Stuart Ritchie qc

For many years Stuart has been recognised in Chambers & Partners and in the Legal 500 as a leading junior in both commercial and employment litigation where his abilities as an advocate and a tactician have been highly praised. Now acknowledged as "one of the best juniors around" (Chambers and Partners 2012) other recent reviews confirm that status:

“Sources say as an advocate he is superlative to work with, as he has enormous judgement and speaks beautifully."

“The man you want in your corner if you have a case you need to win at all costs”.

His practice covers a broad range of commercial and employment litigation. Details are to be found in the entries separately made on the Chambers website.

He has a particular expertise in cases involving breaches of fiduciary duty, having co-authored (with Andrew Stafford QC) Fiduciary Duties: Directors and Employees (Jordans 2008), now the leading practitioner work in the area.

Stuart has also been noted in the legal directories for the “lack of flannelling that characterises his approach to litigation." Often as frustrated as litigants by the uncommerciality of litigation, his approach is to identify the end-game at an early stage, and to get there as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.

General

Widely acknowledged for many years as a leading junior in commercial and employment litigation as well as, now, in international arbitration Stuart has recently been described in the Legal Directories as "one of the best juniors around"; “the man you want in your corner if you have a case you need to win at all costs” and that “as an advocate he is superlative to work with, as he has enormous judgement and speaks beautifully.”

In 2009-2010 he acted unled in the high profile Tullett Prebon v BGC team move litigation, a 9 week trial in which 26 witnesses gave evidence.

His commercial practice focuses on fraud, private international law, commercial contract, directors and agency. The focus of his employment practice is directors and senior executives. He is co-author of “Fiduciary Duties: directors and employees”, the leading practitioner work in this field. He has particular expertise in cases involving interim injunctions and speedy trials and disputes concerning whistleblowing in a commercial context. He has acted in many of the recent leading cases involving the inter-dealer broker market.

He prides himself on hard work, a commercial approach, good team-work, a lack of flannel and, on a good day, a sense of humour.

What Other Say

In the latest edition of Legal 500 (2011) Stuart is ranked as a leading junior in commercial litigation (“good under pressure and has an eye for detail”), international arbitration (“an excellent lawyer”) and employment. In Chambers and Partners (2012) under commercial litigation Stuart is said to be “incredibly hard-working – dovetails his commercial workload with his excellent employment practice and has particular expertise in handling disputes relating to breaches of fiduciary duty and commercial fraud” and under employment “one of the best juniors around. He combines an “extremely analytical mind and technical excellence” with “commercial awareness and a client-friendly manner”. He is commended for his expertise on restrictive covenant cases.” Under International Arbitration "mixes a great brain with great client-handling skills" and is "a dream to work with" - (Legal 500 2012)

Other references from those leading directories in recent years include the following: “The man you want in your corner if you have a case you need to win at all costs”; "A real team player who is very supportive of both instructing solicitors and the business client." ‘Clearly very intelligent and gets to the point quickly”; "Unbelievably conscientious and thorough" ; “Acknowledged by opponents for the "lack of flannelling that characterises his approach to litigation"; "Completely with you throughout proceedings"; "Cuts through the law and gives extremely commercial advice"; "Thinks extremely carefully and sticks to his guns”; "A demon with the paperwork" ; “.. has a remarkable academic knowledge of fiduciary duties, having authored a number of books on the matter.” [in fact it is only one ….]

Commercial litigation and international arbitration: recent

Stuart’s commercial practice encompasses fraud and private international law, commercial contracts, disputes concerning directors and agents and financial professional negligence, both in court and international arbitration;

Recent work includes:

Acting in LCIA arbitration concerning alleged commercial fraud in the Ukraine in relation to claims exceeding US$1 billion.
VTB Bank v Malofeev and others Acting for VTB bank in its claims that it was defrauded into lending over US$200 million for the purchase of a Russian dairy business. Involves claims to lift the corporate veil, to establish jurisdiction in England and for WWFO relief: [2011] EWHC 2842 (evidence);
Successfully obtained a US$multi-million LCIA arbitration award against a leading CIS investment bank for unauthorised trading (2011);
Hotel Cipriani srl v Cipriani & others Resisting freezing order relief following judgment of the Court of Appeal in long-running trade mark litigation
Abela v Hammonds & others Acting for Claimant in $15m claim for professional negligence, deceit and breach of fiduciary duty against Hammonds solicitors. Case settled favourably mid-trial.
Force India v Kanyan Capital Obtaining summary judgment for Force India (Formula 1 team) in $8million dispute with sponsor Kanyan Capital (February 2009).

