Signature Litigation LLP

Senior Partner: Graham Huntley

Number of partners: 26

Number of other UK fee-earners: 32

THE FIRM

Signature is a law firm founded in 2012 by senior lawyers with many years’ experience in leading international practices, high-value commercial litigation and arbitration. Headquartered in London and with offices in Paris, Frankfurt and Gibraltar, Signature Litigation was founded to meet the increased demand for advice and support in complex cases from independent and highly experienced litigators, where the dedication of a niche specialist firm yields results.

Signature is a law firm best known as a new model commercial and financial market litigation practice with a unique ‘all-member’ economic structure. Signature Litigation has developed and implemented the first truly transparent, non-discretionary and universally applicable profit-sharing structure in the legal market. Signature Litigation has no transactional practice, and therefore very few conflicts of interest, and none of the distractions which come with a multi-practice law firm with offices across many jurisdictions.

MAIN AREAS OF PRACTICE

Arbitration: 15%

Contentious Regulatory: 15%

Litigation: 70%

PRINCIPAL AREAS OF WORK

Litigation: Signature is a law firm operating on a conflict free platform, which means that the firm is broadly unconstrained in who it can act for and against. Signature is a law firm that offers clients, who are involved in disputes on both sides of the customer/institutional relationship, access to high quality expertise from lawyers who have significant experience in handling all sides of such disputes. Main areas of practice include: banking and financial markets litigation; commercial litigation; trusts and funds management litigation; investor protection claims; and professional negligence litigation.

International Arbitration: Signature Litigation’s International Arbitration team comprises specialist practitioners across all its offices. The team has substantial experience in commercial arbitration and investment treaty arbitration, acting for clients on high value and complex international arbitrations pursuant to various institutional rules including LCIA, ICC, DIS, ICSID, UNCITRAL, SCC, DIAC, HKIAC, SIAC and CIETAC.

CIS Disputes: Signature Litigation has a highly developed platform across its firm for specialist, focussed, advice to clients involved in CIS related disputes. With extensive experience of utilising CIS litigators, including in trials in London, Paris and Gibraltar. Signature Litigation is able to offer clients in the CIS region high quality advice which truly understands their needs.

Civil Fraud: Signature Litigation has extensive experience in investigating, initiating and defending a broad spread of civil fraud claims including in trials in its jurisdictions. Signature Litigation has acted for a number of clients and other professionals, including foreign lawyers, forensic accountants, private investigators and IT specialists, and liaises with criminal and regulatory authorities on their behalf.

Insolvency Litigation: Signature Litigation’s insolvency litigation practice is based on significant experience of representing a wide spectrum of clients - creditors, investors, debtors and officeholders - across a range of complex disputes. The practice also regularly undertakes matters in relation to contentious restructuring, bringing and defending claims before the Courts.

Insurance & Reinsurance: Signature Litigation’s insurance and reinsurance practice focusses on complex international insurance disputes. Combining the expertise in its London and Paris offices, Signature Litigation has acted for some of the leading insurers and reinsurers on high value disputes, particularly in Europe, Latin America, the Mediterranean basin, Asia and West Africa.

Product Liability Litigation: Signature Litigation’s product liability law practice is led from its Paris office and focusses on assisting major entities with every compliance issue that may arise with regulators, suppliers or consumers. The law firm advises clients on all aspects of liability following their products from the day they are designed until they are placed on the market, and handles disputes in France and in London.

Trusts & Funds Management Litigation: Complex international trust arrangements and fund management disputes are at the heart of much of the firm’s work, particularly in London and Gibraltar. Some of those arrangements involve formal trust structures in offshore jurisdictions, whilst others involve disputes arising out of informal trust relationships. The firm also advises regularly on the applicability of constructive trusts to the proceeds of fraud. Gibraltar in particular focusses on claims brought for directions brought by trustees and breach of trusts claims brought by beneficiaries. Signature Litigation practitioners have been involved in the almost all high value contentious trusts and estates matters before the Gibraltar Courts at all levels.

White Collar Crime & Regulatory Investigations: Signature Litigation has deep experience in dealing with regulatory disputes in the financial sector and conducting corporate investigations. The firm also advises clients in connection with investigations initiated by the FCA and SFO in the United Kingdom, the Financial Services Commission in Gibraltar and, in France, the anti-corruption agency, the AFA. Signature is also experienced in dealing with investigations brought by the relevant authorities in Germany. In Gibraltar the firm has acted for the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission in appeals brought against it by regulated entities in relation to the enforcement powers of the regulator.

Offices

London:

Signature Litigation LLP

138 Fetter Lane EC4A 1BT

Tel: +44 (0)20 3818 3500

Paris:

Signature Litigation AARPI

AARPI 49/51 Avenue George V 75008

Tel: +33 (0)1 70 75 58 00

Gibraltar:

Signature Litigation (Gibraltar) Limited

7 Governor’s Street GX11 1AA

Tel: +350 200 10 900

Frankfurt:

Signature Litigation PartG mbB

Junghofstraße 16, 7. OG

60311 Frankfurt am Main

Tel: +49 6996 755 360