Source: http://www.serlecourt.co.uk/our-people/profile/rupert-reed-qc
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 16:29:23+00:00

Document:
Rupert was appointed as a QC in 2014, having won ‘Chancery Junior of the Year' at the Chambers Bar Awards in 2013. In the same year he was included in the Chambers 100: UK Bar list of the top 100 junior barristers across all fields. He has been repeatedly identified as a ‘Leader of the Bar' in Chambers Global since 2014.
He has a broad commercial and financial disputes practice, with a focus on agreements arising out of property investment, finance, development and management, as well as wider fraud, banking and shareholder disputes.
His practice in England is primarily in the Commercial Court and Chancery Division of the High Court and the Court of Appeal. He has a substantial overseas practice before arbitral tribunals and in the courts of offshore jurisdictions, in particular the Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC) Courts. His international work commonly involves issues as to interim injunctive relief, jurisdiction, applicable law and cross-border enforcement.
Rupert has an established reputation in cases in the Middle East and in London involving parties from the Gulf and wider MENA region. He is fluent in French and has a working knowledge of Arabic, and has significant experience of issues of law and practice arising in Saudia Arabia, as well as the UAE, Egypt and other civil law jurisdictions.
Rupert has acted as lead counsel, and been appointed as arbitrator, in arbitrations seated in London and Dubai under the LCIA, LCIA-DIFC, ICC, DIAC and LMAA Rules as well as ad hoc arbitrations in the Middle East.
He also takes professional negligence and indemnity work for both claimants and defendants across a broad range of professionals, including solicitors, barristers, IFAs, company directors, and property professionals.
Rupert's work and reputation have been widely recognised in Chancery Commercial practice in Chambers Global, in Chancery Commercial, Real Estate Litigation and Professional Negligence in Chambers UK Bar Guide, in Property Litigation and Banking and Finance in The Legal 500 and in Real Estate in Who's Who Legal: UK Bar.
Rupert is identified in Chambers UK Bar 2018 as a leader at the Bar in Chancery Commercial litigation, and has been recommended in that field by Chambers UK Bar and in banking and finance litigation by Legal 500.
In his early Commercial practice, he was involved in very substantial Commercial Court cases including the Equitable Life and Patarkatsishvili / Berezovsky litigation. Much of his commercial practice is focused on contracts relating to property development, investment and finance.
A significant part of his court work has an international dimension, for example in relation to international commercial arbitration and in dealing with disputes relating to investments from the Middle East in property and related funds in Europe and the UK. His work commonly involves allegations of fraud, corruption, breach of AML regulations, conspiracy, breach of fiduciary duty, and negligence. He is often instructed on the interim applications, including for urgent relief, that arise in such litigation.
Part of his commercial work arises from disputes within companies, partnerships and other joint ventures, often concerned with property development projects.
He has a related specialisation in directors duties from his years of prosecuting company directors’ disqualification cases while on the Treasury panel and he still acts in a significant number of shareholder and partnership disputes.
Rupert does an increasing amount of banking and finance work, extending to trade finance and Islamic finance written in London and the Middle East. Much of this work requires a detailed knowledge of the relevant financial services and regulatory regimes.
He acts very regularly on commercial claims in the Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC) Courts. He has edited four editions of a Commentary on the Rules of the DIFC Court that is widely used in the Dubai legal community.
Acting with Clyde & Co in obtaining the setting aside of default judgment for the winding-up of a JAFZA-registered joint venture company incorporated for a substantial commercial property development in onshore Dubai: Grand Valley General Trading LLC v. GGICO Sunteck Ltd  DIFC CFI 044 (27 December 2018).
Acting with Norton Rose Fulbright for a Canadian internet gaming entrepreneur in defending claims for USD 40 million based on fraud allegations made in DIFC proceedings relating to equity commitment letters filed in support of a ‘go private’ bid to acquire Amaya Inc: KBC Aldini Capital Ltd v. (1) Davie Baazov (2) Canaccord Genuity Corp  DIFC CFI 002 (14 October 2018).
Acting with Al Tamimi in defending claims to USD 36 million of lost revenue to a Dubai company owned by a Lebanese healthcare group alleged to have been caused by breaches by the Oman Insurance Company PSC (‘OIC’) of a third party administration agreement under which the OIC’s healthcare insurance was to be administered: Globemed Gulf Healthcare Solutions LLC v. Oman Insurance Company PSC  DIFC CFI 051.
Acting with Freshfields for a major Saudi conglomerate in successfully resisting FedEx’s application for an Anti-Suit Injunction to prevent the Saudi conglomerate from pursuing §1782 proceedings in the US for document disclosure and witness deposition: Federal Express International Inc v. Abdul Latif Jameel Transportation Co Ltd  DIFC CFI 038 (15 July 2018).
