Tom is an experienced junior whose practice includes all aspects of commercial litigation, arbitration, sanctions, financial services, and public law. He has appeared as sole counsel in arbitrations and in the High Court, and as part of a team in heavy hearings and the Court of Appeal. He has represented clients in substantial international arbitrations under the ICC, LCIA, UNCITRAL, ICSID, LMAA, AIAC and SIAC rules, and in applications to the Supreme Court and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

Tom is a member of the Attorney General’s B Panel, the Welsh Government B Panel, and the AIAC's Panel of Arbitrators. He has worked as the Judicial Assistant to Lord Mance and as a Stipendiary Lecturer in Constitutional Law in Oxford.

Tom's recent work includes:

  • Representing the chairman of the management board of Bank Otkritie in on-going proceedings in which state-owned Russian banks are claiming US$600m from him and members of the Mints family.
  • Representing a fund in an application to the JCPC for permission to appeal the refusal of ex parte injunctive relief intended to preserve millions of dollars pending enforcement of an arbitral award against a foreign state.
  • Representing EPC contractors in a high-value dispute over refusals by European banks to pay performance bonds on the basis that the employer is subject to EU sanctions.
  • Representing claimants in judicial review proceedings against the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman arising from changes to the state pension age for women.
  • Acting for a biotech company in an IP dispute relating to the technology used in COVID-19 vaccines
  • Advising investors bringing claims against Link Fund Solutions Ltd in relation to its alleged failure to supervise Neil Woodford’s fund and alleged breaches of the COLL Rules.

Experience

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Commercial

Tom’s commercial litigation experience includes civil fraud, banking and finance, international trade, energy and natural resources, joint ventures, share-purchases, mining, insurance, insolvency, and general contractual disputes.

Tom is also particularly known for his expertise in international arbitration, including investment treaty disputes. He has appeared as sole and junior counsel in arbitrations in London and internationally, including Singapore and Malaysia.

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Arbitration

A leading junior, Tom is particularly known for his expertise in heavy and lengthy international arbitrations, including investment treaty disputes. He has appeared as sole and junior counsel in arbitrations in London and internationally, including in Singapore and Malaysia. He has extensive experience of arbitral appeals and of the LCIA, ICC, SIAC, UNCITRAL, AIAC, HKIAC, LMAA and GAFTA rules.

Tom was appointed to the AIAC's Panel of Arbitrators in 2021.

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Civil Fraud, Asset Recovery & Injunctive Relief

Tom specialises in civil fraud, including injunctive relief, jurisdiction, recovery, receivership, issues of foreign law, corporate duties and insolvency. He has extensive experience working for corporate and individual clients in Russian, the Middle East, and offshore jurisdictions.


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Public & Regulatory

Tom has taught Constitutional Law at Oxford and frequently acts, both led and unled, on wide-ranging public and regulatory matters, for companies in commercial judicial reviews, community groups, NGOs, government departments, pro bono organisations, and local authorities.

He is a member of the Welsh Government B Panel of Junior Counsel (Public Law) and the Attorney General’s B Panel.

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Financial Services & Banking

Tom has significant experience of financial services and banking disputes, including the judicial review of regulatory decisions, advising regulators, commercial proceedings, and sanctions issues.

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Sanctions

Tom advises clients on a wide-range of UK and EU sanctions-related disputes (including asset-freeze and trade prohibitions) and has spent time working with the sanctions team of a large city law-firm. 

He has particular experience of section 38 challenges, and advising clients on the implications of the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018, the regulations for Afghanistan, Myanmar, Yemen, and Russia, sanctions against Al-Qaida, the application of UK sanctions in off-shore jurisdictions, and the UK's Magnitsky sanction regime.

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Civil Liberties & Human Rights

Tom has significant experience of human rights disputes, from commercial judicial reviews raising A1P1 claims to immigration detention disputes. He has advised international organisations and accepts pro bono instructions.

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Public International Law

Tom acts for clients across various areas of public international law, including investor-state disputes and human rights cases.

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Sport

Tom acts for clubs, sporting bodies, players, regulators, managers, agents and sponsors in a wide range of agency, sponsorship, and other contractual or commercial disputes.

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Achievements

Education

  • MA (Oxon) Law with Law Studies in Europe
  • Erasmus Year, European and Public International Law (Leiden) 
  • LLM (Toronto)
  • Certificate in International Investment Law and Dispute Resolution (BIICL)
  • International Law Summer Programme (Hague Academy)

Publications

  • 'Regulation 7(4): When is an Entity "Controlled" by a Sanctioned Person?' (2023) 11 Butterworths Journal of International Banking & Financial Law 742. 
  • 'There are Known Unknowns: How Strict is Civil Liability for Breaches of Sanctions?' (2022) 10 Butterworths Journal of International Banking & Financial Law 651. 
  • Access to justice in the 21st century: how can it be maximised?’, winner of the Jonathan Brock Memorial Essay Competition (Runner-Up) Prize 2017.
  • Non-Disputing Parties and Human Rights in Investor-State Arbitration: Bernhard von Pezold v Republic of Zimbabwe (case comment) (2017) 18(5–6) Journal of World Investment & Trade 1062.

Appointments

  • COMBAR India Committee
  • Stipendiary Lecturer, teaching Constitutional Law at Christ Church, Oxford
  • AIAC (Asian International Arbitration Centre) Panel of Arbitrators 
  • Welsh Government's B Panel of Counsel
  • Attorney General's B Panel of Counsel
  • COMBAR Working Group on the Law Commission's Consultation Paper on the Arbitration Act 1996

Academic Awards

  • Jonathan Brock Memorial Essay Competition (Runner-Up) Prize 
  • Walter Wigglesworth Scholarship, Lincoln’s Inn 
  • Canadian Rhodes Scholars Foundation Scholarship 
  • Lord Mansfield Scholarship, Lincoln’s Inn 
  • Hardwicke Entrance Scholarship, Lincoln’s Inn 
  • John V Lovitt Prize for Jurisprudence, Christ Church, University of Oxford 
  • Lovells Scholarship, Christ Church, University of Oxford 
  • Slaughter and May Prize for Constitutional Law, University of Oxford 

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