2tg
Stuart Benzie
Call: 2002
Expertise
Banking & Finance Other Areas Commercial Fraud Commercial Insurance & Reinsurance Property Damage
Qualifications
Queen Elizabeth’s School for Boys, Barnet (1979-1984)
University of London (QMW) (1993-1996) LL.B – First Class Honours
Draper’s Award (for work of outstanding academic merit) 1994 and 1995
Appointments
Associate Director HSBC: Structured Capital Markets – head of group structuring and executing securitisation and other structured transactions in the UK and northern Europe.
Management Consultant: McKinsey & Co. (Financial Institutions) - advising insurance companies, wholesale and retail banks.
Solicitor: Clifford Chance LLP specialising in insolvency particularly insurance insolvency and solvency issues relating to securitisation and structured finance transactions.
Practice Profile
Stuart joined Chambers in 2004 with a first class degree from the University of London. A former solicitor, Stuart qualified and practiced with Clifford Chance LLP in both London and Warsaw and has extensive legal and commercial experience in the banking and insurance sectors.
Stuart has significant commercial and legal experience of banking including, syndicated lending, securitisation, credit and other derivative products, syndicated and other structured lending. Whilst at HSBC, Stuart was responsible for the structuring and launch of a number of residential mortgage backed securities transactions and as such has a detailed knowledge of the securitisation and the UK mortgage market.
As a member of the Securities Institute (and formerly a qualified FSA securities and financial derivatives representative) Stuart is highly familiar with the banking practice and the UK regulatory regime and has advised in connection with various regulatory issues.
Stuart is currently instructed by S.J. Berwin in relation to a dispute between a derivatives trader and a major US investment bank relating to regulatory matters and alleged negligent execution and is advising in relation to the rights of lenders in connection with a UK M&A transaction.
Asset Finance & Leasing
Stuart has extensive experience in all aspects of asset finance and leasing, ranging from Consumer Credit Act related claims to high value commercial leasing and structured finance disputes. Stuart also has considerable experience in dealing with related areas such as guarantees and indemnities, agency and the enforcement of judgments by commercial lenders.
Stuart has appeared in the High Court and County Courts in a range of cases acting mainly (although not exclusively) for finance houses and banks. Stuart is the author of the chapter dealing with the sale of goods on credit in business to business transactions in “Sale and Supply of Goods” (R Christou) published in October 2007 as a major new practitioner work in the Sweet & Maxwell Commercial Series.
Stuart has acted in a number of cases in the High Court and County Courts involving allegations of fraud, Stuart also has considerable experience in applying for interim remedies in fraud cases including freezing orders, search orders and disclosure orders against third parties and bankers. Many of these cases are multi-jurisdictional in nature and Stuart has advised in cases involving parties or assets in numerous jurisdictions including: Switzerland, Abu Dhabi, the USA, Iran and Iraq.
Stuart also acts for several insurance companies in relation to frauds committed by policy holders and suppliers. He is currently acting in two fraud cases instructed by Berrymans Lace Mayer.
Stuart spoke on civil remedies and asset recovery at the “City Fraud Conference” held in May 2007 and has provided in-house seminars on commercial injunctions for a number of leading commercial law firms.
General Commercial & Insolvency
Stuart acts in a wide range of commercial disputes and has considerable experience in insolvency matters acting for insolvency practitioners and creditors.
Stuart has recently appeared in the High Court in a case concerning commercial agency, commercial fraud, and database rights. He is currently instructed on behalf of a vendor in a case concerning breach of restrictive covenants in a business sale agreement, in a substantial TCC action concerning alleged negligence by IT consultants and in two negligence actions against solicitors.
Stuart drafts pleadings and advises on a broad range of insurance matters. In particular he advises on policy construction and repudiation (non disclosure, misrepresentation). Stuart has extensive commercial and legal experience of the insurance and reinsurance industry including issues relating to brokers and the Lloyds market.
Construction/Property Damage
Broad range of experience in construction and property damage claims. Construction work includes TCC and arbitration matters relating to various contractual disputes (including JCT contracts) and dealing with a variety or expert witnesses. Property damage experience includes a high value claims involving damage to commercial property, damage to utility companies’ equipment by contractors and cases involving disputes over mitigation of loss following damage to commercial premises including Buncefield cases.
Notable Cases
Aurium Assets Pty Ltd v. Carroll (2005) Ch.D. Evans-Lombe J: freezing injunction case which considered the ability of a defendant to use funds for legal purposes where there was an arguable but unpleaded proprietary claim. Case also considered Human Rights Act issues arising from the use of asset preservation orders (Instructed by Penningtons LLP).
Cureton v. Mark Insulation Limited [2006] EWHC 2279 (QB) Bean J: case involving breaches of the Commercial Agency Regulations, database ownership and commercial fraud. The first case to consider the ownership of database rights in an agency relationship (Instructed by Anthony Collins LLP).
Dr Fabio Botterini De Pelosi & another v. Greenfield Horizon & another (2006) QBD Cooke J: Commercial fraud case involving actions taken in England and the USA (Florida) to freeze assets in both jurisdictions. One of the first such cases following the Court Appeal decision in Dadourian Group Int. Inc. v. Simms (Instructed by Lawrence Graham).
Admiral Leasing plc v. Telka Enterprises Limited (2007) (Central London County Court: - HHJ Burke Q.C.): a trial where the judge considered the enforceability of default interest provisions in a finance lease (Referred to in Sale and Supply of Goods and Services (2007) at 1.6.3.2) (Instructed by DTM Legal)..
Petraoil Refining Limited v. Danison (2008) (QBD) Langstaff J: A sophisticated advance fee fraud concerning the funding of a €200 million oil refinery project in Pakistan. Worldwide freezing orders were obtained over the Defendant’s assets and a successful application was made for a warrant for the Defendant’s arrest after failing to attend a committal hearing (Instructed by Zaiwalla & Co)
SDMS Security Products Limited v. Royal Bank of Scotland (2008) (QB) Lloyd Jones J: An application to restrain RBS from making payments pursuant to a performance bond in relation to a project for the supply military equipment to the government of Abu Dhabi. Following completion of the project a former contractor made two fraudulent claims under the terms of the bond (Instructed by Barker Austin).
Additional Information
Affiliations
- Member of the Securities Institute (MSI)
- Commercial Bar Association (COMBAR)
Publications
- October 2007 - Author of Chapter “Sale of Goods on Credit” in Sale and Supply of Goods” (R Christou) Sweet& Maxwell Commercial Series
- November 2005: “Floating Charges Over Book Debts after Spectrum” – On Account Winter 2005
- 1999/2000 – Tolley’s Insolvency Law – Contributor to Clifford Chance sections on set-off
