Clifford Chance
Jeremy Kosky is a Litigation Partner and Solicitor Advocate with significant experience in big ticket commercial litigation with a particular focus on financial investor and private wealth disputes. He leads the commercial litigation and private wealth disputes teams in London.
He has taken cases to trial in London, Paris, Luxembourg, Milan, Turin, Bermuda, Cayman, Jersey and Guernsey. And he is also well known for bringing his skills as a “diplomat” to help clients resolve their cases with, or without, the assistance of a mediator.
- advised Heini Junior in the high profile Thyssen-Bornemisza litigation which involved an attempt by his father to revoke a US$2 billion Bermuda law trust on the grounds of undue influence and abuse of confidence (settled 2002)
- acted for Beach Capital Management defending claims by the former CEO that he was entitled to a perpetual interest in the business (victory after heavy trial in 2006)
- acted for a mining company defending claims by a commercial counter-party; the case involved split trials in the Commercial Court in London both as to liability (2006) and quantum (2007).
- acted for a fund management team in the Babcock and Brown litigation in London and Australia (2007-2008).
- acted for the trustee business of a global investment bank sued for grossly negligent breach of trust in Jersey (settled during the course of heavy trial 2009)
- acted for Henderson Global Investors defending complex claims by investors for breach of contract and misrepresentation when establishing a PFI fund relating to a huge real estate portfolio. The quantum of the claims neared £1 billion. The claims were summarily dismissed by the Commercial Court in London (2012).
- acted for Man Group defending claims of mis-selling complex financial products brought by Richard Desmon (settled shortly before trial 2014)
- advised an institutional trustee in relation to claims that trust assets were subject to an unwritten UK partnership (settled 2015)
- advised a trustee on highly innovative changes to a trust and then approval by the court in Bermuda (2017)
- acted for Wockhardt defending claims for economic duress and intimidation brought by Teva (settled after long trial 2017)
- acted for Apax Capital successfully defending claims under section 423 Insolvency Act 1986 (claims against Apax withdrawn with indemnity costs in the course of trial 2018)
- acted for Brian Gilbertson and offshore trustees defending claims for breach of fiduciary duty and knowing receipt in relation to a Cayman fund (concluded 2018)
- advised directors of a global industrial business in respect of a threatened derivative claim by minority shareholders (settled 2019)
- advised two beneficiaries of high value US law trusts alleging that their sibling’s right to be treated as a beneficiary should be subject to DNA testing (settled 2020)
- advised a trustee and HNWI in relation to a shareholder dispute over a hugely successful emerging markets hedge fund business (success at final hearing 2021)
- advising directors being prosecuted in Turin in relation to the collapse of Seat pg's business (ongoing)
- advising EE defending claims for breach of duty of good faith and collusion (judgment awaited following 3 months trial 2022)
- advising a corporate defending IBM's claims for breach of contract (ongoing)
- advising a HNWI in relation to his role as CEO of a global business (ongoing)
News and client work
Contact details
- Clifford Chance, London
- +44 207006 8610
- Email me
- Practice area Litigation, dispute resolution & risk management
- Sector Banks, Funds & investment management, Private equity
Career and qualifications
- Manchester University (LL.B) 1989
- Admitted as a solicitor in England & Wales 1992
- Nottingham Law School (LLM / Advanced Litigation) 1998
- Called to the Bermuda Bar 2000
- Partner since 2001
- Solicitor Advocate since 2002
Professional bodies
- Member of ACTAPS
- Trustee of the JCoSS Trust (secondary school)
- Member of the JCoSS Governing Board (secondary school)
- Director of Malta trustee company
- Director of Bermuda trustee company
Awards and citations
- Jeremy Kosky is a senior partner at the very top of his game in this field. He heads an exceptional team of highly talented more junior partners and senior associates.
Legal 500 UK 2024: Contentious Trusts and Probate
- Jeremy is very experienced, calm and strategic.
He is extremely effective and a really good litigator.
Jeremy is an intellectual heavyweight and commercially aware. Jeremy has such a huge range of experience. Nothing gets past him. He is a very impressive lawyer and an absolutely serious operator.
Commerical Litigation: Premium – Chambers 2023 - Jeremy Kosky: the standout contentious trusts lawyer in London for big disputes with large amounts at stake. He is calm and un-phased when a new challenge or crisis descends on a case without warning.’
Client quote from Legal 500 UK, 2022: Contentious Trusts and Probate - A market insider says: “He is one of the best lawyers in the London market. He is really the man for big-ticket litigation.” This source adds: “He is a safe pair of hands, a fair and realistic negotiator, and gets extremely good-quality clients.”
Chambers Global 2018
- Jeremy Kosky is seen as “hugely experienced and able to deal with very high-value and multi-jurisdictional disputes.” “He is highly respected in this market and is known for his tenacious and tough style.” “He is very clever, aggressive when he needs to be, but also very sensible and has a statesmanlike ability to see the big picture.”
Chambers HNW 2017 - Jeremy Kosky has “a great grasp of the detail as well as the bigger picture. He is absolutely brilliant at dealing with highly charged situations and has the rare ability to take the heat out of these situations to move things in a positive direction. He is a problem solver of the highest order.”
Legal 500 2017