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Serle Court “offers a variety of skill sets that others can’t provide, and houses some of the biggest names at the Bar”
Area of Law: Adil Mohamedbhai
In Changyou.com Ltd v Fourworld Global Opportunities Fund Ltd & Ors, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council had to consider whether minority shareholders in a “short-form” merger under Part XVI of the Cayman Islands Companies Act (i.e. a merger of a parent company with its subsidiary where the parent company holds at least 90% of the voting power) had a right to be paid a judicially determined fair value for their shares instead of the merger consideration offered under the terms of the merger (known as “appraisal rights”).
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Jonathan Adkin KC and Adil Mohamedbhai continue to act for the dissenters in Re Jardine Strategic Holdings Limited, a multi-billion-dollar shareholder appraisal action in Bermuda concerning the Jardine group of companies, a Fortune Global 500 group of companies and one of the largest conglomerates in the world.
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The Privy Council has today handed down judgment allowing the appeals of Dr Winston Wong, Riley Wong and Tony Wang in the conjoined appeals of Grand View Private Trust Co Ltd and another (Respondents) v Wong and others [2022] UKPC 47. In one of the most important trusts law judgments in recent years the Board unanimously held that the exercise of a power adding and excluding beneficiaries was void on the basis that it was inconsistent with the purpose for which the power was conferred. The judgment has important implications for the exercise of fiduciary powers more generally. Of the eleven barristers from English chambers who appeared in the Privy Council, eight were from Serle Court: Dakis Hagen KC, Emma Hargreaves and Stephanie Thompson (instructed by Baker & McKenzie (London) and ASW Law Limited (Bermuda)) acted for the appellants in the first appeal; Richard Wilson KC, James Weale and Charlotte Beynon (instructed by Stewarts, MJM Limited (Bermuda) and Baker McKenzie (Taipei)) acted for the appellant in the second appeal; Jonathan Adkin KC and Adil Mohamedbhai acted for the respondent in both appeals (instructed by Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom (London) and Conyers Dill & Pearman (Bermuda)).
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Dakis Hagen QC (assisted by Emma Hargreaves) acts for the Plaintiffs and Jonathan Adkin QC (assisted by Adil Mohamedbhai) acts for the Defendant trustee in Wong & Anor v Grand View Private Trust Company Ltd, a claim to recover substantial trust property transferred to a trustee of a purpose trust. The Plaintiffs succeeded in obtaining summary judgment at first instance on the ground that powers of addition and exclusion cannot be exercised in a manner which alters or destroys the substratum of the trust ([2019] SC (Bda) 37 Com (5 June 2019)), but this was overturned by the Bermuda Court of Appeal in April 2020 (Civil Appeal No. 5A of 2019, 20 April 2020). Richard Wilson QC (assisted by James Weale) acts for Tony Wang, an intervenor in the appeal. The Plaintiffs and Tony Wang have each been granted leave to appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
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Jonathan Adkin QC and Adil Mohamedbhai acted for the successful defendants in Magdeev v Tsvetkov & Ors, a high-profile piece of civil fraud and commercial litigation involving various Russian individuals who had invested in a jewellery business in the UAE and Cyprus. The trial lasted three weeks. Cockerill J’s judgment ([2020] EWHC 887 (Comm)) contains a detailed analysis of the law on foreign illegality.
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Hugh Norbury QC and Adil Mohamedbhai appeared in Motortrak Ltd v FCA Australia Pty Ltd [2018] EWHC 990 (Comm) a contractual and civil fraud dispute which was tried before Moulder J in the Commercial Court over three weeks. This is an important decision on the law of affirmation of contracts procured by bribes and on the construction of exclusion clauses.
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In Griffith v Gourgey, Daniel Lightman QC, Adil Mohamedbhai and Emma Hargreaves continue to represent respondents to three unfair prejudice petitions seeking orders for the purchase of their shares in substantial property development companies. In November 2019, the Court of Appeal handed down its judgment ([2019] EWCA Civ 2046) on appeals against two rulings by Sir Nicholas Warren regarding strike-out of the petitions and amendment of another petition.
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John Machell QC appeared in the Court of Appeal in the long running Campbell v Campbell [2018] EWCA Civ 80 partnership litigation on a point as to whether a litgant in person could recover the costs of an overseas lawyer.
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In Hagen v Hagen [2017], Dakis Hagen QC and Charlotte Beynon acted for the respondent husband in the substantial and much publicised divorce involving the family behind Viking River Cruises, in financial remedy proceedings in the High Court. Alan Boyle QC, Nicholas Harrison and Jonathan McDonagh acted for the daughter and Emma Hargreaves appeared unled for another respondent in these proceedings. Jonathan Adkin QC and Adil Mohamedbhai had appeared for a corporate party at an earlier stage of the litigation. The case settled confidentially mid-trial.
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