Alert 03.21.25
High Court of England and Wales Decision Clarifies “Lender Discretion”
Borrowers and lenders negotiating commercial loan agreements should use precise contractual language to avoid having terms implied into their agreements.
Clients have called him “Mr. Cool”—calm under fire, charming and clear-sighted in achieving client aims
Laurence specializes in complex business disputes, with an industry focus on technology and life sciences, and a geographic focus on India, Israel and North America.
Laurence acts for international clients in successfully resolving their complex and important business disputes. He is skilled in advising technology companies, including in the fintech, IT, crypto and telecoms sectors, and life sciences companies, including in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors. These disputes are often highly technical and commercially sensitive. Clients turn to Laurence for his strategic approach to achieving a commercial settlement without formal proceedings or, if not possible, to robustly conduct litigation or arbitration and obtain the optimum financial outcome.
Representative Experience
- Acted for India’s largest pharmaceutical company in a multi-million-dollar ICC arbitration concerning the extraction of opiates from poppy straw.
- Represented a transatlantic cryptocurrency business in numerous contentious matters, including obtaining an award in an ICC arbitration arising out of a lending and investment agreement for ETH coins worth $18m.
- Acted for a Canadian pharmaceutical company in a $150m ICC arbitration relating to a joint venture for the sale of a generic version of a cancer treatment drug.
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- Represented a major Israeli fintech company in an English Commercial Court claim concerning the overpayment of funds to a customer following a change in central bank currency rates.
- Represented a high-net-worth individual in an English Commercial Court shareholder dispute with an international multi-industrial conglomerate with investments in FMCG and commercial real estate.
- Acted for the Independent Reviewer of the high-profile voluntary compensation scheme arising out of the HBOS Reading fraud, running a team of 15 lawyers, and advising on over 50 case files.
- Represented White Tower 2006-3 PLC in an English Commercial Court professional negligence claim arising out of a GBP1.5 billion securitization.
Professional Highlights
- Recognized in The Legal 500 UK 2024 in both Premium Commercial Litigation and International Arbitration: “very competent and pleasant to work with.”
- Recognized for five years in a row (2019-2024) in the India Business Law Journal A-List of the top 100 India-focused lawyers in the world.
- Recognized in the India Business Law Journal as a "well known specialist in international arbitration as well as well as complex cross-border investigations … for his immense knowledge and foresight and his ability to handle disputes," and being "well clued into the Indian market and understanding the ropes, seemingly instinctively."
Education
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LL.M., University of Cambridge, 1995
M.A., University of Cambridge
B.A., University of Cambridge, 1995
Admissions
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England and Wales