Withers Worldwide

Overview

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Jeremy focuses on international and domestic commercial and civil litigation, with an emphasis on cross-border corporate insolvency, fraud and asset tracing, cultural property law, international trust disputes, interim remedies, private international law and jurisdiction disputes.

Jeremy's clients include businesses, individuals, insolvency practitioners and other professionals and foreign States.

In May 2009, Jeremy was involved in establishing the firm's new office in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). In some of the BVI matters mentioned below Jeremy has been able to deploy the resources of our offices in other jurisdictions so that his team has included his partners and assistants in London, the USA, Hong Kong and Geneva.

He maintains his speciality in cultural property disputes.

Highlights

• SFIT v Lefebvre [2004] All ER(D) 97 - achieving discharge of €60 million worldwide asset freezing injunction
• Obtaining recommendation to the British Government for the return of a 12th century manuscript to the Metropolitan Chapter of the Archdiocese of Benevento, southern Italy, and its subsequent return under the Holocaust (Return of Cultural Objects) Act 2009 (Reports to Parliament of the Spoliation Advisory Panel, 23 March 2005 and 15 September 2010)
• Acting for the Organization of Cultural Heritage of the Islamic Republic of Iran in claims for the return of antiquities - Iran v Berend 2007 EWHC 132 (QB); French law and 'renvoi'; Iran v Barakat 2007 EWCA Civ 1374, recognition and enforcement of foreign national heritage laws, justiciability, conversion. 

BVI Highlights

• Acting for the liquidators of the Kingate Euro Fund Ltd, and the Kingate Global Fund, both ‘feeder’ funds into Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities LLC;
• Advising the administrator and custodian of another BVI Madoff ‘feeder’ fund;
• Assisting on the BVI aspects of multinational litigation involving a Russian ‘oligarch’, instructed by a leading London law firm;
• Applying for injunctive relief in an international corporate battle, instructed by a leading New York law firm;
• Defending winding up petitions instructed by a leading Hong Kong law firm;
• Acting as joint receiver of BVI and other assets, appointed by the High Court of Hong Kong in aid of freezing orders;
• Acting for the liquidators of the BVI Reserve International Liquidity Fund Ltd, sister fund of The Primary Reserve Fund of New York;
• Advising Central Asian parties caught up in a banking fraud stretching into the BVI.

Publications and speaking engagements

Jeremy writes and lectures widely on insolvency and art and cultural law issues.

Memberships

• Association of Business Recovery Professionals
• AEPPC
• EIPA
• Insol
• Justice
• International Bar Association
• Association of Contentious Trust and Probate Specialists
• Institute of Art & Law
• British-Italian Law Association.
• London Court of International Arbitration
• American Bar Association
• Professional Advisers to the International Art Market

On a personal note

Jeremy is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts; was awarded the Italian Silver Medal ai Benemeriti della Scuola della Cultura e dell'Arte, in 1994; and appointed Cavaliere, Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

In February 2011, the City of Benevento conferred honorary citizenship on him in recognition of his work in securing the restitution of ms. Benev. 29.