Catherine Naylor Partner

Catherine Naylor

Catherine Naylor is a partner in the commercial litigation team in London. She helps her clients to resolve the full range of domestic and international corporate and commercial disputes, particularly in the financial services sector.

Her work includes advising on high value fraud and asset tracing claims, complex banking litigation and contentious insolvency and trusts matters. Catherine heads up the firm's trusts litigation offering and leads the firm's Channel Islands desk.

Catherine's highlights include acting on a $330 million dispute arising from the Madoff Ponzi scheme scandal, where she achieved a commercial settlement for her professional clients.

Other highlights include defending a multi-million pound High Court claim for breach of duty and negligence for a professional services firm, advising a global financial services client in relation to a sensitive regulatory investigation and pursuing former directors of a corporate for their alleged misfeasance.

Catherine brings commerciality to her advice, having spent over four years prior to qualifying as a lawyer working in industry. This experience includes three years with a multi-national manufacturer and distributor, dealing with internal communications, crisis management, mergers and acquisitions and HR/employment issues.

Experience

• Successfully defending Equity Trust (Jersey) Limited and one of its former private client directors in High Court Chancery Division proceedings alleging fraudulent breach of fiduciary duty. Our clients won on all points: Carey Street Investments Ltd & Anor v Brown & Anor [2023] EWHC 968 (Ch).
• Acting for VRFB Holdings (a subsidiary of Bushveld Minerals) in its successful defence of a claim brought by its joint venture partner for alleged breach of a joint venture agreement. The case went to an expedited trial in the High Court in London and our client won on every point: Garnet Commerce Limited v VRFB Holdings Limited and another [2022] EWCH 481 (Ch).
• Acting for professional trustees in the largest recovery action by the joint liquidators of both the Madoff estate and the Kingate Funds, involving the defence of multiple proceedings brought in the US, Bermuda and England.
• Acting for a professional services client defending a multi-million pound High Court claim for breach of duty and negligence.
• Advising a global financial services client in relation to a sensitive regulatory investigation.
• Acting for one of the UK's leading healthcare recruiters in relation to a breach of restrictive covenant claim.
• Acting for a hospitality sector business to achieve the successful resolution of a dispute arising from alleged breaches of a share purchase agreement.
• Acting for Merrill Lynch Bank & Trust Company (Cayman) Limited and others in a successful appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council from the Cayman Islands.
• Acting for a software company in the Commercial Court trial of a complex patent and fraud dispute to be tried in the US.
• Advising an off-shore firm of lawyers in relation to a substantial professional negligence claim.