David Wright
Partner
David is well known for taking short-term executive international and domestic directorships of companies that find themselves in challenging financial or political circumstances. In addition, he is an experienced High Court litigator of some 25 years’ standing. David therefore brings significant business acumen into the world of litigation with his wide range of experience. His recent directorships have been with the Jaeger clothing group, and also as CEO of a French company and director of its English and US affiliates related to oligarch Boris Berezovsky, deceased. This entailed living and working in France to deal with many pieces of litigation and tax issues arising from structural issues, boardroom splits and political sensitivities.
Before setting up his own litigation practice, dawLaw Limited, David spent 17 years at City firm Osborne Clarke where he led the contentious and non-contentious insolvency practice group and where he initially acted as solicitor instructed by the Treasury Solicitor to the Crown to bring Company Director Disqualification cases against directors. He was also client partner for the restructuring department of Lloyds Bank and acted for many firms of accountants on a wide range of corporate insolvency and restructuring matters including the restructuring of the Ramada Hotel Group, John Charcol Mortgage Advisors, the Bluestone National Park Resort, Wales as well as creditor work connected to the Special Administration of MF Global formerly known as Man Financial.
He has worked on numerous aspects of US Chapter 11 and 15 matters for US clients where English & Welsh law became relevant, and successfully defended tracing claims in the High Court concerning various assets connected to the well-known US Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme.
His most recent cases concern margin call trading claims for US financial derivatives brokerages and high net worth individuals. He is currently working on a large-scale potential litigation project for an overseas government relating to the tracing of assets and fraud claims.
Clients value David’s “no-nonsense approach”, his ability to cut to the chase very quickly and his commerciality. David says:
“There is always a solution to any problem perceived as unique: we just need to find it. That, very often, will not involve a judge but if it does we should be confident of a win before embarking on a court-led process. I say this because of the extremely high cost these days of taking matters through the medium of the courts”
Other highlights and hobbies
David did a short service commission as an officer in the Brigade of Gurkhas, during which time he fought in the Falklands War. He enjoys studying languages and has a working knowledge of French, Nepali, Spanish and Romanian. He is learning to play chess, race motorbikes and play golf.