Damien Walker

Damien Walker is ranked as one of the leading juniors in the field of international commercial arbitration by both Chambers and Partners and Legal 500, where it has been said that he:

• is “first rate”, “exceptionally good” and “an incredibly strong barrister”
• is “highly intelligent”, possessing a “great”, “exceptional” and “brilliant legal mind”
• is “an outstanding and meticulous advocate”
• is “energetic”, “robust”, “forceful”, “sensible”, “persuasive”, “able to assess any crisis and tackle any legal issue” and “always willing to look for constructive answers and to move the client’s case onto the front foot”
• is “commercially oriented”, renowned for his “commercial acumen” and “tactical judgment”
• has “a staggering work ethic”, with an “ability to plough through complex material” which is “unparalleled”, a “knack of digging out the small nuggets of gold that might otherwise be lost” and a “prodigious memory”
• is an “outstanding draftsman” with “a very natural drafting style” and an ability to “boil it down” by “distilling complex points into highly effective written advocacy” so as to “produce the most fantastic stuff”
• is “a real force to be reckoned with in difficult cases”
• is “extremely attentive” and “user-friendly”
• is “someone you want on your side”

Acted for a major international commodity trading company in relation to a $3 billion dispute arising out of a joint venture to construct a commodity export terminal, in circumstances in which the terminal has been blocked by the host country (ICC arbitration)

Acted for the Cypriot minority shareholders (ultimately owned by Messrs Igor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov) of PJSC Ukrnafta, a major Ukrainian oil and gas company, in their US$4.67 billion claims against the Republic of Ukraine under the Energy Charter Treaty (SCC arbitration, in the public domain)

Acted for the Cypriot minority shareholders (ultimately owned by Messrs Igor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov) of PJSC Ukrnafta, a major Ukrainian oil and gas company, in their claims against NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine, the national oil and gas company of Ukraine and majority shareholder in PJSC Ukrnafta (the claims are made under a shareholders agreement which is governed by English law and contains an LCIA arbitration agreement; the enforceability of the arbitration agreement was unsuccessfully challenged by Naftogaz on various grounds) (LCIA arbitration, in the public domain)

Acted for the respondent, the Government of India, in resisting multiple challenges under section 67, 68 and 69 of the 1996 Act to an award rendered by a Tribunal in long-running multi-billion dollar proceedings arising out of oil and gas production sharing agreements: Reliance Industries Ltd and BG Exploration and Production India Ltd v The Union of India [2018] EWHC 822 (Commercial Court)

Acted for the Government of India in relation to a further series of challenges by both parties under section 67, 68 and 69 of the 1996 Act to the award which followed the remission in the previous Commercial Court proceedings: Reliance Industries Ltd and BG Exploration and Production India Ltd v The Union of India [2020] EWHC 263 (Commercial Court)

Acted for the Panama Canal Authority in its US$290 million claims against a series of major international construction companies (the claims were made under guarantees which were governed by English law and contain exclusive English jurisdiction agreements; the Defendants commenced arbitration proceedings in which they sought negative declaratory relief under other guarantees which were governed by Panamanian law and contained Miami arbitration agreements, and sought a stay of the English proceedings under section 9 of the 1996 Act or as a matter of case management): Autoridad del Canal de Panama v Sacyr SA, Salini-Impregilo SpA, Jan de Nul NV, Constructora Urbana SA and Sofidra SA (Commercial Court), see [2017] EWHC 2228 (main judgment dismissing section 9 stay application) and [2017] EWHC 2337 (whether there should be a stay pending appeal)

Acted for Ensco Global IV Ltd in relation to applications by Samsung Heavy Industries Co Ltd concerning the dismissal of its challenge to an award under section 69 of the 1996 Act (adequacy of reasons under section 69(6); recusal; residual jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal when it is alleged that there has been unfairness in the decision-making process): Samsung Heavy Industries Co Ltd v Ensco Global IV Ltd (Commercial Court and Court of Appeal)

