Richard Lewis

Richard Lewis

Partner Litigation, Arbitration, and Employment

London

+44 20 7296 5038

[email protected]

Richard Lewis

Overview
Experience
Credentials
Insights and events

'recommended for CIS-related disputes'
Legal500

Widely recognised as a leader in his field, Richard is ranked by both Chambers & Partners and the Legal 500, in which he is described as a "peerless" and a "tactical wizard". As a partner in our dispute resolution department, Richard focuses on high value and complex cross-border litigation. He has extensive experience in general commercial litigation and civil fraud, including worldwide freezing injunctions and other powerful asset preservation relief.

Richard has acted on some of the most high profile disputes to come before the English courts in the past fifteen years, including acting for the Ukrainian bank, PrivatBank, in its $3 billion fraud claim against its former owners, Igor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov. Richard has a particular focus on post-judgment enforcement, and currently acts for Kazakhstan Kagazy in its attempts to enforce a $300 million judgment against Maksat Arip. Richard also acts for Kazakh bank, BTA, on the ground-breaking dispute against its former Chairman, Mukhtar Ablyazov, who was found to have misappropriated funds running to billions of dollars.

Whilst having acted on significant disputes in a wide-range of fields, Richard has particular experience in the fields of banking and mining, having also acted for the Kazakh mining conglomerate, ENRC, in a dispute concerning a major iron ore project in Brazil. Richard is known for being hard-working, determined, tenacious and highly commercial and comes recommended by Chambers & Partners and Legal 500.

In the course of his enforcement work, Richard regarlarly deals with issues relating to the movement and freezing of cryptocurrencies and other crypto-assets, and has authored a number of articles on the subject.

'recommended for CIS-related disputes'
Legal500

Representative experience

Acting for PJSC PrivatBank against Igor Kolomoisky, Gennady Bogolyubov and others in a fraud dispute in the Chancery Division. The Bank claims for $1.9bn in principal, together with interest running to well over $1bn, taking the total size of the claim over $3bn. The Bank obtained a landmark decision in the Court of Appeal in October 2019, confirming the English court’s jurisdiction to hear the claim which went to trial in late-2023.

Acting for JSC BTA Bank in multi-jurisdictional fraud claims since 2009 against its former Chairman and his associates and family members. The Bank's claims ran to over US$6bn and involved proceedings in England, the BVI, Cyprus, Seychelles, Russia, Ukraine and many others.

Acting for prominent Ukrainian businessman, Victor Pinchuk, against two other Ukrainian businessmen in US$2bn dispute in English Commercial Court relating to iron ore mine in Ukraine.