Through our close-knit relationships across our firm, our full range of expertise is at your fingertips. Helping you deliver first class service to your clients that transcends across their personal and business worlds. Jenny Sargeant, partner lead of our specialist private banking team sits down with dispute resolution partners Joel Seager and Sophia Purkis.
In a nutshell what’s your area of expertise?
Joel Seager (JS): I am a litigator and arbitration practitioner with a focus on civil fraud amongst other areas of practice.
Sophia Purkis (SP): I am a commercial litigator with over 20 years’ experience dealing with fraud claims and asset recovery.
When do you come across private banks or their clients in your practice?
JS: Usually when litigating for private banks, often in the context of claims involving injunctive relief and/or disclosure orders.
SP: Likewise, often when responding to freezing orders and particularly acting in relation to disclosure orders, relating to fraud and breach of trust claims and increasingly hacking claims (including the application for the voluntary code adopted by many banks to reimburse the victims of fraud).
Can you give an example of where you best add value?
SP: Banks are sophisticated clients especially in relation to regulations, disclosure and search orders. However, given the international reach of fraud work it is often exceedingly helpful to have a UK qualified lawyer coordinating and project managing broader advice and assistance under local law.
JS: Adding value in disputes work is about protecting a client’s interests and making good judgment calls early on in order to do so. Understanding what the client wants to achieve and getting to that point is the key thing to understand and achieve. We add value by advising on potential litigation as well as existing claims with that purpose in mind.
Do you have a mantra or saying that best describes how you work?
SP: Keep it simple and know what you’re doing.
What do you enjoy most about what you do?
JS: Getting a result for the client, whether that’s winning a case or settling a case.
SP: Helping a client through the complexities and stress of litigation. Understanding a client’s perspective to make the experience as painless as possible.
What do you think is key to assisting UHNW families in your area of expertise?
JS: Unlike pure commercial disputes, an important aspect of working within the parameters of a UHNW dispute is to ensure you take into account just how personal intra family disputes are and try (as best as possible) to assist in de-attaching the personal from the legal and commercial imperatives of the case while not underestimating how hard that will be.
SP: When you are dealing with a personal dispute it’s key to understand the parties’ real concerns and motivations in order to find the solution that best addresses these issues and provides the outcome the client wants.
How do you help private banks increase the quality and efficiency of their services?
SP: By developing trusted relationships so we are an understanding and informed ear to talk through any potential issues when they are first raised in the hope that we can avoid full blown disputes and litigation.
JS: By easing the burden of the inhouse team and seeking to provide solutions within a speedy timeframe that can assist the bank’s decisions makers.
What would be the “one thing to watch out for” coming ahead in your area?
JS: Increasing challenges to banks through fraud. AI will be a game changer in terms of heightened threats to banks being scammed. Banks will only be increasing their
security and processes to keep up with the fraudsters.
SP: Drilling down into this, the big issue we are speaking to clients about at the moment is due diligence on payments particularly receipts and liability for third party
fraud. Banks are increasingly under pressure to be responsible for other people’s fraud. Claimants are pressing to expand the liability of recipient banks which the courts
have so far refused to uphold. On the whole a bank doesn’t owe a duty of care to anyone other than their own client. But there is a voluntary code which requires banks to acknowledge a wider responsibility for diligencing payments including receipts from other banks. There is pressure on banks to adopt the voluntary code due to the reputational impact of needing to promote best practice and customer care. We are helping clients navigate their responsibilities and whether or not to extend these by adopting the code and how to mitigate risk.
Our connections across our firm are here to provide you with all the expertise you need so if you want to continue any of these conversations or have any dispute resolution queries, please do feel free to get in touch with Joel or Sophia.
For more information about the Dispute Resolution team please visit our website here.
For any Private Banking related queries please contact Jenny Sargeant.
