Ben Ko

Ben has extensive experience of commercial litigation, including heavy trials the High Court; appeals to Court of Appeal and Supreme Court; applications for injunctive relief; enforcement of judgments and arbitral awards; and settlement of disputes pursuant to various forms of ADR. He has also acted in commercial arbitration under various institutional rules, including LCIA and ICC, as well as ad hoc arbitrations.

Between August 2013 - March 2014, Ben was seconded to the global litigation team of an international oil major, during which time he gained wide experience in upstream and downstream energy disputes.

Commercial Litigation

• Acting for a Third Party and Additional Claimant in complex multi party Commercial Court dispute involving multiple English and Ukrainian law claims, counterclaims and additional claims between 25 separate parties over the ownership of various high value industrial businesses in Ukraine, with a 7 week trial listed to begin in October 2019.

• Acting for the Defendant, a large interdealer broker, in a complex Financial List case Involving allegations of dishonest assistance in a Missing Trader Intra-Community VAT carousel fraud on the carbon credit trading market, with a 10 week trial listed to begin in March 2020.

• Acting for the receiver of a large insolvent Thai bank to enforce Thai judgments against the English assets of former members of the bank's senior management, who are currently serving prison sentences in Thailand for embezzlement of the bank's funds. Procedurally complex proceedings involving litigant in person defendants imprisoned abroad and the appointment of a representative for the foreign estate of a deceased defendant.

• Acted at first instance and on appeal for a Taiwanese bank in a High Court dispute over the true quantum of a Belgian court judgment sought to be enforced against it in England. Successfully obtained an award of costs following detailed assessment proceedings.

• Acted in the successful defence of a GBP 2 million claim heard in the High Court in July 2017, in which the Court found that no oral contract had been entered into by the Defendant and found the Claimant's principal witness to have misled the Court. Secured the award and payment of indemnity costs on conclusion of case.

International Commercial Arbitration

• Acting for the defendant, a Chinese state owned manufacturer of electronic consumer goods, in an arbitration seated in Paris under the ICC Rules worth almost USD 100 million brought by its former Egyptian distributor. The case involves a complex factual matrix, expert quantum evidence, and detailed issues of Egyptian law.

• Acting for an oil major, the Operator of a gas processing facility, in successful ad hoc arbitral proceedings worth around GBP 60 million against another oil major in a dispute over the specification and processing of gas extracted from the North Sea. The arbitration was conducted on an expedited basis and was concluded in six weeks from the execution of the arbitration agreement to the rendering of an Award in the client’s favour.

• Acting in LCIA proceedings in a dispute over the construction of force majeure provisions in a contract for the sale and delivery of base oils, which involved adducing expert evidence on the differences between various grades of base oils.

• Acting for an offshore subsidiary of a Russian bank in LCIA proceedings against a joint venture partner. The dispute related to the conduct and performance of a joint venture company in commercial real estate investment and development activities in Moscow. Case settled shortly after written submissions.

• Providing strategic pre-action advice to a majority partner in a joint venture dispute concerning downstream operations in a Middle Eastern country, involving complex jurisdictional issues and strategic navigation through a suite of contracts under which various parallel proceedings could be brought under different institutional arbitration rules, the English courts, and the local courts.

• Commercial Fraud Lawyers Association - Committee Member
• LCIA's Young International Arbitration Group - Member
• London Solicitor Litigation Association - Member

• London