Year of Call: 1995 Year of Silk: 2012
"A go to choice for civil fraud cases. Great judgement. Delightful to work with. Polished and very effective advocate. Never shies away from the difficult calls."
Hugh is recognised as a leading silk at the Chancery Commercial Bar. He has a broad commercial and chancery practice, with a particular emphasis on cases involving fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and confidential information. He is highly recommended by the leading directories in all his principal practice areas.
He has been involved in some of the most significant fraud cases of recent years. Currently he is co-leading for the claimant in Public Institution for Social Security v Al Rajaan & ors, a claim for in excess of US$800m arising out of alleged bribery of the former Director General of the Kuwaiti State Pension and Social Security Fund. Hugh is also leading a defence team in Jinxin v Aser Media Pte Limited & ors, a US$660m claim for rescission or damages arising out of alleged deceit in the purchase by a Chinese fund of a controlling interest in a leading sports media rights group. He previously acted in Vale v Steinmetz, a £1 billion-plus claim relating to a mining joint venture in Guinea. Vale, the Brazilian mining giant, has brought a claim against various directors and controllers within the BSGR group to set aside a joint venture for fraudulent misrepresentation. He is also currently acting in Ballacorey Wheat v Brown & ors, a fraud claim commenced in 2019 in the Isle of Man (relating to asset management) and in Athene v Siddiqui & ors, a claim commenced in Bermuda involving allegations of breach of fiduciary duty and dishonest assistance relating to confidential information in insurance and private equity.
In 2019 and 2020, Hugh represented Charles Saatchi in proceedings against a former trusted advisor in relation to misappropriations relating to Mr Saatchi’s famous art collection. In 2019, Hugh acted for the film and music business Entertainment One in fraud proceedings relating to secret commissions paid to senior employees. Between 2018 and 2019, he was involved in Arcelormittal v Essar Steel, a huge claim arising out of efforts to enforce an underlying arbitration between two steel manufacturing giants. In 2018 he led one of the defence teams in Accident Exchange v McLean & ors, a £127 million conspiracy claim brought by a firm of credit hire providers against experts and solicitors previously involved in litigation against the credit hire providers.
Examples of Hugh’s cases are listed under “Areas of Expertise” below, but to give an idea of the range and depth of his practice, the following is a selection of the issues dealt with in recent cases not already mentioned:
For many years, Hugh was principally involved in the BTA Bank v Ablyazov litigation, culminating in leading his client's defence in a 14 week trial in the Commercial Court reported at [2013] EWHC 510 (Comm)).
Hugh's offshore caseload spans insolvency, fraud and breach of director’s duties (Isle of Man and Bermuda), trusts and banking (Jersey and Guernsey) in recent years.
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BA, Worcester College, Oxford
Dip. Law (Distinction), City University, London
LLM, Corporate & Commercial Law (Distinction), Kings College, London
Commercial Bar Association
Chancery Bar Association
Basic Spanish and French
Hugh Norbury appears on the BSB reigster as Hugh Robert Norbury.
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