Tom Gentleman

Commercial litigation is the core of Tom’s work. He regularly appears in large scale, high value and complex commercial litigation. He is recommended as a leading junior in the directories for both commercial chancery work and commercial dispute resolution. His recent work includes:

• acting for Dr Mike Lynch and his estate in the Hewlett Packard / Autonomy litigation where Autonomy sued its former CEO for in excess of £5 billion for accounting fraud.
• acting for Credit Suisse in the “Tuna Bonds” litigation, defending claims brought by the Republic of Mozambique.
• the Tchenguiz v Grant Thornton litigation, arising out of the collapse of the Icelandic bank Kaupthing. Tom acted for the successful defendant, a member of Kaupthing’s winding up committee.

He also has experience in commercial arbitration, and in Commercial Court proceedings relating to arbitration. His work in this field includes Great Station Properties SA v UMS Holdings Ltd, a challenge under s. 68 of the Arbitration Act 1996 to a £300 million arbitral award, and related freezing injunction proceedings.

Tom has many years of experience as a specialist in company law. He advises and litigates in relation to shareholder disputes, unfair prejudice petitions, claims concerning misleading financial statements under s.90A and Sch. 10A FSMA, disputes over directors’ duties and misuse of corporate information / opportunities. He is recommended as a leading junior in this field by Chambers & Partners and Legal 500.

Recent experience includes Autonomy v Dr Michael Lynch (the litigation over Hewlett Packard’s acquisition of Autonomy, and the leading case on liability for misleading information in company accounts), Tchenguiz v Grant Thornton (the litigation following the collapse of Kaupthing), and Dennis v TAG Group (acting for the majority shareholders in the McLaren Formula 1 motorsport business in a dispute over the appointment of the CEO).

His company law work has an international element, involving litigation in the BVI, Cayman Islands and Bermuda. He has been called to the Cayman Islands bar.

Tom’s experience in this field includes the long-running litigation that followed the collapse of the Icelandic bank Kaupthing, in the Tchenguiz v Grant Thornton litigation, involving issues under the Credit Institutions Winding Up Directive and EU Insolvency Directive.

In the domestic context, he is instructed in insolvency matters in the High Court, by creditors, debtors and insolvency practitioners. Amongst other things, his experience covers:

• Officeholder claims and misfeasance
• Applications regarding officeholders remuneration
• Challenges to antecedent transactions (transactions at undervalue and preferences)
• Applications to restrain the presentation or advertisement of winding up petitions
• directors’ disqualification.

Many of Tom’s cases focus on financial services and banking. He is recommended as a leading junior in banking and finance by the Legal 500.  An experienced advocate and adviser on claims by lenders.

Recent experience includes acting for Credit Suisse in the “Tuna Bonds” litigation brought by the Republic of Mozambique concerning sovereign guarantees / bond issues.  This was a multi-billion dollar claim which generated many reported High Court decisions, including: [2024] EWHC 1957 (Comm) (trial): [2023] EWHC 1650 (Comm) (strike out application); [2023] 1 W.L.R. 2428 (third party disclosure).

He acted for the Financial Services Compensation Scheme in its long-running claim to recover hundreds of millions of pounds paid out in compensation to investors after the collapse of the investment firm Keydata. The litigation in the Commercial Court involved several hundred defendants and claims relating to many thousand individual investors. He has particular experience in dealing with complex, multi-party disputes.

• MA (Oxon), Modern History, University of Oxford
• Christ Church, Oxford, Scholar
• Graduate Diploma in Law (City), Distinction
• Lincoln’s Inn: Lord Brougham Scholar

• “Tom is an exceptionally strong lawyer and fantastic team player. His written advocacy is of a uniformly high standard: well structured, clear and persuasive.” (Legal 500, 2023)
• “Responsive, detail driven and very focused.” “Tom has great judgment and drafts beautifully.” “Tom is a delight to work with and the backbone of any team he’s on.” “Really knowledgeable on the law.” (Chambers UK, 2023)
• “Tom has a calm and relaxed demeanour which helps to reduce the stress of working on a highly pressurised matter. His drafting and legal analysis is very strong.” (Legal 500, 2022)
• “His work product is great. He is very clever and he comes up with great solutions.” “Careful, thoughtful and exceptionally pleasant to work with.” “A very good commercial litigator who really gets stuck in.” (Chambers UK, 2021)
• “He is an essential part of the counsel team.” “Always delivers a quality product.” (Legal 500, 2021)
• “Tom is a pleasure to work with. He is very responsive, able to turn around good work quickly and is someone with a good sense of the client’s needs.” “He’s always available and always has the time for people to ask questions.” “He’s clear and accurate; he clearly prepares well.” (Chambers UK, 2020)
• “A really excellent junior, who is extremely bright and comes up with creative arguments. His submissions are always punchy and effective, and clients really like working with him.” “He is very thorough and responds quickly. His advice is easy to understand, practical and commercial. He explains the context of the case and understands objectives.” “Tom is an excellent team player, who is very thoughtful and dedicated. His drafting is very good and his willingness to take on work and deliver to deadlines is impressive. He is a pleasure to work with.” (Chambers UK, 2019).
• “Very bright, considered and thorough” (Legal 500, 2019).
• “Has a first-rate brain, and is noted for the quality of both his work and his analysis.” “A pleasure to work with, he is very capable and takes a sensible and careful approach to difficult matters.” He is excellent, very easy to deal with, very hard working and really committed” (Chambers UK, 2018).