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Rich pickings (Pt I)

23 November 2012 / Louis Flannery KC
Issue: 7539 / Categories: Features , Commercial
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Louis Flannery analyses the latest saga in the oligarch wars taking place in the English courts

As a story, the case of Berezovsky v Abramovich had everything: sex; money; politics; power; mysterious deaths; shady deals in a top London hotel; corruption; and betrayal. As a legal battle, it also had everything: billions of dollars at stake; a massive trial, stretching over the best part of six months; stellar counsel, playing at the top of their game; legal fees said to have reached over £100m in total; a judge regarded as one of the best on the bench, and widely tipped for promotion; lying witnesses; and a good old-fashioned fight between two mightily rich men. Throw in a decent mix of legal issues and you have the dream court case.

Background: the end of Communism in Russia

The story really begins in the late 1980s and 1990s: a period of extraordinary upheaval in Russian history. During this period—as Russia ceased to be part of the Soviet Union—the political system, the centralised economy

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
Artificial intelligence may be revolutionising the law, but its misuse could wreck cases and careers, warns Clare Arthurs of Penningtons Manches Cooper in this week's NLJ
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
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