Jack Watson KC

Insolvency

Jack has a substantial insolvency practice. The directories note:

• “His technical knowledge of insolvency law is first rate and his written work is extremely thorough.”
• He is “a very capable barrister who displays good judgement and strategic thinking.”
• “Jack’s ability to get to the heart of complex disputes so quickly is very impressive.”

Jack regularly acts for office holders, directors, individuals and insolvent companies often in cases involving an international or multi-jurisdictional dimension. He has particular experience in relation to e-money and payment services regulation having appeared in a number of the leading cases on the topic.

Jack’s recent company/insolvency cases include: 

• Re ipagoo (No.1): Acting for the successful joint administrators in a two-day appeal before the Court of Appeal to determine whether sums held by e-money providers pursuant to the Electronic Money Regulations 2011 are held on a statutory trust.
• Novalpina: Acting for the applicants in a complex and high value private equity dispute involving the court’s consideration of how a liquidator is to assess a LLP’s solvency under s.95 IA 1986 in determining whether it must move from MVL to CVL, including the value an alleged €273m fraud claim arising out of the sale of an Eastern European gambling business.
• Re Ferster: Acting for a trustee in bankruptcy (leading Ram Lakshman) in a five-day High Court trial of claims for orders suspending discharge from bankruptcy under s.279 Insolvency Act and disclosure under s.366.
• Re Currency Matters International: Acting as sole counsel for the Joint Administrators in a test case before the High Court to determine how sums held under the Payment Services Regulations 2017 should be distributed.
• Greensill: Acting for the liquidators in claims under s.423 Insolvency Act in both the USA and UK.
• Glint: Acting for the Joint Administrators of a number of companies defending claims that they were fraudulently appointed.
• Re Montpelier (in liquidation): Acting for the Receiver and Manager of a trust company in liquidation in actions to determine the validity of a sale of the business and for directions as to the transfer of over 1000 trusts.
• Re Sanguine: Acting as sole counsel in an appeal against the dismissal of a winding up petition against the respondent company. The appeal centred on the value of an underlying LLP (said to be worth over £1m by the Appellants) and it is now one of the leading cases on the meaning of guarantee provisions and whether the variation of those provisions took the relevant facility agreement outside the purview of the guaranteed obligations.
• AHAB v Saad: Acting for the joint official liquidators of a Cayman Islands company defending a multibillion-dollar cross-jurisdictional fraud claim.

Download Insolvency CV

Civil fraud and asset recovery

Jack is a much in demand Civil Fraud practitioner combining technical and multi-jurisdictional expertise with experience of heavy and hard-fought trials. The directories say he is “Extremely smart, analytical, decisive as well as being user-friendly and approachable: a great asset to any litigation team” and “leaves no stone unturned” in addition to praising his “deadly” cross-examination.

Jack regularly acts in both domestic and large scale international fraud litigation. He is frequently instructed on jurisdiction challenges, both seeking and defending freezing orders and other commercial injunctions as well as trials and other larger hearings. He is often instructed to deal with cases applying foreign law or with conflicts of laws elements.

Jack also has extensive experience in relation to bringing and defending committal applications.

Jack’s recent civil fraud experience includes:

• Bourlakova & Ors v Kazakov: Acting for the Defendants to a multi-jurisdictional fraud claim regarding the ownership of c.€3bn of assets.
• Ridley v DIB: Acting as sole counsel in a four-day commercial court trial seeking injunctive relief in respect of the imprisonment of an individual following an alleged $400m fraud.
• Vneshprombank v Bedzhamov: Acting in proceedings relating to an alleged fraud of over £1billion leading to the collapse of a large Russian bank. Jack appeared as sole counsel at an interlocutory stage dealing with a search order and related confidentiality requirements.
• Saatchi v Gajjar: Acting as sole counsel for a former business partner of a well-known art dealer in wide-ranging litigation concerning the ownership of a multimillion-pound art storage warehouse, and claims for breach of directors’ duties.
• AHAB v Saad: Acting in one of the largest fraud cases ever litigated, involving a claim for around US$9bn, a trial lasting over a year and the disclosure of over 5 million documents. In addition to complex issues of fact, the case involved issues relating to tracing and asset recovery, trust and partnership law, attribution of knowledge, ex turpi causa, bona fide purchase, conflicts of law and the law of Saudi Arabia, Switzerland and Bahrain.
• Re Brickvest (in liquidation): Acting as sole counsel for the Defendants in three-week High Court trial over a multimillion-pound claim for fraudulent breach of warranty and misrepresentation.
• Novalpina: Acting for the Claimants in respect of an alleged €273m fraud arising out of the sale of an Eastern European gambling business.
• Sanman v Ginda: Acting for the Claimants seeking freezing injunctions, chabra injunctions and committal orders arising out of the alleged fraudulent diversion of a £20m+ development site in Birmingham.
• Tse v One Heritage: Acting for the Defendants to a £10m claim in respect of an alleged fraudulent Ponzi scheme conducted through Hong Kong Trust companies.
• Emex v Bank One: Acting for the Defendants in respect of jurisdiction challenges to a claim for c.£10m arising out of alleged fraudulent misappropriations from a Mauritian Bank.
• Re Brickvest (in liquidation): Acting for the Defendants in three-week High Court trial over a £19m claim for unfair prejudice and breach of warranty arising out of the collapse of an investment fund relating to the purchase of land in Germany.
• OmniMax: Acting for the Claimant in successful freezing and summary judgment proceedings in respect of multimillion pound aluminium fraud.
• Acting in a multimillion-pound claim brough by a former England football manager against his former business partners.
• Acting in a billion-pound fraud claim in respect of a large international contract fraud.

Download Civil fraud and asset recovery CV

Company law

Jack has extensive experience of company and shareholder disputes including unfair prejudice, breach of directors’ duties, winding up, derivative actions and disputes over the control of companies as well technical disputes as to the validity of actions under the Companies Act 2006. He has particular experience of long-running and hard fought shareholder disputes (including with an international or multi-jurisdictional dimension) often involving serious allegations of wrongdoing.

Jack’s company and shareholder experience includes:

• Re Brickvest (in liquidation): Acting for the Defendants in three-week High Court trial over a £19m claim for unfair prejudice and breach of warranty arising out of the collapse of an investment fund relating to the purchase of land in Germany,
• Re Montpelier (in liquidation): Acting for the Receiver and Manager of a trust company in liquidation in the Isle of Man in actions to determine the ownership of various sub-companies.
• Saatchi v Gajjar: Acting for a former business partner of a well-known art dealer in derivative claims forming part of wide-ranging litigation concerning the ownership of a multimillion-pound art storage warehouse, and claims for breach of directors’ duties.
• Re Integrated Control Solutions: Acting for the Respondent to long running unfair prejudice proceedings alleging substantial misappropriation from the company.
• Greensill: Acting for the liquidators in claims under s.423 Insolvency Act in both the USA and UK.

Download Company law CV