Henry Reid

Henry has considerable experience of commercial disputes, most notably in claims concerning matters of civil fraud, banking and finance and professional negligence.

This experience has required Henry to consider a broad range of issues involving, by way of example, claims for breach of contract, misrepresentation, breach of director and fiduciary duties as well as allegations of conspiracy, deceit and other intentional torts.

It has also led to Henry developing a strong appreciation of civil procedure including as to applications for interim relief, interlocutory applications and the preparation and analysis of CPR Part 35 expert evidence. Since moving to the Bar, Henry has been increasingly instructed in domestic and overseas commercial arbitrations.

Henry’s experience to date has also routinely required, usually on an unled basis:

• Representing and advising entities and individuals in connection with commercial disputes often posing banking, cryptoasset and financial services considerations.
• Working with and interpretating the evidence of Part 35 appointed experts on complex matters, including the operation of certain financial products, forensic accounting, and the valuation of property portfolios, investment opportunities and various overseas commercial entities.
• Advising on court and litigation procedure in accordance with, notably, the Civil Procedure Rules, the Commercial Court Guide and other cross-border litigation procedures.
• Providing preliminary merits analysis on various claims for prospective clients and liaising with the litigation funding market on the same. This has included consideration of group action principles under CPR r.19.6 and potential claims under s.26 s.90 and s.90A, FSMA 2000 and via the Competition Appeal Tribunal (the CAT).
• Appearing, unled, on behalf of clients in the Commercial Court seeking or resisting interim injunctive relief.

Matters in which Henry has acted since joining chambers include:

• Acting for an individual in a Commercial Court claim against a noted cryptoasset exchange brought under s.26, FSMA 2000 in Chechetkin v Payward & Ors Ltd & Ors. The matter required successfully establishing the Court’s jurisdiction under Part 11, the opposition of applications for injunctive relief and successfully resisting the enforcement of an overseas arbitration awardunder s.101 of the Arbitration Act.
• Acting for an individual Commercial Court claim against an asset management firm for the failure to properly advise, the mis-selling of inappropriate investments and multiple breaches of FCA Rules arising under COBS.
• Advising a property development company defending a claim in the Commercial Court against a bank enforcing a purported debt worth c.£6.12m. The debt arises from various FX forwards and swaps said to be terminated pursuant to a 2002 ISDA Master Agreement. To date, the matter has required detailed consideration of the ISDA Master Agreement (and its associated Schedules) and the novel interpretation of various contractual terms.
• Acting (unled) for an entity in the preparation of submissions for arbitral proceedings brought under LCIA Rules and before Arbitration Court of the Chukotka Autonomous Region, Russia. The role also included, inter alia, advising in respect of the possible enforcement of overseas awards under the Arbitration Act 1996 as well anti suit and anti-enforcement injunctions.
• Acting in (unled) two corporate disputes in the High Court involving allegations of breach of directors and fiduciary duties, breach of trust and fraudulent misrepresentation in the High Court.
• Acting (unled) for a corporate entity against a former director for breaches of director and fiduciary duties and unjust enrichment for the misappropriation of cryptoassets belonging to the entity.
• Acting (unled) for a noted online trading services provider to obtain judgment for a contractual debt owed in respect of losses incurred on various options and futures trades. The matter required consideration of various force majeure clauses in the provider’s contractual terms as to whether it was entitled to suspend its options and futures services upon the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s S&P 500 Futures markets being declared “limit down” in March 2020.
• Acting (unled) for an institution facing multiple claims of breach of contract and misrepresentation in respect of services provided to its client base. The role required representing the institution in numerous interim applications and advising on the underlying merits of multiple claims. It also required detailed advice in respect of whether certain sales practices complied with the UK consumer protection regimes created under, inter alia, the Consumer Rights Act 2015, the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013.
• Regularly acting (unled) on behalf of financial institutions defending claims brought under Consumer Credit Act 1974 in respect of payment protection insurance policies.

Notable Commercial Litigation/Arbitration cases

Recovery Partners GP Ltd & Anor v Rukhadze & Ors [2018] EWHC 2918 (Comm)

Henry was heavily involved in a split-trial proceedings in the Commercial Court concerning allegations of conspiracy and breach of fiduciary and other duties for the alleged unlawful diversion of a maturing business opportunity – namely the opportunity to provide asset recovery services to the Family of the late Arkadi Patarkatsishvili. The Court of Appeal issued its decision in respect of certain matters arising from the claim in Recovery Partners GP Ltd v Rukhadze [2023] EWCA Civ 30.

The matter also required Henry to become heavily involved in the legal, expert forensic accounting and valuation analysis conducted in relation to the claim for an account for profits said to have arisen from those breaches of duty.

Desiman Limited v Bank of Scotland PLC & Ors

An interest rate hedging product mis-selling claim involving questions of contractual estoppel, implied misrepresentation, negligent misstatement and consequential loss.

Henry’s involvement in the matter required the development of in-depth understanding of LIBOR, the operation of hedging products and the forward valuation of a substantial London property portfolio as part of a wider quantum and causation analysis.

Bluewaters Communications Holding v Ecclestone, BLB & Ors

Henry provided initial assistance on a Commercial Court dispute concerning a claim for damages in excess of US$500m resulting from a purported act of bribery arising in the sale of entities within the Formula One Group.