Dean Nicholls

Partner, Dispute Resolution

Dean is a partner in the Disputes Resolution team, having joined in 2019. Dean has wide-ranging experience, specialising as a commercial litigation and dispute resolution lawyer.

Dean has acted in substantial and complex banking and finance disputes, director and shareholder disputes, professional negligence claims and international arbitrations. In addition, he acts for family offices and assists with disputes (and related commercial matters) arising in England as well as coordinating disputes throughout international jurisdictions, which involves identifying and working with overseas lawyers and other experts where necessary. His cases often include allegations of fraud and involve interim remedies including asset freezing injunctions.

Dean is recognised in The Legal 500 for Commercial Litigation.

Recent experience:

Berlin Hyp AG: Acting for Berlin Hyp AG (a substantial German bank) in unfair prejudice and breach of warranty proceedings against a fintech company and its former directors. As part of the ongoing proceedings, Berlin successfully obtained an injunction against the Defendants which prevented (amongst other things) a further unauthorised capital raise and required the removal of the company’s accounts from Companies House due to them containing materially inaccurate and misleading statements.
Acting for the Joint Administrators of a Latvian bank: The proceedings include claims against the former management board for mismanagement, fraud and substantial damages. The project involves enforcement of certain Court judgments and asset tracing.
Acting for a prominent overseas family and family office in relation to various matters, including: Pursuing potential claims in breach of fiduciary duty and fraud against a former adviser; The rebuttal of criminal allegations in the UAE; and Action to release substantial funds that are frozen in an overseas private bank.
Badyal v Badyal [2018] EWHC 68(Ch): Acted for the Second Defendant in a partnership/directors dispute that included resisting a petition under s.994 CA 2006 and establishing that many UK and Indian companies and assets (including property, hotel and manufacturing entities) worth many £10ms were partnership property or held on trust. The case involved serious allegations and counter-allegations of fraud and breaches of directors’ duty and ran to a three-week trial after which Dean’s client was awarded indemnity costs against the Claimant.
NBS v Deloitte and Linklaters: Acted for the Claimant in a claim for professional negligence arising from the sale of shares in Arsenal FC for circa £117 million. The negligence concerned a CGT mitigation scheme.
Bennett v Bennett (and others) [2018] EWCH 1931 (Ch): Acted for the Claimants who successfully resisted the Defendants’ claims to a share in the ownership of East Thurrock United Football Club, and its associated land which was claimed to be worth more than £10 million. The Defendants’ arguments arose from an alleged partnership agreement, with secondary claims advanced on the basis of trust and proprietary estoppel. The case involved evidence from over 25 witnesses, detailed analysis of extensive tax and accounting documents and evidence from professional advisers. The successful Claimant was awarded indemnity costs and the case was widely reported in the press, including The Times, The Daily Mail, The Express and the Evening Standard.
Jordan International Bank (JIB): Acted for JIB in relation to a dispute which concerned its investment as part of a syndicate of middle eastern banks. JIB successfully advanced a claim against the Investment Trustee for breach of duty in connection with its management of the syndicate’s asset (which was a ship).
Rosserlane Consultants Limited v Credit Suisse International [2015] EWHC 384 (Ch): Acted for the Claimants in a dispute arising out of the sale of the largest onshore oil and gas field in Azerbaijan which ran to an eight-week trial.
Morris v Royal Bank of Scotland: Acted for the Claimant in a dispute with RBS alleging breach of contract, breach of trust and breach of fiduciary duties. Mr Morris was a land developer who developed 32 ‘super prime’ properties (known as Charters) in Ascot, with funding provided by RBS in excess of £80 million. Mr Morris argued that RBS breached the funding agreement, wrongly involved the (now infamous) GRG, appointed administrators and sold the remaining property assets to West Register (being owned by RBS) at a substantial undervalue. In turn, Mr Morris faced claims pursuant to Personal Guarantees.

What our clients think about us:

“Dean Nicholls is a great solicitor.” – Legal 500, 2023

“Dean Nicholls has a very bright mind. He is able to identify the issues on the spot, and he always gives excellent insights and is an excellent drafter.” – Legal 500, 2022