowingly concerned in the operation of unauthorised Collective Investment Schemes.

• Advising a provider of co-working facilities on claims exposure and the defence of mis-selling claims arising out of a series of financial promotions, and potential actions for negligent advice relating to the same events.

• Advising regulated firms on their regulatory disclosure obligations in connection with disputes.

• Working on large-scale bank investigations to review potential breaches of AML and compliance regulations, working with institutions across the Middle East, Europe and the UK.

Other Experience

• Undertook secondments to a multinational events business, and boutique financial institution, advising on contentious, commercial and regulatory matters.