Sinead O’Callaghan

Cases of Note

• Commission Recovery Limited v Marks & Clerk LLP and Long Acre Renewals [2024]: acting for the Defendants in a representative action pursuant to CPR 19.8 relating to commission arrangements for IP renewal services.  This was the first commercially funded claim issued pursuant to CPR 19.8 which was allowed to proceed,

• Topalsson GmbH v Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd [2022] – [2024]: acting for Topalsson in respect of its claim for breach of a contract for the development and deployment of a ‘configurator’ for Rolls-Royce’s car models. The configurator was intended to be a piece of software which would allow customers and dealers to customise cars with photorealistic 3D models in real-time.   The CYK team went on to successfully defend an application for an anti suit injunction sought by Rolls-Royce in respect of IP infringement proceedings brought in California.

• Confidential Arbitration Proceedings [2024]. Acting for a renewable energy group in proceedings under the ICC rules.

• Morina and Others v Scherbakova and Others (Re Estate of Vladimir Alekseyevich Scherbakov) [2022]: acting for beneficiaries in complex high value international probate litigation with proceedings in England, Belgium and various other jurisdictions.

• Representing an Additional Party in arbitration proceedings seeking interpleader relief in respect of contractual commission payments brought under the LCIA rules.

• Confidential Arbitration Proceedings [2023] – [2024].  Representing shareholders in a joint venture dispute concerning an Angolan oil project governed by the UNCITRAL arbitration rules.

• Aries GNH (Operations) Ltd v Robson Asset Management Manco Ltd [2020]: successfully defending a winding up petition brought off the back of a complex structured finance transaction involving a number of cross-collateralising and cross-defaulting loans.

• A and B  -v- C, D and E [2020] EWCA Civ 409 and [2020] EWHC 258 (Comm): acting for the successful appellants in the Court of Appeal and Commercial Court in an application under s. 44 Arbitration Act 1996 to compel the evidence of a non-party witness in aid of a New York arbitration.

• Confidential Arbitration Proceedings [2020].  Representing a major African parastatal in relation to a $500m+ dispute brought under the UNCITRAL arbitration rules before a distinguished three-member tribunal.

• Re Infund LLP: [2018] EWHC 1306 (Ch); [2019] EWCA Civ 1673: Proceedings ancillary to a US$2billion share dispute in Mexico. The English Court (to the Court of Appeal) considered for the first time the meaning of certain statutory provisions applying to both companies and LLPs in the context of an administrative restoration. The Court determined that it had the power to reverse the restoration of an LLP in certain circumstances.

• CMOC Sales & Marketing Ltd v Persons Unknown & 30 others [2018] EWHC 2230 (Comm): acting for international commodities business subject to a sophisticated Business Email Compromise fraud. Obtained first-known reported worldwide freezing injunction against ‘Persons Unknown’.

• Mazarona Properties Ltd v Financial Ombudsman Service [2017]: This case concerned the ability of the FCA to police the review process that it set up with various banks in relation to the sale of interest rate hedging products.

• O’Hare & Anor v Coutts & Co [2016]:  This case centred on the alleged mis-selling of investment products to the O’Hares by their former financial advisors, Coutts & Co. The case was of particular interest for the way that it examined the scope of the duty of care in negligence owed by financial advisors.

• Confidential Emergency Arbitration Proceedings [2012]: In December 2012, Sinead was involved in successfully defending emergency arbitrator proceedings in the energy sector under the ICC rules. This was the first set of proceedings of this kind following the introduction of the ICC emergency arbitrator rules in January 2012. The emergency arbitration proceedings were followed by substantive ICC arbitration proceedings.

• RBS v Highland Financial Partners LP & Ors [2010] and [2012]: A widely reported banking litigation case relating to a €500 million CDO issue of securities and the subsequent liquidation/valuation of the portfolio following the Autumn 2008 financial crash. The bank was subjected to strong judicial criticism for conducting a “sham” auction of leveraged loans and was found to have lied to and deceived its counterparty. On the back of the 2010 Judgment, in early 2011 Highland commenced proceedings in Texas against RBS for, inter alia, fraud, seeking damages of at least $100 million. This step prompted RBS to seek and obtain an interim anti suit injunction from the English Commercial Court which was rejected as a result of Highland’s successful arguments.

• North Shore Ventures Limited v Anstead Holdings Inc & Ors [2010] (First Instance) and [2011] (Court of Appeal): Defending a very high value claim brought in the Commercial Court by a company whose shares were owned by the Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky. The case considered the extent to which a lender is under a duty to disclose unusual facts to a prospective guarantor and whether the failure to do so renders a guarantee void.

• Sinead acted on a pro bono basis for Justice, a leading civil liberties organisation, in respect of its intervention in the House of Lords appeal in R (on the application of Corner House Research and others) v Director of the Serious Fraud Office [2008]. This was a judicial review of the decision of the Serious Fraud Office to halt investigations into alleged bribery on the part of BAE Systems Plc in respect of a Saudi arms deal.