Tara Taylor

Insolvency

Tara has a broad insolvency practice that includes all areas of personal bankruptcy and corporate insolvency. She is often instructed in cases involving allegations of fraud and dishonesty (and related applications for freezing injunctions and other interim relief) and has extensive experience of cases with offshore elements.

During several months spent on secondment in the dispute resolution team at a leading international law firm in the Cayman Islands, Tara worked on a number of multi-jurisdictional insolvency matters.

Tara is a contributor to R3’s ‘Recovery Magazine’ and her article “Insolvency within your trust: bankrupt settlors, insolvent companies and insolvent trusts”, written together with Zoë Barton KC, was published in the June 2020 issue of Trusts & Trustees.

Recent cases include:

• Acting for one of the former directors of BHS Group Ltd in respect of claims brought by the group’s Joint Liquidators for misfeasance and wrongful trading, valued at over £160m (BHS Group Limited & Ors v Dominic Chappell & Ors), led by Lexa Hilliard KC and Rachael Earle
• Acting for a bankrupt in relation to an Income Payments Order, which resulted in successful settlement of the trustee’s claim
• Acting for two defendants in National Bank Trust v Yurov & Ors [2020] EWHC 100 (Comm) concerning a $1billion Russian law fraud claim brought by a Russian bank against three of its former directors, led by Tim Penny KC. The case raised, inter alia, issues involving transactions at an undervalue
• Advising as to the enforceability of Heads of Terms relating to the sponsorship and branding rights of a motor racing team in the context of a potential administration, led by James Bailey KC
• Acting in relation to various matters arising out of the insolvency of Abraaj Holdings
• Advising directors of a Cayman company in liquidation as to the scope of legal privilege that could be asserted in proceedings commenced against them and others by the company’s joint liquidators
• Advising a company in relation to an application made by joint liquidators under s.236 Insolvency Act 1986
• Advising in relation to a claim against an insolvent company’s insurers pursuant to the Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) Act 1930
• Regular appearances in winding up and bankruptcy proceedings

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International arbitration

Tara has acted in a number of high value arbitrations. She has experience of all stages of the arbitral process, from the pre-action stage through to the hearing itself and subsequent enforcement of a successful arbitral award. Her arbitrations relating to the development of gas fields have raised issues including gas pricing, industry practice, economics of gas supply and quantum.

Recent cases include:

• Advising a company in respect of the potential assignment of its Cayman Islands claim to enforce an ICC arbitral award made in Brazil, raising questions of champerty and maintenance
• Acting for one of the respondents in two related LCIA arbitrations concerning a joint venture dispute in relation to the appraisal and development of gas fields in the Middle East, led by Alan Gourgey KC
• Acting for the claimant in linked ICC arbitrations concerning the development of a gas field in the CIS, led by Alan Gourgey KC and Iain Pester

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Trusts, probate and estates: contentious

Tara acts and advises in a wide range of contentious and non-contentious trusts matters, with a particular interest in cases with a commercial, company or fraud element. She has experience of multi-jurisdictional trust disputes, including those with an insolvency element.

• Advising a beneficiary of a substantial Guernsey trust in connection with a contested application by the trustee for the ‘blessing’ of a proposal to separate the interests of various beneficiaries into new trusts, led by Jonathan Hilliard KC and Tom Roscoe
• Acting for two defendants in National Bank Trust v Yurov & Ors [2020] EWHC 100 (Comm) concerning a $1billion Russian law fraud claim brought by a Russian bank against three of its former directors led by Tim Penny KC. The case involved a sophisticated network of offshore companies and trust structures and raised, inter alia, issues relating to resulting trusts in a marital context.
• Acting for a minor in a claim brought under the Inheritance (Provision for Family of Dependants) Act 1975, led by Fenner Moeran KC
• Acting as sole counsel in the High Court to discharge an injunction imposed in the context of the administration of an estate
• Acting as sole counsel in the High Court in an application to remove the executor of an estate
• Advising on the beneficial ownership of residential property arising under a common intention constructive trust
• Acting for a widower in a long-running dispute with his late wife’s ex-husband concerning the beneficial ownership of the former matrimonial home
• Advising offshore trustees as to the enforceability of a foreign judgment

Download Trusts, probate and estates: contentious CV

Property

Tara has a diverse property practice encompassing commercial and residential property, and acts as both junior and sole counsel in relation to property disputes.

Recent work includes:

• Acting for two defendants in National Bank Trust v Yurov & Ors [2020] EWHC 100 (Comm) concerning a $1billion Russian law fraud claim brought by a Russian bank against three of its former directors led by Tim Penny KC. The case raised, inter alia, issues relating to resulting trusts in a marital context.
• Acting as sole counsel in the High Court on behalf of the supermarket Tesco to successfully obtain an urgent injunction in connection with possession proceedings
• Successfully obtaining default judgment granting a new tenancy of business premises under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954
• Acting for tenants of both business and residential premises in claims for relief from forfeiture on the grounds of non-payment of rent and/or breach of covenant
• Acting and advising in relation to boundary disputes
• Advising on the construction of covenants in a lease
• Advising on the existence and scope of various easements
• Advising on the beneficial ownership of residential property arising under a common intention constructive trust
• Advising an estate management company in relation to breach of covenants by the freeholder

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