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Michael regularly appears in commercial courts in England & Wales (including the Business & Property Courts List) and international commercial courts at first instance and appellate levels.
In arbitrations, Michael has broad experience both as counsel and as arbitrator. As arbitrator, he has acted as sole arbitrator, panel-Chair, and panel-member. His experience includes arbitrations held under ICC, LCIA, DIFC-LCIA, DIAC and LMAA institutional rules, as well as in ad hoc arbitrations.
Michael’s specialist expertise in indirect taxation (VAT and excise duties) has been developed over some 20 years of practice.
Michael has a proven successful track-record of leading multi-national teams in litigation and arbitration, and is adept at working in civil law, as well as common law environments. Michael is a CEDR-trained mediator (accredited in 2015).
Key cases
As a “hands-on” practitioner, he is instructed in cases requiring detailed legal research and analysis. He has an ability to master complex factual circumstances and relishes getting to grips with a welter of evidence (e.g., acting as sole Counsel for a party in a case involving c. 400,000 pages of documents – which, physically, filled some 600 lever-arch files – and in which over 40 witnesses were called).
He has spent more than a decade building a strong professional profile in the Gulf. He is regularly retained to advise and act for parties in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) jurisdictions, particularly in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts (CFI and CA) and in the Abu Dhabi Global Markets (ADGM) jurisdiction (full details available on request).
He is a member of the Scientific Board of the MENA Business Law Review.
Areas of expertise
As a “hands-on” practitioner, he is instructed in cases requiring detailed legal research and analysis. He has an ability to master complex factual circumstances and relishes getting to grips with a welter of evidence (e.g., acting as sole Counsel for a party in a case involving c. 400,000 pages of documents – which, physically, filled some 600 lever-arch files – and in which over 40 witnesses were called).
He has spent more than a decade building a strong professional profile in the Gulf. He is regularly retained to advise and act for parties in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) jurisdictions, particularly in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts (CFI and CA) and in the Abu Dhabi Global Markets (ADGM) jurisdiction (full details available on request).
He is a member of the Scientific Board of the MENA Business Law Review.
Further information
Michael is a sought-after speaker at conferences and seminars on his areas of experience. In addition to in the UK, he has recently spoken at conferences and seminars in Germany, South Africa, UAE (Dubai and Abu Dhabi), Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, and Kazakhstan.
Academic Lectures
Over recent years, Michael has delivered a very well-received series of lectures on the DIFC Courts Law for the DIFC Academy. He has also given a module on costs in the DIFC Courts as part of a DIFC course on common law practice and procedure. Next month (July 2020), Michael will again be the lead presenter on VAT at the Summer Course on European Tax Law hosted by the European Law Academy (ERA), Trier, Germany. Michael has previously delivered the course to delegates in a lecture format in Trier, but the course will be delivered remotely this year. Michael is also developing a more extensive experiential learning course on contract drafting in conjunction with an international academy of law.