Kas led the firm's Dispute Resolution department for twenty years, during which time Mishcon de Reya was recognised as Law Firm and Litigation Team of the Year by The Lawyer. In 2023 he stepped back from his departmental role to devote more focus to the Firm’s international strategic development and the demands of his clients and caseload.
Kas regularly represents clients with complex and unconventional problems and has deep experience of both crisis management and overseeing large multi-jurisdictional disputes. He often leads large teams conducting legal, investigative and forensic work and operating across various jurisdictions. He has been involved in and has overseen litigation and investigations in more than 60 jurisdictions.
His experience helps him in creating and implementing inventive solutions for his clients. Many of his cases involve urgent injunctions including search orders, freezing orders and various types of third-party disclosures. Kas has been frequently recognised in the directories for his experience in fraud-related investigations and his instincts as a strategist in difficult cases.
Kas' clients include global institutions, brand owners and high-net-worth individuals who are often victims of dishonesty. A significant proportion of the work concerns very high value litigation conducted, or partly conducted, outside the UK; mostly in offshore financial centres, the Middle East, India, Eastern Europe and the USA.
Kas is a co-founder of The International Fraud Group (IFG). The IFG is a handpicked group of specialist fraud lawyers located across more than 55 jurisdictions which focuses on securing injunctions, asset recovery and trust-busting remedies in key offshore territories. He is also part of the MDR Solutions I team, the Firm's litigation finance venture which offers greater access to funding for claimants.
Kas contributed to "Information, Risk and Securities", the standard book on computer crime at work. He brought the first known set of proceedings against spammers in the UK.
Kas has been listed as a Fraud Law Expert in the Super Lawyers directory, and in the words of Chambers, is a recommended leader in the field of civil fraud "a gifted negotiator who is firm but fair" and is admired for his "encyclopaedic knowledge of the area."
Key Experience
- Instructed in a multi-party case which is said to be the largest non-class action case brought in England involving allegations of complex conspiracies and bribery including amongst other relief, freezing orders for approximately $14billion.
- Conducting a complex conspiracy claim as a part of multi-jurisdictional investigations and injunctive proceedings relating to enforcement of a $1.5 billion arbitration award involving global steel manufacturers;
- Conducting a multi-jurisdictional $600million shareholder dispute relating to a global construction company and involving claims of unlawful means conspiracy and fraud;
- Proceedings and investigations on behalf of fund managers relating to misappropriation of sums in excess of $200million involving a number of jurisdictions;
- Representing ultra-high net worth individual involved in a $250 million complex shareholder dispute in the IT sector in respect of claims relating to misrepresentations and duress.
- Civil freezing, search and disclosure applications;
- Investigation of fraud, bribery, corruption and procurement irregularities;
- Cross-border investigations and tracing, culminating in enforcement of judgment;
- Resilience testing of asset structures involving trusts, foundations and other similar asset protection structures and their risk exposure to attack;
- Managing and providing strategic input relating to multi-jurisdictional litigation and investigations often involving teams of lawyers in other jurisdictions;
- Protection of data and industrial secrets, as well as confidential information;
- Advice relating to long arm jurisdiction matters relating to FCPA, Sarbanes Oxley and corporate governance issues generally;
- Enforcement of intellectual property rights and combating organised counterfeiting gangs.
- Conducting the defence of a prominent businessman in one of the most high profile extradition cases of recent years - and conducting the defence in parallel civil proceedings relating to worldwide asset freezing orders involving $900 million;
- Proceedings relating to multi - jurisdictional shareholder disputes in the natural resources sector involving allegations of fraud and misrepresentation and sums in excess of $15 billion;
- Represented US private equity house in proceedings relating to alleged events of default under a senior facilities agreement amounting to $2 billion;
- Investigation of massive impropriety relating to over $1billion of dishonoured loans and credit facilities on behalf of a major middle Eastern bank;
- Representing an oil exploration company in relation to a dispute in excess of $150 million against a Middle Eastern government;
- Representing a varius parties in relation to the illegal expropriation of a major bank in a former Soviet Republic;
- Conducting a complex fraud and misrepresentation action and allegations of loss in excess of $125 million relating to a major family and shareholder dispute involving a series of subscription and shareholders agreements;
- Conducting a variety of complex shareholder disputes involving issues of reflective loss , derivative actions and breaches of directors' duties involving many hundreds of million pounds;
- Acting on behalf of a major telecoms company in relation to allegations of bribery and corruption relating to the award of operating licenses;
- Investigation of a multi-jurisdictional fraud perpetrated on a major US financial institution and tracing of funds into a number of European jurisdictions;
- Investigation of a major gang of counterfeiters on behalf of a global US software manufacturer relating to multi-mullion dollar recoveries, following wide-ranging civil search, freezing and disclosure orders;
- Investigation of systematic and long-standing internal corrupt practices concerning the owner of leading and household brands in the drinks and alcoholic beverages sector;
- Wide-ranging internal investigations into procurement frauds perpetrated by employees of a multi-national travel company, resulting in multi-million pound recoveries and repatriation of assets, as well as restructuring the working practices and policies of the relevant organisation;
- Investigation of complicated multi-jurisdictional shipping finance amounting to hundreds of millions of Dollars that related to fraud spanning some six jurisdictions for a European bank involving collusion between its employees and external third parties;
- Representing clients accused of manipulation of financial markets and practices as well as financial instruments, including illegal short-selling practices culminating in the so-called “death spirals”;
- Investigation into corruption in professional sport, including remuneration of agents and the role played by clubs and other third parties;
- Cases involving the misuse of internet, including denial of service attacks, hacking and 'phishing'.
Career History
Partner, Chair of Dispute Resolution, Mishcon de Reya LLP, 2020
Partner, Head of Dispute Resolution, Mishcon de Reya LLP, 2000- 2004 and 2008 to 2020
Partner, Mishcon de Reya LLP, 1996
Associate, Mishcon de Reya, 1994