Acted for the respondent mine owner in relation to its defence of a claim for around $100 million by a coal trader for damages for alleged repudiatory breach of a five year offtake agreement (agreement to agree; loss of a chance; exclusion clause) (LCIA arbitration)

Acted for Gilward Investments BV, a minority shareholder of CJSC Aerosvit Airlines, formerly the leading Ukrainian carrier, in its claim against the Republic of Ukraine under the bilateral investment treaty between the Netherlands and Ukraine (ICSID arbitration, in the public domain)

Acted for insurers in their application for an anti-suit injunction to restrain insureds from pursuing their US$550 million claims in the Brazilian courts in breach of an agreement for London arbitration (governing law of an arbitration agreement where there is no express choice of law but an English seat; enforceability of an agreement to mediate; interpretation and reconciliation of an arbitration agreement and an exclusive jurisdiction clause): SulAmerica & ors v Enesa & ors [2012] EWHC 42 (Commercial Court), affirmed [2012] EWCA Civ 638 (Court of Appeal

Acted in relation to a successful application to the LCIA Court challenging a party-appointed arbitrator’s appointment on the ground of circumstances giving rise to justifiable doubts as to his impartiality (LCIA arbitration)

Acted in a case involving issues arising out of the purported commencement of arbitration proceedings against companies which had been dissolved, and the purported tolling of limitation periods on behalf of those companies following their dissolution (LMAA arbitration)

Acted for Central Asia Minerals Ltd, Ratel Group Ltd and CGA Mining Ltd in a dispute against Westchester Resources Ltd in which the former commenced arbitration proceedings in London seeking negative declaratory relief, and the latter commenced judicial proceedings in Ghana (anti-suit injunction from the Tribunal to restrain the pursuit of the Ghanaian proceedings; claims for damages and a West Tankers indemnity for breach of the arbitration agreement; application for a stay of the Ghanaian proceedings, which was opposed on the grounds of non-justiciability) (LCIA arbitration, in the public domain)

Acted for Invensys Systems Inc and Invensys Systems Italia SpA in a dispute against members of the Mytilineos Group in which the former commenced Belgian arbitration proceedings against their contractual counterparty seeking negative declaratory relief, but the latter, attempting to circumvent the arbitration agreement, procured the commencement of judicial proceedings in Greece by members of the Group which were not party to it (application for a stay of the Greek proceedings; responding to preliminary objections to the Tribunal’s jurisdiction) (ICC arbitration, in the public domain)

Acted for the claimant buyers in their application for an anti-suit injunction to restrain the respondent yard from pursuing Chinese proceedings brought in breach of a London arbitration agreement: Spliethoff v Rongcheng Xixiakou Shipyard Co Ltd (LCIA arbitration, in the public domain)

Acted for US insurers, against whom negative declaratory proceedings had been commenced by reinsurers in London, in their application to set aside service out (construction of reference to “Service of Suit Clause” in reinsurance contracts; forum conveniens principles in service out context): BAIC & ors v OneBeacon America (Commercial Court)

Acted for a claimant in relation to its application for an anti-suit injunction to restrain the respondent from pursuing Indian proceedings brought in breach of a London arbitration agreement (arbitration)

Acted for claimants in two different sets of proceedings in relation to their applications for orders under section 18 of the 1996 Act to complete the constitution of tribunals

Various other applications under the 1996 Act

Acted in relation to a dispute as to whether a party had waived its rights under an arbitration agreement by participating in foreign judicial proceedings (arbitration)

Acted for the first defendant, Mr Mohammad Hilal Salim Bin Tarraf, in relation to his application to set aside registration of a default judgment of the Ontario Court under the Foreign Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1933, and in response to the claimant’s challenge to the 1933 Act under the Human Rights Act 1998 on the basis that it is incompatible with Article 6(1) and Article 1 of Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights (High Court)

Acted for DP World and DP World (Sokhna) in defence of claims by Platinum Services Company for unlawful means conspiracy, inducing breach of contract and defamation arising out of the termination of contracts concerning the provision of services at Sokhna Port, Egypt (Dubai World Tribunal, in the public domain)

