Roberto Moruzzi

Partner

Roberto is a partner in the litigation and arbitration team.

He is experienced in dealing with commercial litigation and arbitration involving international and domestic contractual disputes, fraud and asset tracing, loan recoveries and debt collection. He leads the insolvency team, advising insolvency practitioners and directors of distressed companies, as well as creditors.

Roberto is experienced in High Court pre-action strategy, such as applying for and defending applications for worldwide freezing orders, through to enforcing judgments in the UK and abroad. His clients include Aston Martin Racing, Troika Media Group, Diesel, Liu Jo, and Duferco Participations. He also acted for Renault Sport SAS in the High Court litigation brought by HMRC against the Lotus F1 Team Limited, the successful conclusion of which allowed the acquisition of Lotus F1 Team Limited by Renault F1.

In terms of arbitration, Roberto has arbitrated cases both in the UK and abroad for international clients, including pursuant to the rules of the ICC, LCIA, LMAA and UNCITRAL. He also has experience of enforcing arbitral awards in foreign jurisdictions pursuant to the New York Convention.

Roberto also has experience in advising in privacy and defamation matters. His cases include Elite Model Management (New York) & Elite Model Look (Paris) v BBC which at the time was the largest defamation action brought before the High Court in London. He negotiated the successful outcome of this action.

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Secretary Christine Woodroffe

+44 20 7597 6444
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We have benefitted from Withers’ commercial expertise in the sports sector. Jeremy Wakeham and his team have also played an important role in advising on our new stadium and training ground plans, helping to inform and shape our successful strategy.

Queens Park Rangers F.C.
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Withers have a comprehensive understanding and experience of motorsports, in particular F1. We have relied on and appreciated their knowledge and their clear and pragmatic commercial advice on a wide variety of matters, in particular the complex project that relaunched Renault on the racing grid – our acquisition of Lotus F1 Team in December 2015. They have been instrumental in protecting our business interests and their professionalism, availability and attention to detail, as well as the quality and speed of response, have always impressed us.

Renault Sport
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Over the past decade I have worked closely with Roberto on a high value and ongoing matter relating to China. We have won two important claims in the case so far, and I highly recommend Roberto’s steady and unwavering support in high stakes disputes.

Mr George Jerjian
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Withers has delivered positive results for us in three significant disputes resolved through arbitration. In each instance, the Withers team has delivered a great service along with a well-defined strategy for pursuing each matter.

Makstil
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With the help of Withers, we have pursued the director of an insolvent company and have successfully obtained three freezing orders against assets in the hands of the director and third parties. Roberto has a wealth of experience in insolvency matters, and was able to put together an effective team in order to secure our position in circumstances where time was of the essence.

UHY Hacker Young LLP
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We are proud to deliver innovative new products to the defence industry, and sought a strong litigation firm when one of our key products came under threat from numerous imitations. Withers’ team assisted us in successfully addressing these, as well as representing us in other significant disputes. The litigation team are skilled strategists with a grasp of the many aspects of a case, and provided us with first class service.

Hesco Bastion Ltd
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Roberto Moruzzi ‘has a good eye for what is really important’.

Legal 500 UK, 2017
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Roberto Moruzzi is hugely experienced and hard-working. He is very tenacious in an attractively understated way.

Legal 500 UK, 2021

Focus areas

Brands

Fashion

Leaders and senior executives

Italy

Europe

Turkey

Founders

Public companies

Sport

Track record

Admissions

Publications

Memberships

Talks

Acting for Renault Sport SAS in opposing HMRC’s application for an administration order against Lotus F1 Team Limited, the successful defence of which paved the way for Renault Group’s acquisition of Lotus F1 Team Limited.

Renault Formula 1 v PVAXX / Renault Formula 1 v Jam Session Sri - which both involved a contractual dispute concerning the non-payment of sponsorship money.

Fortress Value Recovery Fund & Ors v Blue Skye & Ors - a case involving the implementation of a scheme to reorganise the structure by which investments in non-performing loans and receivables were held.

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England and Wales, 1990

He has co-authored a number of articles concerning the impact of the fallout of film partnership schemes on investors, in particular professional footballers and sportsmen. These have featured in a number of legal journals as well as the financial times.

Roberto was the author of ‘Model Democracy’ an article in ‘Legal Week’ about the evolvement of the law of privacy.

He has also been quoted on various issues ranging from mis-selling and insolvency to defamation in The Times, Telegraph and Financial Times.

Association of Business Recovery Professionals

London Court of International Arbitration

British Italian Law Association

Roberto has lectured in Switzerland and Italy, including at the Court of Appeal in Milan and at the British Council in Istanbul on behalf of The Law Society.

He has hosted and participated in seminars focusing on various aspects of English civil law and procedure, in particular tax avoidance schemes, forum shopping, enforcement of judgments, insolvency and arbitration.

Me in a minute

I enjoy getting to learn about clients' businesses

I specialise in commercial dispute resolution, whether through the ambit of High Court litigation or international arbitration. My work is varied and often involves working with foreign lawyers, which I enjoy.

I particularly enjoy getting to learn about clients’ businesses and seeking to work out at an early stage the best strategy aimed at protecting the client’s interests, whether that lies in seeking an early settlement of the dispute, or where that proves not to be achievable, optimising its position in any ensuing litigation. Even then, the overwhelming majority of my cases settle at some point and the key is to tee up the client to achieve the best possible outcome at the minimum risk and expense possible.

I have been fortunate over the years to have worked with interesting corporations such as Renault SAS, Renault Fomula1, Lotus F1 Team Limited, Queen’s Park Rangers Football Club, State Bank of India, Elite Model Look SA (Paris), Vivienne Westwood Limited, Elite Model Management Limited (New York), the Duferco Group, Cipriani International SA but I also really enjoy working for small to medium enterprises as well as individuals. Indeed some of my most satisfying outcomes have involved achieving results for individuals, after having guided them through the rigours of dispute resolution.

I am a trustee of Children of Fire International Limited which raises money to assist in the medical and educational needs of children who have been badly burned in shanty town fires in Africa.

Education

University College, Cardiff, Law and Politics, 2:1 BSc Econ

Languages

  • English
  • Italian

Dates

Joined

1990
Partner

1999

Recognition

Regularly works with...