Ernest Leung

Civil fraud and asset recovery

Recent and ongoing work includes:

• Steenbok & Anr v Formal Holdings & Ors: acted for the Defendants in this fraud claim advanced by the claimants as assignees of claims of the Steinhoff Group (a South African conglomerate which collapsed into liquidation). The claims related to payments totalling circa £90m made by the Steinhoff Group. The claim was listed for a 7-week trial in the commercial court and involved matters of Swiss, German and Austrian law (led by Alan Gourgey KC, Bobby Friedman, and Tara Taylor).
• Acting (as sole counsel) in Li Wai Chun Transportation Ltd v Chang Man Shan Yvette BL-2023-001154 where a former director of a Hong Kong company allegedly siphoned c. £3.2 million from the company:

(i) seeking mirror ancillary disclosure orders under section 25 of the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982 in support of English and Hong Kong Worldwide Freezing Injunctions
(ii) contempt proceedings for failure to comply with ancillary disclosure orders.

• Advising  the executor of a deceased prince in an alleged fraudulent transfer of a multi-million property and in obtaining urgent injunctive relief (led by Zoë Barton KC).
• Advising (ongoing) on a claim representing 19 individual claimants in a complex fraud claim concerning a carbon credit scam (led by Francesca Mitchell).
• Advising (as sole counsel) a charity in setting aside a disposition under section 423 of the Insolvency Act (transactions defrauding creditors).
• Say Chong Lim & Ors v Chee Kong Ong & Ors [2023] EWHC 321 (Ch): application for an injunction to appoint directors into the corporate structure to prevent the dissipation of assets prior to the execution of a judgment (during pupillage, with James Bailey KC and James Goodwin).
• Advising on whether a bank account subject to security interests amounts to ‘realisable property’ for the purposes of the Guernsey Proceeds of Crime regime (during pupillage, with Tom Robinson KC).

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Insolvency

Recent and ongoing work includes:

• Candy Ventures SARL v Tamara Miguel Ralph, a £21 million claim against the former director of a company in liquidation for failure to properly manage the company and for setting up a business in competition; Ernest was instructed as sole counsel for the Claimant in an application to extend the deadline for payment of security for costs.
• Advising on the terms of a settlement agreement for an estate and the impact of section 284 of the Insolvency Act 1986 in the context of Beddoe proceedings.
• Acting in Croda Europe Ltd in an application to lift the statutory moratorium partially in an administration (led by Alan Gourgey KC)
• Lehman Brothers Holdings Scottish LP 3 v Lehman Brothers Holdings Plc [2021] EWCA Civ 1523: in the Court of Appeal in the latest round of the ‘Waterfall’ litigation to establish the priority of creditors following the collapse of Lehman Brothers (during pupillage, with Lexa Hilliard KC and Tom Roscoe).
• VR Global v Broadsheet LLC (in liquidation) 2DS 2023/06: a two-day hearing in the Court of Appeal of the Isle of Man on the ranking of liquidation expenses, liquidator’s power to create security, and the legality of a subordination agreement (during pupillage, with Tom Robinson KC).
• Ernest appears regularly in the Companies Winding-up List.

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Trusts, probate and estates: contentious

During pupillage and in his private practice:

• Confidential Arbitration: acting for the claimant beneficiary in a multibillion-dollar commercial trusts dispute, concerning a contested distribution of the entirety of the trust assets to the settlor-beneficiary (led by John Martin KC, Paul CK Wee and James Goodwin).
• Acting for a beneficiary on a contentious blessing application concerning the proposed restructuring of a Manx Trust (led by Brian Green KC, Andrew Holden, and Anna Littler).
• Advising on the terms of a settlement agreement for an estate and the impact of section 284 of the Insolvency Act 1986 in the context of Beddoe proceedings.
• Acting for a high net-worth client in opposing a beneficiary’s challenge to the trustee’s exercise of powers of appointment involving allegations of inadequate deliberation and breach of duty by protectors of a Guernsey trust (during pupillage, with Brian Green KC and Tom Roscoe).

Ernest was also recently on secondment at the Private Wealth Dispute team in Charles Russell Speechlys. During which time he was involved in the following matters:

• Acting on a pro-bono basis as sole-counsel on behalf of a disabled minor in a claim for reasonable provision under the Inheritance Act and in parallel proceedings to revoke the grant of probate in favour of the deceased’s husband who allegedly procured the grant of probate by a Power of Attorney containing a forged Nigerian governmental stamp. The matter is listed for a 3-day trial and raises interesting issues on the interpretation of rule 31 of the NCtPR and will involve matters of Nigerian law.
• Advising a private wealth advisor to a prominent personal advisor to a Middle Eastern royal family on the duties owed under a power of attorney and the recovery of fees under a private wealth management agreement.
• Advising a trustee bank in the Bahamas on the proper interpretation of an immunity from suit provision under the relevant Bahaman Common Reporting Standard regulations.

Download Trusts, probate and estates: contentious CV

Property

Recent and ongoing work includes:

• Tropical Zoo Limited v London Borough of Hounslow [2024] EWHC 1240 (Ch): concerned a 125-year lease over 25 acres of land by Heathrow Airport; issues include whether the returning of rent (mistakenly) to the wrong account amounts to an act of waiver and whether the right to forfeit a lease can be waived during the currency of a s. 146 notice (led by Julian Greenhill KC). This case was listed by the Estate Gazette’s as the Top 10 Property cases of 2024
• Acting (ongoing) in £multi-million proceedings for defendants in a claim alleging that a portfolio of properties were sold at an undervalue; ongoing and is currently listed for a 5-week trial (led by John McGhee KC and James Mitchell).
• Acting on behalf of a tenant in an opposed renewal under the 1954 Act (led by Ben Faulkner).
• Acting (as sole counsel) in a professional negligence claim against former conveyancing solicitors.
• Acting (as sole counsel) in seeking urgent injunctive relief for access to premises to remove tenant fixtures which included £multi-million laboratory equipment after a wrongful forfeiture by landlord.
• Acting (as sole counsel) for a defendant occupier in relation to charges raised for services provided by a supplier under the Water Industry Act 1991.
• Acting (as sole counsel) for a commercial lessee in obtaining an urgent injunction against the landlord for wrongful forfeiture of a lease and relief from forfeiture.
• Acting (as sole counsel) in multiple proceedings involving fraudulent misrepresentations in property conveyancing contexts (e.g. sale of freeholds or leaseholds). One of those involves complex DIV issues for a property blighted with Japanese Knotweed.
• Representing a bank in enforcing a residential mortgage for a £50 million debt involving issues of mental capacity of the defendant and collateral contracts (led by Alice Hawker).
• Adjoin Ltd v Fortytwo House SarL [2022] EWHC 2710 (Ch): a right to light dispute relating to a new development in the City (during pupillage, with John McGhee KC and Harriet Holmes).

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