Acted for the defendant in relation to claims brought against it under a licensing agreement pertaining to the use of the name of an international sportsman in connection with the marketing of a major real estate development (ICC arbitration, confidential)

Acted for Play LA Inc in its claim against multiple defendants for repudiation of a share purchase agreement concerning the purchase and sale of a majority shareholding in NFC Data Inc (an online gaming company) (BVI litigation)

Acted for Airbus S.A.S in defence of claims by Aviation Partners Inc, provisionally quantified at in excess of US$1 billion, for alleged misuse of confidential information provided under a Non Disclosure Agreement in connection with the development of the winglets for the A320 family of aircraft (ICC arbitration, in the public domain)

Acted for Invensys Systems Inc and Invensys Systems Italia SpA in a dispute against members of the Mytilineos Group in a case concerning the operation of a high-tech computerised control system (DCS) at a cogeneration power plant in Greece and an incident at the plant in which substantial damage occurred to turbines (ICC arbitration; Greek governing law)

Acted in arbitration proceedings concerning a major construction and engineering project in Estonia (ICC arbitration)

Acted for the UAE subsidiary of a UK company in defence of claims brought by a Qatari company for commission alleged to be due under consultancy and sponsorship agreements (ad hoc Doha arbitration; Qatari governing law)

Bassam Y Alghanim v Kutayba Y Alghanim: acted in the worldwide proceedings between the Alghanim brothers concerning the division of their billion dollar business empire, including English proceedings concerning email hacking

ITPU Holdings Ltd v Sophos Public Listed Company: acted for the minority shareholder in connection with the sale of Sophos by the majority shareholders to a third party; enforcement of pre-emption rights; resistance of attempt to enforce drag rights; opposition to re-registration of the company (Commercial Court)

Acted in a matter concerning the enforceability of a “Poison Pill” provision which had been inserted in an agreement between a company and its preferred suitor in an attempt to discourage a hostile takeover by a third company

Acted in a matter concerning the interpretation of a “Make Whole” provision in a share sale agreement

JND Dairies Ltd v Johal Dairies Ltd [2010] EWCA 348: acted for the successful respondent on an appeal in which it was alleged that the trial judge had closed his mind to the appellant’s case (Court of Appeal)

Tesco Holdings Ltd v Indigo Ltd & ors: acted for Indigo and the Spicerhaart Group in their dispute with Tesco concerning a joint venture to develop the internet estate agency i-Sold.com (Commercial Court)

Laura Ashley v L’Oreal: acted for the claimant in relation to its claim for wrongful termination of a 20 year licensing agreement (ICC arbitration, in the public domain)

Acted in relation to a claim by an agent for commission in respect of his introduction of two companies in the pharmaceutical industry

Acted in relation to a dispute between two publishing houses concerning royalty payments

Acted in relation to an attempt by an employment agency to recover unpaid fees from various NHS trusts

Acted in relation to a dispute concerning the ownership of the original Darth Vader costume

PJSC National Bank Trust v Shishkhanov & ors: acting for Louis Dreyfus, Quadra, Liberty and other major international commodity trading companies who, along with other such companies, are being sued for around US$2 billion in the BVI courts by NBT (a Russian bank which is owned by the Russian Central Bank) on the alleged basis that they conspired with the Russian businessman, Mr Mikhail Shishkhanov, to divert sums away from NBT’s predecessor bank, Rost Bank, and another Russian bank, Binbank, for the benefit of Mr Shishkhanov using a series of sham trade finance transactions

Frabran Holdings Co Ltd & ors v Daventree Trustees Ltd & ors: acting for a series of Cypriot companies in proceedings in the courts of Cyprus (in which the companies have brought claims for distributions under trusts and, in some cases, already obtained judgment), Cayman (in which they have obtained and retained a proprietary injunction to protect trust assets from misappropriation by the trustee and those associated with it, and are seeking to enforce the Cypriot judgments) and The Bahamas (in which they are suing the trustee and numerous other defendants for relief in respect of the fraudulent misappropriation of trust assets worth approximately $1.3 billion, advancing proprietary claims to recover misappropriated assets and their traceable proceeds, as well as claims for dishonest assistance and knowing receipt, and seeking the removal and replacement of the trustee and protector)

