Andrew Twigger KC

Andrew’s practice encompasses disputes of all kinds involving domestic and international businesses and property, including claims for breach of contract, warranty and misrepresentation claims, claims for rectification of contracts and other documents, claims in respect of licence agreements, share purchase agreements, joint venture agreements, franchise agreements, agency agreements and success fees, claims concerning title to real and personal property (including works of art), unjust enrichment and quantum meruit claims and claims for breach of confidence and breach of fiduciary duty.

Notable cases include:

• Barton v Morris [2023] 2 WLR 269 (leading Supreme Court case on relationship between implied terms and unjust enrichment)
• Wood v Capita Insurance Services Ltd [2017] A.C. 1173 (leading Supreme Court case on interpretation of commercial contracts)
• LA Micro Group (UK) Ltd v LA Micro Group Inc [2022] 1 W.L.R. 336 & [2023] EWCA Civ 214 (two Court of Appeal decisions, both concerning share ownership and constructive trusts)
• Bugsby Property LLC v Legal & General Assurance Society Limited [2022] EWHC 2001 (Comm) (judgment following a four-week Commercial Court trial about acquisition of the Olympia exhibition centre; the issues concerned causation and loss of a chance)
• Secretary of State for Health and Social Care v Primer Design Ltd (ongoing TCC case concerning the supply of Rapid-PCR test kits)
• CFH Clearing Ltd v Merrill Lynch International [2020] EWCA Civ 106 (Court of Appeal decision concerning foreign exchange transactions when the Swiss Franc was “de-pegged” from the Euro, resulting in price volatility)
• Benedetti v Sawiris [2014] AC 938 (leading Supreme Court case on the application of unjust enrichment principles to a quantum meruit claim and the proper valuation of the award)
• Andrew has represented clients in numerous international arbitrations, covering a wide variety of commercial fields. By way of example, recent arbitrations have included warranty claims following a share purchase and a royalty dispute in the pharmaceutical industry.

Andrew has wide experience of claims in respect of fraud and dishonesty and related asset recovery and international enforcement, including obtaining or resisting freezing orders, proprietary claims involving the tracing and following of assets, claims involving bribes and secret profits, claims for dishonest assistance, knowing receipt and constructive trusts, claims for fraudulent misrepresentation and deceit, claims to set aside judgments for fraud, shams and piercing the corporate veil.

Notable cases include:

• Kazakhstan Kagazi v Arip [2017] EWHC 3374 (Comm) (judgment following a 13-week Commercial Court trial concerning allegations of a $160 million fraud)
• Ong v Ping [2015] EWHC 1742 (Ch); [2017] EWCA Civ 2069 (first instance and Court of Appeal decisions setting aside a number of earlier judgments of the High Court, which were held to have been obtained by fraud)
• Independent Trustee Services Limited v Morris [2013] Ch. 91 (Court of Appeal decision concerning whether money stolen by a husband from a pension fund could be traced into a sum paid to his wife in satisfaction of an order for ancillary relief following their divorce)

Andrew has experience of claims by and against banks and other lenders in respect of acquisition finance, leveraged buyouts and real-estate finance, claims concerning the capital markets, securitisations and bond issues, claims concerning foreign exchange transactions, derivatives and swaps (including interpretation of the ISDA Master Agreement), claims relating to the enforcement of security and competing priorities between secured creditors, mis-selling claims and claims concerning private equity funds.

Notable cases include:

• Bugsby Property LLC v Legal & General Assurance Society Limited [2022] EWHC 2001 (Comm) (judgment following a four-week Commercial Court trial about the liability of a potential real-estate lender following a failed bid for the Olympia exhibition centre)
• CFH Clearing Ltd v Merrill Lynch International [2020] EWCA Civ 106 (Court of Appeal decision concerning foreign exchange transactions when the Swiss Franc was “de-pegged” from the Euro, resulting in price volatility)
• Raiffeisen Bank International AG v Asia Coal Energy Ventures Ltd [2020] EWHC 2602 (Comm) (judgment following a three-week Commercial Court trial concerning the Bank’s exercise of, and release of, its security relating to defaulted loans, including its sale of shares in one of Indonesia’s largest coal producers)

Andrew acts in relation to shareholder disputes of all kinds, including unfair prejudice petitions and petitions to wind up companies on the just and equitable ground, derivative actions, claims for breach of fiduciary (and other) duties against directors, claims challenging decisions taken at board meetings and shareholders’ meetings and claims concerning vicarious liability for acts of employees and attribution of their acts and knowledge to the company. Andrew also acts in disputes between partners, including the taking of partnership accounts.

Notable cases include:

• LA Micro Group (UK) Ltd v LA Micro Group Inc [2022] 1 W.L.R. 336 & [2023] EWCA Civ 214 (two Court of Appeal decisions concerning share ownership and constructive trusts)
• Campbell v Campbell [2017] EWHC 182 (Ch) (judgment following trial in the Chancery Division concerning a worldwide partnership selling jewellery through entities in the UK, Thailand, Hong Kong and New York)

Andrew has been involved in offshore litigation including in the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, the BVI, Bermuda and Hong Kong.

Andrew has been involved with claims by and against liquidators, receivers and administrators, claims concerning unlawful dividends, preferences, transactions at an undervalue, fraud on creditors, mutual set-off, priorities between creditors and cross-border insolvency issues.

Notable cases include:

Williams v Alter Domus Trustees (UK) Ltd (ongoing Chancery Division action concerning the rights of holders of equitable liens in respect of the distribution of proceeds of sale of a property to be realised by administrators)

Re BW Ltd (Cayman Islands petition for winding up on the just and equitable ground of two companies forming part of an investment structured by Investcorp Bank BSC)

Andrew is experienced in contentious trust disputes in the UK and offshore, particularly in relation to breaches of duty by trustees, proprietary claims to trust assets and claims for knowing receipt and dishonest assistance.

Notable cases include:

• Velutini Perez v. Equiom Trust Corporation (UK) Ltd [2023] WTLR 349 (revocation of trust, duties of trustees, trustees’ right of indemnity and right of retention in relation to alleged potential claims in Venezuela)
• Ong v Ping [2015] EWHC 1742 (Ch); [2017] EWCA Civ 2069 (first instance and Court of Appeal decisions concerning whether a settlor had declared herself a trustee)
• Day v Royal College of Music [2014] Ch. 211 (Court of Appeal decision concerning the estate of the late Sir Malcolm Arnold, the composer; considering the intention required for a gift and the effect of an Enduring Power of Attorney)