Lydia Allaby is a Managing Associate in the Commercial Litigation team. She has experience advising on high profile multijurisdictional English court proceedings, with particular expertise in arbitral award challenges by and against sovereign states, civil fraud, complex data infringement issues in the tech sector and banking litigation. Lydia is recognised as a key lawyer for Premium Commercial Litigation in the Legal 500 2025 rankings.
In addition to her work acting for sovereign states and high net worth individuals, Lydia has advised clients across a range of sectors, including technology, professional services, financial services, transport and real estate. She also has experience advising on regulatory investigations, crisis management and public law.
Lydia holds a particular interest in human rights strategic litigation, and has spent time working at and with various human rights NGOs including REDRESS, ILGA-Europe and the European Council for Refugees and Exiles, bringing strategic litigation against governments in both the European Court of Human Rights and the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.
Key Experience
- Acting for Josef Stava and Diag Human SE in their successful defence of a $700 million investment treaty award challenge brought by the Czech Republic (The Czech Republic v Diag Human and Josef Stava [2024] EWHC 2102 (Comm)).
- Acting for the Government of Nigeria in its landmark case successfully setting aside an $11 billion arbitral award in favour of a BVI company arising from a failed gas deal, on the basis that the award was procured by fraud and contrary to public policy (The Federal Republic of Nigeria v Process and Industrial Developments Limited [2023] EWHC 2638 (Comm)).
- Acting for a leading high street financial institution in High Court proceedings relating to historic FX trading.
- Acting for an international ridesharing company in a licensing appeal resulting from Transport for London’s refusal to renew its Private Hire Vehicle licence.
- Advising a private wealth management firm in financial crime proceedings brought by the Bahamian Director of Public Prosecutions in the Supreme Court of The Bahamas.
- Acting for a leading challenger retail bank in regulatory investigations brought by the Prudential Regulation Authority and Financial Conduct Authority relating to its risk weighted assets and disclosure obligations under the Listing Rules.
- Acting for a multinational financial institution facing prosecution in the German courts for historical cum/ex trading.
- Advising a multi-billion-dollar international software company in a High Court dilapidations dispute.
Career History
Managing Associate, Mishcon de Reya LLP
Associate, Mishcon de Reya LLP
Associate, Linklaters LLP
Trainee Solicitor, Linklaters LLP
University of Law, GDL and MSc
University of Exeter, BA (Hons) Economics with International Relations and proficiency in Mandarin Chinese