Gary is a Partner in the Dispute Resolution department. He is an international litigator who has specialised in complex commercial disputes involving dishonesty, fraud and corruption issues for over 44 years.
For the first 13 years of his career Gary worked in Hong Kong and headed up the Litigation Departments of two of the leading firms there. During this time Gary worked for the leading multi-national financial institutions in Asia, assisting them in asset recovery exercises and enforcing foreign judgments in Hong Kong and throughout Asia.
In 1991 Gary joined Mishcon de Reya and founded the Fraud Group which he led for over 15 years. He has pioneered the use of injunctions in the arena of asset recovery with particular emphasis on freezing assets, forcing disclosure of financial information and seizing evidence via search orders in order to force speedy resolutions of commercial disputes.
In the course of his asset tracing activities Gary has developed an in depth knowledge of the workings of the various offshore banking and trust jurisdictions which are habitually used by parties to conceal their assets. As a result Gary is regularly retained by clients who are seeking creative solutions to unwind or break-up complicated trust and asset sheltering structures in order to access secreted assets.
Gary also regularly advises organisations on how to protect themselves from bribery and corruption risks and assisting them in dealing discreetly with internal and external issues arising when such risks materialise. Gary works closely with Chief Executives, FD’s, HR Heads as well as Legal and Audit Departments to devise strategies to minimise the criminal, civil and reputational exposure created by internal and external corruption.
Gary is co-founder of The International Fraud Group. The IFG (previously known as the Fraud Network) is a handpicked group of specialist fraud lawyers across 20 countries focused on securing injunctions, asset recovery and trust busting remedies in key offshore jurisdictions.
Gary has been awarded Honorary Senior Fellow, Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London.
Chambers 2021 cites Gary as a "strategically brilliant" and "a huge figure in the market." He entered the Legal500 Hall of Fame in October 2020.
Key Experience
- Working for Ultra High Net Worth family involved in multi billion dollar dispute regarding worldwide shipping and construction business;
- Acting for a South Asian based hedge fund investigated by the World Bank regarding multi million pound investments.
- Acting for an Asian hedge fund in a multi million pound claim against a Swiss Bank arising out of the Madoff scandal;
- Acting for a Hong Kong businessman in a multi million pound claim against a UK quoted company;
- Defending a Malaysian businesswoman implicated in a million pound money transfer and hawala banking network;
- Working for Her Majesty's Treasury obtaining asset freezing, search and disclosure orders in the UK, Switzerland and the British Virgin Islands regarding a multimillion pound forged will;
- Orchestrating freezing and disclosure orders in Australia and South Africa for a UK based family software business regarding termination of an Asia Pacific Licencing Agreement;
- Orchestrating worldwide freezing orders, search orders and disclosure orders in the Caribbean, Hong Kong, Canada, the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands for a US based business regarding a $100m dispute;
- Enforcing US judgment for $300m in Hong Kong, Singapore and the British Virgin Islands on behalf of receivers of a US company defrauded by its directors;
- Working for Ultra High Net Worth family involved in multi billion dollar dispute regarding worldwide chemical business;
Career History
Partner, Mishcon de Reya LLP
Partner, Pritchard Englefield & Tobin
Partner, Robert Wang & Co (Hong Kong)
Assistant, Wilkinson & Grist (Hong Kong)
Articled, Simmons & Simmons