Acting with Simmons & Simmons and Lalive for a wife of the late King Fahd of Saudi Arabia in having struck out certain restitutionary and other claims made in the English Courts by a Liechtenstein foundation to London assets on alleged grounds that the transfer of those assets was invalid as a matter of Liechtenstein, Saudi and Shari’a law: Asturion Foundation v Her Highness Princess Al Jawharah bint Ibrahim Abdulaziz al Ibrahim .
Acting with Dentons for a Saudi retail group in the Commercial Court in challenging the validity of service of English proceedings in Saudi Arabia, in resisting an order for substituted service, and in defending claims for USD 5 million made on the basis that, by entering certain invoicing arrangements to make use of an existing credit line, the Saudi parent had become the purchaser of goods supplied to various of its subsidiaries: (1) Peter Black Footwear and Accessories Ltd (2) Visage v. Fawaz Abdullah Alhokair & Co SJSC .
Acting with Al Tamimi for an Indian educational entrepreneur and the holding company of a school in Ajman in obtaining and defending urgent injunctive relief against actions taken by the shareholder who was the local partner in that company: (1) Vinod Sharma (2) Avalon Global Education Services Ltd (3) Avalon Heights World Private School LLC v. Sheikh Khaled Saeed Humaid al Nuaimi  DIFC CFI 022 (24 April and 7 June 2018).
Acting with Cooke Young & Keidan for the former head of the family office of the late Prince Fahd bin Salman of Saudi Arabia in High Court proceedings in which the Claimant claims over £6 million in unpaid remuneration, expenses and commission owed on various Knightsbridge property developments pursued for the benefit of the family: Hussein v. Her Highness Princess Nouf Bint Khalid bin Abdullah al Saud .
Acting with Sherrards for the two principal groups of European investors in the North Kensington Gate propery development project in successfully obtaining summary judgment after a three-day hearing in the High Court on fraud claims brought against the former promoters of the project: Aurora Developments Ltd & Ors v Delta Holdings Limited & Ors:  EWHC 1047 (Ch).
Acting with KBH Kaanuun for the liquidators of various DIFC and US companies in successfully resisting a jurisdiction challenge brought by a Swiss bank in resisting claims by the liquidators to have certain pledges made by fraudulent directors declared invalid: (1) Orion Holdings Overseas Ltd (2) Orion Global Financial Services LLC (3) Orion Capital Ltd v. (1) Mohammed Abdel Khaleq Mohammad (2) Nidal Abdel Khaleq Mohammad (3) Privatbank Ihag Zurich QC  DIFC CFI 033 (8 February 2018).
Acting with Brown Rudnick for a major Saudi bank against a European bank on claims for breach of an agreement under which certain technical and advisory services were provided to the Saudi bank .
Acting for the Air Tanzania and the Government of Tanzania in the Commercial Court in successfully obtaining relief from sanction to permit the defence of claims for USD 30 million under the lease of an Airbus A320 and a guarantee on the grounds that they were executed without authority and in breach of Tanzanian procurement law: Wallis Trading Inc v. (1) Air Tanzania Company Ltd (2) The Government of the United Republic of Tanzania .
Acting with Shakespeare Martineau for an asset management company in the Noé Group in pursuing Commercial Court claims for £12 million from the vendor of the Winnersh Triangle business park for breaches of its obligations of good faith, of reasonable endeavours in assisting the Claimant’s due diligence, and of exclusivity relating to the Claimant’s intended acquisition of the business park: Capreon (UK) Ltd v. Winnersh Holdings LP .
Acting for a major Middle East retail group in DIFC-LCIA arbitral proceedings at the trial of claims brought under an alleged parent company guarantee of purchases made by its Spanish and UAE subsidiaries .
Acting with Clyde & Co for a joint venture party in obtaining and defending in the DIFC Court an injunction restraining an escrow agent from releasing Shares worth USD 85m under the terms of an escrow agreement; and successfully resisting a challenge by the other joint venture party to the jurisdiction of the DIFC Courts: Sunteck Lifestyles Ltd v. (1) Al Tamimi and Company Ltd and (2) Grand Valley General Trading LLC  DIFC CFI 048 (15 November 2017).
Acting with DWF for an angel investor in successfully resisting a freezing injunction and summary judgment of claims of his vicarious liability for the alleged fraud of another shareholder in the sale of a sports advertising company to US investors: (1) BHSC Global LLC and (2) BHSC Global Holdings LLC v. (1) Griffith (2) McKechnie  EWHC 2035 (Ch).

References: v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 §1782
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.