Continuing its tradition, ALB highlights the accomplishments of offshore law firm dispute practitioners who have excelled in handling significant cases and delivering exceptional client service.
Click below to read the Q&As with some of the ranked lawyers:
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Joanne Collett
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Joanne Collett is a partner at Ogier’s Hong Kong office, specializing in restructuring and insolvency, and dispute resolution. With over 22 years of experience in insolvency, restructuring, and commercial litigation, Collett is one of the most seasoned offshore litigators in Asia. She has spent the past 12 years practising in Hong Kong, previously serving as a partner at Walkers in Hong Kong and earlier at Appleby in the Cayman Islands and Hong Kong. Collett’s expertise encompasses advising companies experiencing financial distress, creditors of offshore entities (both secured and unsecured), investors in offshore funds, and other shareholders in offshore entities. She is highly regarded for her insights into directors’ duties and corporate governance in relation to the risk of corporate and finance transactions, along with significant expertise in take private transactions (including the exercise of dissent rights for merger transactions). Key cases in her career include acting as Cayman Islands counsel for Oriente Group Limited in a pioneering application for Restructuring Officers under the new Cayman legislation. This case involved complex considerations of the new framework and cross-border issues due to parallel proceedings in Hong Kong. Another notable case involved MIE Holdings Corporation, where Collett secured provisional liquidators for a $248 million scheme of arrangement and Chapter 15 recognition. The case was distinguished by its novel conditional discharge of provisional liquidators. In addition, she represented a syndicate of banks in a $324 million margin loan debt case related to the shareholders of Luckin Coffee, involving multiple winding-up proceedings across Cayman and BVI, and Cayman Islands and BVI counsel to Hong Kong Airlines with respect to its US$6.2 million debt restructuring. She is currently acting for the joint liquidators of Unigroup International Holdings and Tsinghua Unigroup Inter-national, which are both companies incorporated in the BVI with significant offshore USD-denominated debt.
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Justin Davis
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Justin Davis is a partner in Ogier’s dispute resolution and restructuring and corporate recovery team based in Hong Kong. With over two decades of post-qualification experience, Davis’s legal career includes over 15 years’ practice as a commercial barrister in London and four years working in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), where he frequently appeared in the BVI Commercial Court and the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal. At Ogier, Davis has led notable cases that demonstrate his adept handling of complex multi-jurisdictional matters. One of his major cases involves representing the joint liquidators of Three Arrows Capital (3AC), Christopher Farmer and Russell Crumpler of Teneo (BVI). The collapse of 3AC, a significant event in the crypto financial market, was precipitated by the implosion of Terra and Luna, which caused massive defaults and the liquidation of 3AC’s positions. The liquidation process encompasses numerous creditors and multi-jurisdictional proceedings, with debts exceeding $3 billion and assets primarily comprising disputed crypto assets. Davis is also leading an ongoing complex shareholder dispute in the BVI which also involves ongoing arbitration proceedings and valuable intellectual property assets in the PRC. Ogier’s client, in her capacity as a registered minority shareholder and improperly ousted director of a BVI company, has issued unfair prejudice proceedings against the BVI company and its two alleged directors (including the majority shareholder). One of the central disputes underpinning the proceedings is the validity of various share subscription agreements governed by PRC law and subject to arbitration in Shanghai. Consequently, three related arbitration proceedings are ongoing in the PRC, and Ogier works closely with both the client and PRC counsel.
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Edwin Gomez
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Edwin Gomez is a counsel in Ogier’s restructuring and corporate recovery team based in Hong Kong. Since joining Ogier in 2016, Gomez has been an integral part of the firm, achieving promotion to senior associate in 2019 and counsel in 2021. Specializing in Cayman Islands law (admitted in 2012) and BVI law (admitted in 2021), Gomez brings over 18 years of post-qualification experience, having initially qualified in England & Wales in 2005. One of Gomez’s major cases involves representing the joint liquidators of Three Arrows Capital (3AC), Christopher Farmer and Russel Crumpler of Teneo (BVI). The collapse of 3AC, caused by extreme fluctuations in cryptocurrencies in 2022, has led to multi-jurisdictional proceedings with debts exceeding $3 billion and assets primarily comprising disputed crypto assets. In another significant case, Gomez acts on behalf of FamilyMart China Holding as Cayman counsel in its shareholding dispute with China CVS (Cayman Islands) Holding Corporation (CCH). This complex case involves inspectorship proceedings and a petition to wind up CCH on just and equitable grounds. The matter saw a landmark ruling by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council on the arbitrability of winding up petitions in the Cayman Islands. Gomez also represents the joint official liquidators of CW Group Holdings Limited. Acting as Cayman counsel for Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited and Fubon Bank (Hong Kong) Limited, Ogier advises the joint liquidators from PwC on the liquidation process, over-seeing multi-jurisdictional proceedings and investigations related to the case.
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Oliver Payne
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Oliver Payne is a partner at Ogier’s Hong Kong office and serves as the head of dispute resolution in Asia. Joining Ogier Cayman from Herbert Smith in 2009, Payne has been pivotal in expanding Ogier’s Disputes and Restructuring & Insolvency (R&I) practice in the Asian market. Since his promotion to partner in 2016, he has overseen the growth of the team from three to 16 members. One of Payne’s significant cases involves acting for the joint liquidators of Three Arrows Capital Ltd (3AC). Ogier, as BVI Counsel, was crucial in the application to appoint joint provisional liquidators and the subsequent winding-up proceedings against 3AC. Payne continues to advise on this multi-jurisdictional liquidation process, which involves debts exceeding $3 billion and a substantial amount of crypto-assets. Payne is also representing Water-wood O2O Project Limited in Cayman fair value proceedings related to a $125 million investment in Xiaodu Life Technology. This case, notable for its scale, went to trial earlier this year. In another high-profile matter, Payne acts for FamilyMart China Holding, regarding its shareholding in China CVS (Cayman Islands) Holding Corporation. This case recently saw a landmark decision by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council on the interplay between arbitration clauses and just and equitable winding-up proceedings in the Cayman Islands. Additionally, Payne leads the team representing Tianrui (International) Holding Limited in a petition to wind up China Shanshui Cement Group Limited. This litigation has involved significant interlocutory issues and multiple appeals, reflecting Payne’s expertise in complex cross-border disputes.
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ALB ASIA TOP OFFSHORE LITIGATORS 2024 |
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Joanne Collett Justin Davis Edwin Gomez Norman Hau Jeremy Lightfoot Anna Lin Ian Mann James Noble Oliver Payne Nicola Roberts Helen Wang Matthew Watson |
