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Fieldfisher is pleased to announce the appointment of John McElroy as a Banking and Finance Litigation Partner, effective 29 July 2024. John joins the firm from Hausfeld and will be based in Fieldfisher's London office.
John has over 20 years' experience and is a distinguished litigator who has handled several high-profile banking and finance matters. He has acted for and against groups of claimants, bondholders, institutional shareholders, and major international banks and financial investment institutions. His experience includes representing a solar energy company in a USD$20m ISDA dispute against a leading bank regarding foreign exchange transactions and acting for a UK energy company in a dispute over a collapsed USD$500m+ financing transaction for offshore refineries.
In addition to his banking and finance litigation expertise, John brings extensive experience in high-value commercial litigation and international arbitration, and he will continue to act on a broad range of disputes in his new role at Fieldfisher. John has represented major domestic and international companies across multiple sectors and industries as well as insolvency practitioners and individuals. He has been instructed on a wide variety of commercial disputes, such as complex contractual matters, breach of warranty claims, insolvency, intellectual property, trusts, property, sports, tax disputes and High Court employment disputes, in addition to international arbitrations.
He has appeared in all divisions of the English High Court and handled cases with international aspects, including in the LCIA, ICC, LME, LMAA, LCAM, and ICSID arbitrations. John has also represented clients before the Courts of the British Virgin Islands.
John’s joining is part of a wider initiative to target banking and financial services litigation work. His addition will complement the firm’s existing esteemed banking litigation team, which includes partners Andrew Lafferty, Carly Schiff, Donna Goldsworthy, Helen Mulcahy, James Lewis, Kit Jarvis, Priyanka Kapoor, Richard Waugh, Tracey Wright and Vivien Davies.
Fieldfisher’s banking litigation team is renowned for its high-calibre work, including representing Igor Kolomoisky in a USD$4 billion fraud claim brought against him by PrivatBank, one of the largest and highest-profile banking and finance cases in the London Commercial Court in recent years and advising one of the world's largest banks in relation to claims of negligence against an ex-employee concerning payment flows connected to a major international embezzlement scheme.
Outside of his practice, John is the Vice President of the London Solicitors Litigation Association, and an advocate of LGBTQ+ representation in the legal industry.
Fieldfisher’s wider disputes practice was recently strengthened by the addition of competition litigation partners Richard Pike and Stephen Critchley in London, insolvency practitioner Chris Keane in Manchester and arbitration specialists Marc Krestin in Amsterdam, and Pedro Claros in Spain. John’s appointment will bring Fieldfisher's firmwide dispute resolution offering to more than 60 partners in the UK, with over 450 contentious lawyers across the international network.
Commenting on John’s appointment, Colin Gibson, Head of Dispute Resolution said: "John’s joining will spearhead our focus on banking and finance litigation. His impressive track record in complex litigation combined with our leading team will be highly desirable to clients. With John on board, we’re better equipped to support clients both in the UK and internationally.
“I very much look forward to working closely with John "
John McElroy added: "Fieldfisher is a firm with an outstanding reputation in dispute resolution. I look forward to leveraging the firm’s platform to enhance the services I offer to clients and to contribute to the continued success of the team. Fieldfisher’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is particularly important to me, and I am keen to help advance these initiatives within the firm."