William Redgrave

Practice Areas

William has extensive experience in civil litigation including obtaining creative and effective freezing and disclosure orders in support of both Jersey and overseas litigation.

Career

William has specialised in courtroom advocacy since being called to the English Bar 25 years ago. He was called to the Jersey Bar in 2010. He appears in many major trust and commercial disputes in Jersey. He specialises in obtaining freezing and disclosure orders to assist in tracing and preserving assets, in support of both Jersey and overseas claims.

He represents the Plaintiff in Sheyko v Consolidated Minerals Limited, a substantial breach of contract claim involving a Jersey mining company that was bought by a Chinese company. He successfully argued, both before the Master and on appeal to the Royal Court, that the entire defence case should be struck out because of substantial discovery failures, including a failure to obtain material stored on the personal phones of the principals of the company in China.

He acts for Geoffrey Crill, a Jersey advocate, in a substantial dispute between former colleagues in a law firm over whether shareholders received an undervalue for their shares in a local trust company. Conspiracy to defraud is alleged.

He acts for Emirates NBD Bank PJSC in successful asset tracing in Jersey involving the use of disclosure and gagging and freezing orders to identify substantial assets of a judgment debtor.

He continues to act for BNP Paribas Jersey Trust Corporation in litigation arising from the long-running Crociani v Crociani breach of trust litigation, including proceedings in which an Italian princess was found guilty of contempt and fined a record £2m, currently the subject of an application to the Privy Council for leave to appeal.

He represented the Plaintiffs in MB & Services v UC Rusal PLC, a $1bn conspiracy claim in which the issues included whether a fair trial can be had in Russia against a company associated with a Kremlin-friendly oligarch. The Court (upheld on appeal) ruled that a fair trial would not happen in Russia and that the claim must be tried in Jersey.

He acted in a judicial review against the Jersey police in respect of the indefinite freeze of $16m following the making of a suspicious activity report: Prospective Applicant v Chief Officer States of Jersey Police. He continues to advise in a number of cases involving funds that are subject to withholding of police consent and has written articles on the subject.

He prosecuted the Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank for anti-money laundering breaches, resulting in a substantial fine. In 2021 he advised on the successful prosecution of a Jersey trust company for a similar offence involving suspected corruption in Angola.