04 May 2011
LG appoints insurance and reinsurance specialist David Breslin as its head of dispute resolution and Richard Miles as head of real estate
Lawrence Graham ("LG") has appointed insurance and reinsurance disputes partner David Breslin as head of the firm's Dispute Resolution group. He takes over from Andrew Witts who started his new role as senior partner on 1st May.
LG has also appointed Richard Miles practice group leader for Real Estate. He takes over from Rabinder Chaggar and Jon Lloyd who have held the post jointly for the last three years.
Richard Miles specialises in real estate investment (acquisitions, disposals and lettings) and all aspects of management of property, assets and portfolios. His clients include Legal & General, LV=, PAT (Pensions) and Stowe School.
Richard joined LG in 1988 as a trainee and has been a partner since 1998. He is a member of the Investment Property Forum.
Richard Miles, commented: "Real Estate is our largest practice group and it will be a pleasure to build still further on its reputation and success. Rabs and Jon have done an excellent job and I am looking forward to working with the whole team."
David Breslin is based in London and specialises in advising insurance and reinsurance companies, Lloyd's syndicates and intermediaries in High Court litigation, multi-party London market arbitrations and in international arbitration including Bermuda Form. He has particular expertise in financial risks insurance, including professional liability and D&O insurance products, and in marine and non-marine reinsurance coverage disputes. He joined LG in 2005 and was previously with Baker & McKenzie and Norton Rose.
David Breslin commented: "Under Andrew's leadership our team has won some exceptional mandates. We are operating at the highest level across the world on cases involving complex financial litigation, multi-jurisdictional fraud and asset recovery and high value insurance and reinsurance disputes work. I am looking forward to building on the team's achievements and to the continued success of the team in contributing to the growth and strength of LG in London and internationally."
LG's Dispute Resolution team has in recent years expanded considerably and is instructed on some of the world's highest profile international cases. The team now includes nine partners and 19 associates.
It is currently awaiting an important Supreme Court ruling. It is representing noteholders resisting the Lehman Brothers claim that the noteholder priority switching provisions of its $2 billion plus Dante series of synthetic CDO's, infringe the anti-deprivation principle by reducing the value of the assets available to the Lehman bankruptcy estate. The ruling will have important global implications for similar cases that are following the outcome.
The team is also currently advising the Government of Brazil in relation to the alleged corruption of Paulo Maluf, the former mayor of Sao Paulo. It is the largest and most wide-reaching corruption case undertaken by Brazil, involving several jurisdictions in the investigation and repatriation of stolen public funds.
Hugh Maule, managing partner, LG: "David and Richard both take over the leadership of two of our most successful and respected practice groups. We are all confident that they too will lead their teams to even greater achievements and I look forward to working with them going forward."