Commercial – other notable cases

Fraud and private international law

Fiona Maritime v Privalov & others acting for Mr. Privalov in leading case of Russian shipping fraud
Total E&P Soudan SA v Edmonds and others: Acted for Philip Edmonds and others in dispute with Total concerning right to exploit oil in the Sudan – issues of justiciability and pre-action disclosure [2007] EWCA Civ 50 (CA)
Trintech v Mirpuri acting for Trintech, the electronic payment solutions company in claim against former owner and MD for deceit leading to a share purchase agreement

Commercial Contract: Acted in numerous motor-sport disputes concerning principals, sponsors and drivers:

Lola Cars v Bowes (conspiracy), Super Aguri v Spyker (principals), I-Sport v Reich (guarantees), Force India v Kanyan Capital (sponsor), Piccini v Lister (driver)

Shareholder disputes, share sale and asset sale disputes: numerous instructions:

acted for the successful claimants in Fotostop Group v My Fotostop [2007] FSR 17

Directors and Agents

Singer v Beckett & others (re Continental Assurance Company of London [2007] 2 BCLC 287: acted for successful non-executive directors in the leading decision on directors wrongful trading and misfeasance
Chan v Alvis Vehicles Ltd Acted for Alvis Vehicles (now part of BAE) resisting $6million claim for commission by agent in relation to supply of arms to Indonesia: acted in the subsequent application by the Guardian newspaper for inspection of documents at [2005] 1 WLR 2965

Employment – High Court

Stuart’s employment practice focuses on directors and senior executives, boardroom bust-ups, termination of employment and directorship and the aftermath. He deals with claims for breaches of contract, fiduciary duty, under the Companies Act 2006, misuse of confidential information, restraint of trade, garden leave. He also handles cross-over company and “soft” intellectual property issues arising from such disputes.
In 2009-2010 he acted for Tony Verrier (without a leader) in the high profile case of Tullett Prebon v BGC & Verrier litigation - a 9 week High Court trial in which 26 witnesses gave evidence [2010] EWHC 484; [2010] IRLR 648; [2010] EWHC 989; [2009] EWHC 819; He has acted in many of the other recent major inter-dealer broker cases: BGC Brokers LP v Goddard & others [2010] TFS v Ambrose; Tullett Prebon v Verrier (QB 2008) Tullett Prebon v Davis [2007] EWHC 2739 and MIS Brokers v Sida and GFI (QB 2006).
He appeared successfully in Thomas v Farr plc [2007] ICR 932 one of the leading cases on directors’ restrictive covenants and confidential information and in the high-profile case of Crystal Palace v Dowie [2007] IRLR 682.
He is co-author with Andrew Stafford QC of “Fiduciary Duties: directors and employees” (Jordans 2008), the leading modern practitioner work in this area.
He has particular expertise in cases in the financial services sector and those requiring interim injunctions and speedy trials. He acts regularly in “team move” litigation. He has particular knowledge and experience of the inter-dealer broker market.

Employment - Other

Stuart advises regularly on employment status issues. Recent work in this area includes:
Acting for Weight Watchers in their litigation with HM Revenue and Customs over the employment status of their 1700 meeting leaders [2010] WL 5105159; [2010] UKFTT 54 (TC); [2010] S.T.I. 1620
Successfully defending the self-employed status of hospital bank workers in the EAT. Little v BMI Chiltern Hospital Lawtel 8/6/2009.
Advising a national training firm on the employment status of its consultants;
Advising a national accountancy firm on the employment status of its fixed share LLP members.
Stuart also acts regularly in city whistleblowing disputes:
Currently acting for a major City bank defending whistleblowing and victimisation claims;
Acted for Commerzbank in relation to whistleblowing and TUPE claims brought by multiple claimants arising from its merger with Dresdner Kleinwort (2010-2011). (a)
Successfully defending whistleblowing claims brought by the compliance director of a financial services company, resulting in a costs award in excess of £60,000 to the company (despite admitted unfair dismissal) Garewal v Charteris;
Stuart also successfully obtained strike-out of multiple case-managed claims against Baker Tilly for discrimination and under TUPE arising from their role as insolvency practitioners following the collapse of the Aston Brook Housing Association

Silk: 2012 | Call: 1995

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