South Square

Huge thanks to Lindsay Hingston, Alex Thomson, Katharina Crinson and the rest of the Freshfields team for having me on your ‘No Worse Off’ podcast - I had a really great time with you all. “The really difficult question is what would have happened in Assenagon if the minority bondholders were not expropriated, but they received some form of differential treatment.” – We explore Liability Management Exercises (LMEs), Assenagon, Serta Simmons and issues of differential treatment within a lender class. Click on any of these links: 🎙 Web > https://okt.to/8aMmQf Spotify > https://okt.to/B2sUt5 Apple > https://okt.to/Ahg2pk #Restructuring

South Square is pleased to sponsor the lunch at the R3 Restructuring Forum 2024 on November 11th at Reed Smith. We are proud to have a great line-up of barristers contributing their expertise across several panel sessions: Georgina Peters, Kira King, and William Willson will provide a comprehensive case law update. Joseph Curl KC will give us his views on Directors' duties in the wake of BHS. Matthew Abraham will offer insights on the current landscape of restructuring plans. You can find the full conference details here: https://lnkd.in/ehRpYv43 #R3RestructuringForum #SouthSquare #InsolvencyLaw #CorporateRestructuring #LegalUpdate

We are thrilled to announce that Tom Smith KC, Felicity Toube KC, Daniel Bayfield KC and Adam Al-Attar KC have all been shortlisted for The GRR Awards (UK): Barrister of the Year 2024. To read on about their highlights visit: https://lnkd.in/eK3XY5Vq Congratulations to our members and all those shortlisted! #SouthSquare #GRRawards2024 #Barristeroftheyear

South Square will be hosting a Pupillage Open Evening: Women at the Bar on Thursday 12 December 2024 from 6:00pm-7:30pm.   Please come along to learn about pupillage opportunities, applications, and interviews, and to find out about life as a pupil and practicing barrister at South Square.   The event is open to prospective applicants with a genuine interest in the commercial bar.   We particularly encourage women and those from under-represented groups to come and get to know our barristers.   Spaces will be allocated on a first-come-first-serve basis.   RSVP here: https://lnkd.in/eNtTGRCN #Pupillage #PupillageOpenEvening #Womenatthebar #Lawfair #SouthSquare

South Square team maintains Commercial Court injunctions freezing more than US$400 million Salinas & Anor v Astor Asset Management 3 Limited & Ors [2024] EWHC 2522 (Comm) Stephen Robins KC, Henry Phillips, Matthew Abraham and Ryan Perkins of South Square appeared for the successful Claimants in obtaining and retaining three freezing and proprietary injunctions in a major fraud case in the Commercial Court. The South Square team acts for Ricardo Salinas, the 172nd richest man in the world, and his company, Corporacion RBS SA de CV, in litigation to recover shares worth more than US$400 million in Grupo Elektra SAB de CV, a listed Mexican company. The Claimants allege that the shares in Elektra were misappropriated in a stock-backed lending fraud. The man alleged to be the architect of the fraud, Vladimir Sklarov (also known as “Gregory Mitchell”), applied to discharge the injunctions, alleging that the Claimants and their legal representatives had acted in breach of the duty of full and frank disclosure/fair presentation in various ways at three ex parte hearings in August 2024. In a judgment handed down today, Mr Justice Calver rejected Mr Sklarov’s contentions and held that the Claimants and their legal representatives had complied with the duty of full and frank disclosure/fair presentation and that the injunctions should be continued. The judgment contains a helpful summary of the authorities on the content of the duty owed by applicants at ex parte hearings. The judgment can be found here: https://lnkd.in/d3V4q4GJ #SouthSquare #freezinginjunction #judgmenthanddown

Cineworld Restructuring Plans Sanctioned Tom Smith KC, Henry Phillips and Annabelle Wang, instructed by Kirkland & Ellis, successfully represented the Cineworld plan companies in restructuring their financial and leasehold liabilities.   Mr Justice Miles rejected two opposing landlords’ applications for injunctive relief to remove them from the plans on the basis that side letters entered into with certain of the plan companies meant that they should not be included therein. The correct framework was that under Part 26A. The Court had jurisdiction to compromise the landlords’ liabilities under the side letters, the side letters did not give rise to materially different rights and it was appropriate and fair for the opposing landlords’ liabilities to be included in the plans.   The Court emphasised the importance of pari passu treatment of creditors with the same rights. Removing the opposing landlords from the plans would put them in a better position than other landlords with sites in the same categories, which would infringe the pari passu principle.   Read the judgment here: https://lnkd.in/e28xgwDt #SouthSquare #JudgmentHandDown #RestructuringPlans #Cineworld

We are excited to announce that South Square won two awards at the Legal 500 Bar Awards last night.   Felicity Toube KC won Chancery Silk of the Year. This is a prestigious award recognising Felicity’s excellence in her key practice areas.   Chambers’ Director, William Mackinlay was awarded Chambers Leader of the Year, acknowledging his work to improve transparency and diversity, particularly in the area of the gender pay gap.   Congratulations to Felicity, William and all winners on the night. #Legal500BarAwards #ChancerySilkOfTheYear #BarAwards2024 #SouthSquare #ChanceryCommercial

We are delighted to be a platinum sponsor of IWIRC Cayman and feature as this month's 'Spotlight on a Sponsor'. #IWIRCCayman #SouthSquare

Thank you to all those who attended the annual Mourant and South Square Litigation Forum last week. The afternoon consisted of an interesting update from Chloe Edworthy, Jonathan Moffatt, Stephen Robins KC, and Tal Goldsmith on injunctions in fraud litigation. Georgina Peters and Michael Popkin in conversation with Mr Justice Segal, Judge of the Grand Court, Cayman Islands. Mr Justice Segal provided insights into the role of an offshore judge in the insolvency world. Luciana Berger delivered an engaging keynote, reflecting on her experiences in the Labour shadow cabinet, insight into what secured Labour's recent victory and participated in a lively Q&A session. Thank you to our co chairs, Peter Hayden and Clara Johnson, our speakers, organisers and all those who attended. #SouthSquare #LitiForum2024 #Mourant #Litigation

In this episode of Debtwired, Hossein Dabiri is joined by South Square Barrister Georgina Peters and Sarah Paterson, Professor of Law at The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), to discuss the court's discretion in sanctioning restructuring plans. Listen to the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/eQ9P5JSE