News | Commercial Litigation

Thursday 1st March 2007

SJ Berwin LLP is pleased to announce the appointment of Justin Michaelson as a partner to the international arbitration group, part of the commercial litigation and dispute resolution department.  The appointment to the partnership is effective as at 1 May 2007.  Justin joins us from Weil, Gotshal & Manges, having previously been at Clifford Chance. Justin qualified as a barrister and worked at SJ Berwin as an associate for two years.

Justin's appointment will increase the number of partners in our international arbitration practice to three, together with Tim Taylor and David Goldberg, and brings our practice in line with the leading international arbitration practices in London.

Justin specialises in the high-end of the arbitration market which has resulted in his involvement in some of the leading arbitration cases over the past five years. He has acted on behalf of BNP Paribas, Russian Aluminium, Morgan Stanley, Rothschilds, and other leading international companies as well as leading state-owned companies in Eastern Europe and Russia. His recent involvement in the Megafon dispute has led to him acting in litigations and arbitrations in Bermuda, BVI, Geneva and Zurich.

Craig Pollack, head of the firm's commercial litigation department said, "Justin's appointment underlines our strategic commitment to grow our arbitration capability.  His client base perfectly complements our current as well as our target client base."

Tim Taylor, co-head of SJ Berwin’s international arbitration group, said "We are very excited about the opportunity Justin’s arrival presents to deepen the relationship with a number of our existing clients, as well as to grow potential relationships with new clients”.

For further information please contact:

Craig Pollack, Partner, on + 44 (0)20 7111 2275 or by emailing craig.pollack@sjberwin.com

Tim Taylor, Partner, on + 44 (0)20 7111 2231 or by emailing tim.taylor@sjberwin.com

Amanda Nassar, Acting Head of Marketing, on +44 (0)20 7111 2658 or by emailing amanda.nassar@sjberwin.com

SJ Berwin LLP is a full-service international legal practice with more than 550 lawyers across its offices in Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Milan, Munich, Paris and Turin.

SJ Berwin was created and thrives as a leading-edge legal services business, focusing on the European and international marketplace. Our clients are sophisticated buyers of legal services, principally entrepreneurial companies and financial institutions, whom we advise on a comprehensive range of services including Corporate Finance, Commercial, Real Estate, Finance, Reconstruction and Insolvency, Financial Markets, Litigation, Employment & Pensions, EU & Competition & Tax.

Our approach has resulted in the firm winning a number of recent awards including Best Law Firm (Fund Formation) 2006 (Private EquityOnline and Private Equity International); Competition Team of the Year - Legal Business Awards 2006; Law Firm of the Year 2006 at the EVCA/Real Deals Private Equity Awards for the fourth consecutive year; Fund Formation Team of the Year 2006 - Financial News/Private Equity News Awards; No 1 in Legal Week’s Law Firm Satisfaction Survey 2005; UK Firm of the Year - Legal Week Awards 2005; Real Estate Team of the Year - Legal Business Awards 2005; Real Estate Team of the Year - The Lawyer Awards 2005; Stephen Kon awarded Best Achievement in Copyright Practice at the World Leaders European IP Awards 2005; Jonathan Blake named Global Private Funds Lawyer of the Year by The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers; Jonathan Blake was admitted to The BVCA Hall of Fame, the only adviser to have been.

About the International Arbitration Group

The international arbitration group has a wealth of experience in resolving disputes (both advocating for clients and sitting as arbitrators) throughout the world's leading arbitration institutions and in "ad hoc" international commercial arbitrations and acts for both commercial concerns, governments and government agencies. Within the group (and drawing on SJ Berwin's other specialist groups) we have wide industry experience in a number of sectors, such as Finance and Financial Markets; International Trade; Telecommunications; Satellites; Construction and Project Finance; Information Technology; Pharmaceuticals; Energy; Film and Media.  In addition to our core practice in international commercial disputes, we have specialists and experience in Intellectual Property; EU & Competition Law; Engineering and Construction; International Boundary Disputes; and Trade and Customs cases.

Tim Taylor and David Goldberg are named by the Legal 500 directory as leading arbitration individuals in 2006.  Per Runeland has acted as counsel and arbitrator in engineering and construction disputes since the 1970's with a broad range of experience.  All of our lawyers are also trained as mediators.

About the Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution Department

The commercial litigation and dispute resolution department has 16 partners, 4 consultants and over 40 fee earners, all based in London. In addition we have specialist departments for competition, construction litigation, property litigation and employment.

We have extensive experience in litigating not only in England but also worldwide and have a reputation for acting in highly complex, multi-jurisdictional disputes. In addition to High Court litigation we have market reputations in International Arbitration, Mediation, Fraud and Financial Markets Litigation, with leading individual names in each area.

We see our skills primarily as ‘problem solvers’. Typically, we are closely involved with our clients in steering them clear of litigation where possible and deploying our litigation skills when there is no better solution to help the clients achieve their business objectives.

We were nominated for the Dispute Resolution Team of the Year 2006 Award by Legal Business and most recently won the CEDR Award for Excellence in the Professional category.

On 1 June 2005 SJ Berwin became SJ Berwin LLP, a limited liability partnership www.sjberwin.com

SJ Berwin LLP or an affiliated undertaking has an office in Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Milan, Munich, Paris and Turin.