Jonathan Hilliard KC

Commercial disputes

Jonathan is consistently ranked in Chambers Global and Chambers & Partners UK Bar for his civil fraud and offshore work. 

A significant amount of Jonathan’s work concerns business and commercial disputes, particularly those relating to:

• Civil fraud
• Asset tracing
• Financial services
• Regulatory issues
• Insolvency
• Company and partnership issues

Jonathan’s work in these areas frequently overlaps with his offshore and trusts practices, many of these disputes having an international element, involving fraud or heavy factual disputes, and involving fiduciaries acting in a financial services context. He also has significant experience on the domestic side of the Upper Tribunal’s financial services jurisdiction and financial services judicial review.

On the commercial side, by way of example, over the last year or two:

• He has appeared successfully before the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal in the leading case on Quistclose trusts in that jurisdiction, China Life Trustees Ltd, arising out of bond issue by China Life.
• He has dealt with a multi-billion $ African fraud claim.
• He has been brought in to deal with a number of very high value disputes and commercial issues with a trust element in England and abroad involving high profile entities.

On the civil fraud side, to take some recent examples:

• He is involved in a number of large ongoing currently confidential offshore cases across a range of jurisdictions involving allegations of fraud and other linked wrongdoing.
• He has been involved in obtaining injunctions in offshore asset recovery proceedings.
• He has been involved in a groundbreaking crypto-fraud dispute.
• He has been involved in a number of pensions liberations fraud and tracing cases, such as the landmark Pensions Regulator v PAYAE & ors [2018] case.

Previously, by way of examples:

• He acted successfully as part of the claimants’ team in ITS v GP Noble [2009-2013], which involved fraud proceedings in a number of jurisdictions, a number of significant hearings and parallel criminal proceedings.
• He acted successfully as part of the claimants’ team in the Court of Appeal in ITS v Susan Morris [2011-2013] in tracing the proceedings of fraud into a divorce settlement.
• He was involved in litigation concerning the largest alleged fraud in recent Latvian history.

On the regulatory side, for example:

• He has been involved in the recent leading cases before the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) concerning the limits of the jurisdiction of the Upper Tribunal in financial services matters.
• He often acts in relation to regulatory investigations.
• He has been involved in a number of pieces of financial services judicial review matters, including in relation to the life insurance industry.

As far as insolvency is concerned, much of his pensions work takes him into the insolvency arena, and he frequently advises alongside or acts together with insolvency counsel. Examples of his reported insolvency cases include:

• Nortel & Lehman v TPR [2010-2013] (first instance, CA and SC- when a statutory debt ranks as a provable debt or expense).
• Singer & Friedlander [2013] (calculation of debts in insolvency).
• Gleave v PPF (proof for s.75 debts in insolvency).

Download Commercial disputes CV

Pensions

Jonathan advises regularly on pensions restructuring, other corporate pensions issues, moral hazard concerns, RPI and CPI issues and other similar points. He acts in rectification claims and in the compromises of complex pensions disputes, and has appeared before the Court of Justice of the European Union in the Hampshire v PPF litigation.

His recent work includes:

• Dealing with a complex series of benefit issues, resulting in a 5 day compromise hearing.
• Advising on a number of return of surplus issues, both under scheme rules and through application to tPR.
• Advising on rectification issues in light of the Supreme Court Nexus decision.

Examples of his main reported cases include the following:

• The well known British Airways litigation, where he acted successfully in Beddoe and compromise hearings (including in obtaining Beddoe relief to appeal to the Supreme Court), following involvement in the main litigation for many years.
• The BT judicial review litigation, in which he acted at first instance and in the Court of Appeal for the trustee in relation to the judicial review of HMT’s decision relating to the indexation of GMPs following the change to the new state pension.
• Box Clever, in which he acted for the scheme trustee in this long running litigation.
• Pensions Regulator v PAYAE & others, where he successfully acted for tPR in the landmark pensions liberation fraud case.
• Wedgwood v Salt, where he acted for the rep ben in a case concerning whether a rights proviso protects future service rights and consequential issues.
• IBM, where he acted successfully for IBM in its appeal over the validity of closing its pension schemes to future accrual.
• The Silentnight tPR investigation, where he acted for the trustee.

Download Pensions CV

Professional liability

Jonathan’s professional liability practice focuses particularly on negligence in the context of:

• Trusts
• Pensions (both occupational and personal)
• Actuaries
• Financial services & investment products
• Tax
• Solicitors.

Ever since his first case as a tenant in Chambers, which concerned a long running accountancy and actuarial negligence dispute over the downfall of Equitable Life, his professional liability work has included a significant financial services element.

He is co-author of the Pension Scheme Actuaries chapter in the Professional Negligence and Liability looseleaf.

Download Professional liability CV