Elizabeth Meade

“Elizabeth is a Partner specialising in financial services, technology and crypto disputes and contentious regulatory matters. She has been recognised as having “great insights and instincts, coupled with excellent technical knowledge and a real desire to help her clients“

Elizabeth regularly represents high-net-worth individuals and SME clients in financial services, banking and technology related disputes, and has experience in advising clients subject to regulatory investigations. She also has a wide advisory practice relating to all aspects of the law and regulation of cryptoassets, regularly advising clients on the application of UK regulatory requirements to particular cryptofinance products and services, and representing crypto-businesses who are subject to FCA enquiries in this field.

Elizabeth also has a particular interest in civil fraud disputes. She has expertise in obtaining all manner of urgent injunctive relief, including freezing orders, disclosure orders, passport orders and search orders. She is interested in matters relating to cybercrime, and is experienced in litigation relating to cryptoassets. She acts for the victims of major cryptocurrency thefts and has successfully obtained disclosure orders against crypto-currency exchanges to aid in the tracing and recovery of stolen assets. She has also advised respondent exchanges.

While practising in New Zealand, Elizabeth gained experience in the insolvency, recoveries and enforcement area, representing both insolvency practitioners and major government clients. In addition to her civil experience, Elizabeth worked as a Crown prosecutor in New Zealand, conducting jury trials and other criminal hearings as Counsel.

Background

Elizabeth, a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand, joined Cooke, Young & Keidan in November 2017. Previously, she was a senior solicitor at Meredith Connell, the Office of the Crown Solicitor in Auckland, New Zealand. She began her career as a solicitor at Russell McVeagh in New Zealand.

Elizabeth graduated from the University of Otago with a First Class Honours degree in Law and a Bachelor of Science majoring in Pharmacology. She holds a Master of Laws from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

What the legal directories say

The Chambers & Partners 2024 and 2025 Fintech Guides ranked Elizabeth as an “Associate to Watch” for cryptoasset disputes.

She is described as “highly effective at managing cases that could get out of control”, “acutely aware of what the client needs”, “always on top of the detail and a huge asset to any team”, “a fantastic lawyer – highly responsive, attentive to detail and very pragmatic” and as having “great insights and instincts, coupled with excellent technical knowledge and a real desire to help her clients”.

Elizabeth is consistently named as a Key Lawyer by Legal 500 for Civil Fraud (2024 – 2026), Financial Services: Contentious (2023, 2025 – 2026), Commercial Litigation: Premium (2024 – 2025) and Banking Litigation: Investment and Retail (2026).

She is described in the Legal 500 (2025) as being “very approachable and on top of the detail” and “an incredibly bright and hardworking senior associate, who has a phenomenal eye for the detail.” The Legal 500 (2026) notes that she “works ferociously hard without ever losing her calm, confident exterior” and describes her as being “exceptional” with “very strong knowledge of technology and hands on” and as a “first-rate operator” in the financial services advisory and non-advisory space.

Professional Groups

Elizabeth is a committee member of the Tech Disputes Network and the SCL Women in Technology Law group. She is also the co-founder of the New Zealand Litigators’ Group, a network for New Zealand qualified practitioners working in the London disputes market.

Speaking engagements

Panellist, ‘Courtroom Crypto: Recent Developments in Crypto Litigation’, CFAAR & Tech Disputes Network, London (September 2025)

Panellist, ‘Unleashing AI or Restraining It? A Counterpoint for Practitioners’, American Arbitration Association ICDR Future Dispute Resolution Conference, The Hague (June 2025)

Panellist, ‘Disputes in The Era of Sanctions & Intermediary Liability for AML Negligence’, ThoughtLeaders4Fire, Portugal (May 2024)

Panellist, ‘Digital Assets, What’s in it for me?’, The Broker Club, London (May 2024)

Panellist ‘This House Believes That Computers Will Make Better Lawyers Than Humans’, ThoughtLeaders4Diputes TDN Conference, London (April 2024)

Speaker, ‘Navigating Regulatory Waters’, StarkNet StarkCity London, London (March 2024)

Panellist, ‘Understanding the Obligations and Duties of a Crypto Exchange’, ThoughtLeaders4Disputes, London (June 2023)

Panellist, ‘Regulatory Ramifications in the Twilight of Crypto Bankruptcies and Bank Failures’, IWIRC Europe (May 2023)Panellist, ‘Claims against crypto exchanges’, ThoughtLeaders4Disputes, London (October 2022)

Panellist, ‘Tech Law in Practice: Tech Disputes and Current Concerns’, SCL Annual Conference 2022 (September 2022)

Panellist, ‘Wirecard – Money Men: A Hot Startup, a Billion Dollar Fraud, a Fight for the Truth’, ThoughtLeaders4FIRE, London (July 2022)

Opposition Speaker, ‘This House believes that cryptocurrencies and NFTs are a hyped-up fad’, English Speaking Union Debate, London (May 2022)

Panellist, ‘Don’t bank on it – Old targets, new claims and how technology has made banks vulnerable to litigation’, Tech on FIRE, London (April 2022)

Panellist, ‘Juggling multiple defendants in fraud litigation’, FIRE Starters Global Summit, Dublin (February 2022)

Panellist, ‘Hacked Off? Navigating your way through a ransomware attack’, Tech Disputes Network, London (November 2021)

Publications and articles

‘When Smart Contracts Go Wrong’ – Stephen Elam and Elizabeth Meade (Finextra.com, June 2022)

‘NFTs, the courts and the role of injunctions’ – Sam Roberts and Elizabeth Meade (Legalfutures.co.uk, June 2022)

‘Avoiding NFT phishing scams’ – Natalie Todd and Elizabeth Meade (ePrivateClient, June 2022)

‘Guarding against the fraud risks brought about from COVID-19’ – Sam Roberts and Elizabeth Meade (Med-Technews.com, October 2021)

 ‘Can we expect a rise in medtech fraud?’ – Elizabeth Meade (CYK Law, October 2021)

‘Ransomware attacks: Should ransom payments to hackers be banned in the UK under legislation?’ – Elizabeth Meade (Finextra, August 2021)

‘What does the Garmin ransomware attack teach us about the future of ransomware and its legal implications?’ – Elizabeth Meade (CYK Tech, September 2020)

 ‘Corporate criminal liability: a step in the right direction?’ – Thomson Reuters: Regulatory Intelligence, co-author, March 2020

‘Eleventh Circuit overturn lower court ruling requiring arbitration in Florida’ – Matthew Gale and Elizabeth Meade (The Barrister, September 2018)’

Starting a civil fraud claim – a practical guide’ – Arish Bharucha and Elizabeth Meade (Lexis®PSL, March 2019)