Lara Robson
Dealing with high value, complex disputes for individuals and leading companies across a number of jurisdictions, Lara brings technical expertise combined with an incisive and strategic approach to managing and resolving disputes to achieve results.
Her focus is on achieving commercially sensible results for clients by finding the best solution for the particular circumstances.
As a higher court advocate she represents clients in a variety of hearings in the High Court as well as working closely with specialist and leading barristers to bring the right team to each case to achieve the client’s desired outcome. She is experienced in managing and coordinating proceedings in other jurisdictions around the world including the USA, British Virgin Islands, Barbados, Switzerland, Turkey, Hong Kong amongst others.
Lara works seamlessly with foreign lawyers, investigators, communications experts and forensic accountants to solve problems and deliver solutions for her clients.
Lara’s practice covers the full range of high value commercial disputes in both litigation and arbitration including shareholder disputes, breach of contract, professional negligence and fraud claims in a range of sectors including finance, real estate, technology and leisure. Lara also advises in respect of bribery, corruption and risk issues.
RECENT MATTERS AND TRANSACTIONS
- Acting for claimants in a £350 million worldwide hotel dispute including successfully obtaining urgent injunctive relief and dealing with simultaneous proceedings in London, New York, BVI and Hong Kong
- Acting for a BVI company in respect of an attempted auction of a US$300 million debt in New York
- Acting for a technology rainmaker against UK and US technology companies in respect of a multimillion pound claim for commission and equity
- Acting for a number of high net worth individuals against banks and financial institutions including an entrepreneur in a €150 million claim against a bank for fraud and breach of guarantee
- Advised a property investment company on claims arising out of misrepresentations by a bank
- Acting for a high net worth individual in a non-performance claim against a bank
- Acting for a property investment company in a claim for mis-selling of interest rate swap products against a bank
- Advising high net worth individuals on potential claims against a bank for breaches of duty of care and negligence
- Acted for a high end holiday lettings company in defending a claim for an injunction in respect of ownership of a website and brand and achieved an excellent settlement
- Obtained summary judgment for a software solutions supplier against an air travel company
- Acted for a multi-national IT consultancy on a claim brought by its subcontractor and achieved a good settlement for the client prior to trial
- Acted for a director and shareholder in a UK start-up subsidiary of an Italian retail company, advising on a range of claims including wrongful termination and breach of contract
- Acted for several directors in an action against solicitors for negligence in handling employment claims and achieved a good pre-action settlement
- Acted for a high net worth individual in a professional negligence claim against a boat surveyor and achieved a good settlement
- Advised a property solicitor in defending a negligence claim
- Spent six months on secondment with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, prosecuting complaints of negligence against nurses and midwifes on behalf of the regulator
- Achieved prompt settlements in a range of recruitment related claims including developing precedent documents to enable the provision of a more efficient and effective service to recruitment agencies
- Achieved a good settlement and successfully defeated a million pound claim for use of confidential information for a high net worth individual
- Acted for a large recruitment company in bringing springboard injunction proceedings against an ex-employee for breach of restrictive covenants, use of confidential information and breach of copyright claims
- Acting for directors in breach of contract claims following termination
- Acting for an international engineering company on an arbitration claim arising out of construction of an oilfield
- Acting for families and private individuals in respect of fraudulent investments and “Ponzi” schemes including obtaining freezing injunctions and tracing assets
- Acting for a subcontractor in a multi-party claim for defective works by the end client
- Acted for a high end interiors retailer defending claims by commercial agents
- Secured a commercial result for an international engineering client on a cross border million dollar dispute with a Singaporean sub-contractor by issuing a strategic application to challenge jurisdiction, gaining the client 6 months delay and enabling a settlement to be achieved
- Act for several high end London casinos in multi-million pound claims including obtaining freezing injunctions in cross border cases, summary judgment and achieving good commercial settlements
- Assisted an international motor-sport team in defending a multi-million pound claim by another international motor-sport team using a range of tactics and strategies to meet the client’s objective of delaying the proceedings
- Acted for liquidators in claims against directors including fraudulent trading, wrongful trading, transactions at an undervalue and transactions defrauding creditors in mainly cross-border claims including dealing with related service issues and applications
- Obtained winding up orders in compulsory liquidations and following administration
- Dealt with the full range of applications arising out of liquidations
- Obtained a £54m judgment against fraudulent traders and enforced it in the Dutch Antilles
- Acted in several MTIC fraud cases
- Advising global, multi-jurisdictional, businesses and individuals on bribery, SFO, cyber security and compliance issues
- Acting for an Eastern European company in respect of claims arising out of a €85 million financing deal with a number of European banks
- Acting for directors in defending claims of fiduciary duties, misfeasance, conspiracy, transactions at an undervalue and breach of confidence
- Advising a New York listed company in respect of arbitration claims in Nigeria and the Philippines
- Advising on complex, multi-jurisdictional trust litigation arising out of a £50 million High Court judgment including dealing with constructive trusts, freezing injunctions and fraudulent transfers
QUALIFICATIONS
- Higher Rights of Audience, February 2012, Kaplan Altior
- Diploma in Advanced Litigation, February 2009, Nottingham Law School
- Diploma in Legal Practice, July 2005, Cardiff University
- Graduate Diploma in Law, July 2003, Oxford Brookes University
- BA(Hons) in Modern History, July 2002, St Hilda’s College, University of Oxford