Acted for offshore trustees in defence of claims for dishonest assistance of a breach of trust and conspiracy arising out of the US$1.8 billion sale of a business in Ukraine (arbitration; Ukrainian governing law)

Acted in a worldwide dispute between two high net worth individuals involving allegations of breach of contract, breach of trust, knowing receipt and dishonest assistance

AWG (Anglian Water Group) v Sir Fraser Morrison & anor: acted for the claimant purchaser in respect of its claims for fraudulent misrepresentation arising out of its purchase of Morrison PLC (Chancery Division)

KNIC v Allianz: acted for a London reinsurance syndicate in its attempts to resist enforcement of a foreign judgment allegedly obtained by fraud by the North Korean state insurance company, including [2008] EWHC 2829, [2008] EWCA Civ 1355 (justiciability of allegations of criminal activity on the part of a foreign state) (Commercial Court)

Acted in a case involving the laundering of the proceeds of stolen property and claims for knowing receipt and dishonest assistance

Acted in a case involving a promissory note fraud

Acted for the Panama Canal Authority in its US$290 million claims against a series of major international construction companies (proper interpretation of guarantees governed by English law): Autoridad del Canal de Panama v Sacyr SA, Salini-Impregilo SpA, Jan de Nul NV, Constructora Urbana SA and Sofidra SA (Commercial Court), see [2017] EWHC 2228 (Commercial Court)

Deutsche Bank AG v Vik: acted for the bank in relation to its restitutionary claim to recover money paid by to Vik by mistake (Commercial Court)

Acted in relation to a claim by Shinhan Bank to enforce a letter of comfort against a syndicate of South Korean banks (Commercial Court)

Acted in a claim against agents in respect of errors made in the allocation of shares following an IPO

Acted for the Cypriot minority shareholders (ultimately owned by Messrs Igor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov) of PJSC Ukrnafta, a major Ukrainian oil and gas company, in their claims against NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine, the national oil and gas company of Ukraine and majority shareholder in PJSC Ukrnafta (the claims are made under a shareholders agreement which is governed by English law; the enforceability of the agreement is challenged by Naftogaz on various grounds) (LCIA arbitration, in the public domain)

Acted for an international gold mining company in its claim to enforce an option agreement concerning mining rights relating to a site in the Caribbean (LCIA arbitration, confidential)

Acted for Central Asia Minerals Ltd, Ratel Group Ltd and CGA Mining Ltd in a dispute against Westchester Resources Ltd which involved claims for US$2.7 billion for breach of contract and fraudulent misrepresentation which arise out of a joint venture agreement concerning a gold mining tenement in Ghana (LCIA arbitration, in the public domain; Ghanaian governing law)

Acted for Botas International Ltd (a Turkish state entity) in its claims worth approximately US$2.5 billion against a consortium led by BP arising out of the host government and operating agreements in respect of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline (ICC arbitration, in the public domain)

Rosukrenergo v Naftogaz: acted for Rosukrenergo (a JV between Gazprom and Centragas) in its claims worth approximately US$5 billion against the Ukrainian national gas company, Naftogaz, concerning the supply of gas to and through Ukraine, the switching off of the gas supply by Gazprom, and the misappropriation of gas by Naftogaz (Stockholm arbitration, in the public domain; Ukrainian and Swedish governing law)

Proton Bank S.A. v Greenoak Renewable Energy Ltd: acted for Proton in relation to its claims against GRE arising out of a joint venture to develop a windfarm in the North Sea (Commercial Court)

Acted for a claimant in a dispute about rights in relation to an unincorporated joint venture concerning a gold mine in Africa (LCIA arbitration)

Acted for the claimant in a dispute between joint venture partners in relation to the exploitation of rights to oil fields in west Africa (LCIA arbitration)

