Benedict Evans

Recent and ongoing work includes:

Commercial

• Working with Charles Russell Speechlys on a dispute worth over £15 million concerning the calculation of performance related bonuses.
• As a pupil, assisted Ian Croxford KC and James Walmsley in a large shareholder dispute including allegations of breach of director’s duty concerned with the ownership of a supermarket business.
• Assisted Alan Gourgey KC and Tim Matthewson in a US$45 million claim arising out of a failed share purchase agreement (during pupillage).
• Advising a shareholder of a BVI company on the jurisdiction of the BVI Courts to hear an unfair prejudice petition in the context of a shareholders’ agreement containing an arbitration clause (during pupillage, with Tom Roscoe).

Civil Fraud

• As a pupil, assisted Tim Matthewson in Voltaire Capital Holdings Limited v Watson, a US$100 million fraud claim alleging fraudulent misrepresentations, breaches of fiduciary duty and good faith, and conspiracy in respect of investments in an FX business.

Insolvency

• Appearing in the Companies Winding Up List and in the County Court on behalf of petitioning creditors and respondent companies.
• During pupillage, assisted Tim Matthewson in acting for a trustee in bankruptcy during a challenge to the trustee’s remuneration and expenses pursuant to r.10.134 IR 2016 following the annulment of the bankruptcy order.
• Advising in relation to a proposed agreement between the liquidators of various companies involved in cryptocurrency trading to harmonise the cross-border liquidation processes (during pupillage, with Tom Roscoe).

Trusts, Probate, and Private Wealth

• Assisting Andrew Mold KC and Elizabeth Houghton with detailed legal and historical research in a significant offshore trusts appeal (during pupillage).
• Advising the trustees of a high-value offshore trust in relation to a Beddoe application (during pupillage, with Elizabeth Houghton).
• Drafting skeleton arguments and draft orders on behalf of trustees in a Part 8 Claim seeking orders from the Court replacing certain of the trustees and substituting a new trustee (during pupillage, with Elizabeth Houghton).
• Assisting Brian Green KC and Tom Roscoe, acting for a high net-worth client in opposing a beneficiary’s challenge to the trustee’s exercise of powers of appointment involving allegations of inadequate deliberation and breach of duty by protectors of a Guernsey trust (during pupillage).

Property

• Benedict regularly appears in the County Court for possession hearings.
• Milani v St George West London Limited: successfully resisted a resident’s application for an injunction against the freehold owner of a block of residential apartments. The application was dismissed and marked “totally without merit” and the claim was struck out.
• During pupillage, assisted Emer Murphy in the eight-day trial of Tera Westend Limited v Edgware Road (2015) Limited, representing a tenant of restaurant premises in its claim for unlawful forfeiture and relief against forfeiture.
• Assisting code operators in relation to disputes with site providers arising under the Electronic Communications Code (during pupillage, with Emer Murphy).

Pensions

• Assisting in relation to pensions regulatory matters concerning the exercise of moral hazard powers under the Pensions Act 2004 and concerning the significant event regime under s.16 of the Pensions Schemes Act 2017 (with James Walmsley).