Chloe S. Steele Partner

Experience

• Representation of a hotelier client in its swaps mis-selling claim against a major bank, involving issues of misrepresentation, misstatement, breach of contract, breach of duty and estoppel, and matters relating to LIBOR.
• Advice to an oil and gas industry client in its handling of a counterparty’s termination of a major offshore project in the Middle East.
• Representation of and advice to a multinational organisation in relation to the defence of numerous alleged follow-on damages claims, including in the High Court and the Competition Appeal Tribunal.
• Representation of an individual in his defence of proceedings brought against him under the Bribery Act 2010.
• Advice to a global banking institution on cross-border aspects of U.S. proceedings against parties based in England.
• Advice to a technology industry client in relation to customer disputes and recovery of customer debts.
• Representation of a U.S. institution in its defence of an unfair dismissal claim brought by an ex-worker in the Employment Tribunal.
• Representation of a hotelier client in successfully defeating successive winding up petitions issued by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.
• Representation of two property investment and development clients in their swaps mis-selling claim against a major bank, involving issues of negligence, breach of contract, breach of duty and misrepresentation, and matters relating to LIBOR.
• Advice to clients on matters arising out of claims brought by them in the liquidations of a number of BVI companies.
• Representation of Vincent Tchenguiz and his interests in a very high profile £2.2 billion Commercial Court claim against Grant Thornton UK LLP, Kaupthing Bank hf and others (CL-2014-001023), including in High Court and Court of Appeal hearings which involved important issues regarding jurisdiction in relation to insolvent credit institutions ([2015] EWHC 1864 (Comm); [2017] EWCA Civ 83) and the interplay between alleged fraud and settlement agreements ([2016] EWHC 865 (Comm); [2016] EWHC 3727 (Comm)).
• Advice to a substantial care home operator client in its handling of third party requests for information, including under the Access to Health Records Act 1990.
• Pro bono representation of an individual client in her successful claim for an unpaid debt and related enforcement issues.
• Representation of a hotel industry client in its High Court claim arising out of swap transactions entered into in connection with a financing structure created and arranged by the defendant bank, and alleged front-running and overcharging.
• Representation of an individual client in proceedings relating to worldwide freezing orders granted in support of an arbitration, including the successful defence of committal proceedings and subsequent successful application to discharge the freezing orders.
• Representation of Energy Venture Partners Limited (EVP), a British Virgin Islands company, in its US$200 million commission claim in the Commercial Court against Malabu Oil and Gas Limited, a Nigerian company, in relation to the disposal of a Nigerian offshore oil prospect licence. The action came to trial before Lady Justice Gloster in November-December 2012 and involved the Commercial Court sitting in Paris for 4 days. The judgment dealt with important issues regarding implied terms and implied agreements (2013 EWHC 2118 (Comm)), and EVP was awarded US$110.5 million in damages.
• Representation of a leading private equity investor in frontier markets in relation to a LCIA arbitration against a South African joint venture party.
• Representation of third parties potentially affected by the long-running litigation between JSC BTA Bank and Mukhtar Ablyazov & others. The matter raised important issues surrounding the Masri/Chabra jurisdiction for extending freezing orders to third parties.
• Representation of a tenant company that owned a mini-mill steel plant in an action relating to the ownership of assets at the plant. The High Court held that the company owned the vast majority of the assets in dispute at the plant, on the basis that they were either removable tenant’s fixtures or chattels.
• Representation of a minority shareholder in a group operating care homes in relation to a multimillion pound unfair prejudice petition against fellow shareholders and the directors of the group. The action settled as it came to trial.
• Representation of a substantial client in relation to a multi-million dollar arbitration before the LCIA in respect of a claim under the tax indemnities in a sale and purchase agreement concerning a Russian natural resources business.