Acted for the insured (a major pharmaceutical company) in its claim against its insurers pursuant to a Bermuda form policy (allocation of settlement amounts and defence costs between covered and uncovered claims, and between insured and uninsured parties) (London arbitration, confidential)

A number of disputes involving issues such as avoidance for material non-disclosure, coverage and proof of loss

PJSC National Bank Trust v Shishkhanov & ors: acting for Louis Dreyfus, Quadra, Liberty and other major international commodity trading companies who, along with other such companies, are being sued for around US$2 billion in the BVI courts by NBT (a Russian bank which is owned by the Russian Central Bank) on the alleged basis that they conspired with the Russian businessman, Mr Mikhail Shishkhanov, to divert sums away from NBT’s predecessor bank, Rost Bank, and another Russian bank, Binbank, for the benefit of Mr Shishkhanov using a series of sham trade finance transactions

Acted for a major international commodity trading company in relation to a $3 billion dispute arising out of a joint venture to construct a commodity export terminal, in circumstances in which the terminal has been blocked by the host country (ICC arbitration)

Acted for the respondent mine owner in relation to its defence of a claim for around $100 million by a coal trader for damages for alleged repudiatory breach of a five year offtake agreement (agreement to agree; loss of a chance; exclusion clause) (LCIA arbitration)

Acted for the claimant in a dispute as to whether or not a price renegotiation clause in a long term contract for the sale of alumina had been triggered (LCIA arbitration)

Acted for the claimant seller in an action for damages for repudiatory breach of a contract for the sale and purchase of coal (LCIA arbitration)

PJSC National Bank Trust v Shishkhanov & ors: acting for Louis Dreyfus, Quadra, Liberty and other major international commodity trading companies who, along with other such companies, are being sued for around US$2 billion by NBT (a Russian bank which is owned by the Russian Central Bank) on the alleged basis that they conspired with the Russian businessman, Mr Mikhail Shishkhanov, to divert sums away from NBT’s predecessor bank, Rost Bank, and another Russian bank, Binbank, for the benefit of Mr Shishkhanov using a series of sham trade finance transactions (BVI Courts)

Frabran Holdings Co Ltd & ors v Daventree Trustees Ltd & ors: acting for a series of Cypriot companies in proceedings in the courts of Cyprus (in which the companies have brought claims for distributions under trusts and, in some cases, already obtained judgment), Cayman (in which they have obtained and retained a proprietary injunction to protect trust assets from misappropriation by the trustee and those associated with it, and are seeking to enforce the Cypriot judgments) and The Bahamas (in which they are suing the trustee and numerous other defendants for relief in respect of the fraudulent misappropriation of trust assets worth approximately $1.3 billion, advancing proprietary claims to recover misappropriated assets and their traceable proceeds, as well as claims for dishonest assistance and knowing receipt, and seeking the removal and replacement of the trustee and protector) (Cypriot, Cayman and Bahamian Courts)

Walker v Olearius: acted for a syndicate of banks in relation to an attempt by vulture funds to attach the proceeds of a structured trade financing arrangement through a Cayman SPV (Cayman Courts)

Wafic Said v Sheikh Abdullah Saleh Kamel: acted for the defendants in relation to claims concerning a disputed shareholding in a company with rights to a Syrian mobile telecommunications licence (Cayman Courts)

Acted for hedge fund administrators in defence of claims by the liquidators of the fund for breach of contract, negligence and breach of fiduciary duty arising out of the misappropriation and overvaluation of assets by the fund’s investment manager (Cayman arbitration)

Acted for the Cypriot minority shareholders (ultimately owned by Messrs Igor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov) of PJSC Ukrnafta, a major Ukrainian oil and gas company, in their US$4.67 billion claims against the Republic of Ukraine under the Energy Charter Treaty (SCC arbitration, in the public domain)

Acted for Gilward Investments BV, a minority shareholder of CJSC Aerosvit Airlines, formerly the leading Ukrainian carrier, in its claim against the Republic of Ukraine under the bilateral investment treaty between the Netherlands and Ukraine (ICSID arbitration, in the public domain)