Catharine Otton-Goulder QC 

Catharine works in general commercial and common law. She handles very large, paper-heavy, litigation as well as smaller trials, arbitrations, and applications. She particularly enjoys complicated and intellectually stimulating work, and solving knotty problems. She has extensive experience in work involving many jurisdictions, both in foreign courts and in arbitrations in this jurisdiction and elsewhere, foreign laws and conflicts of laws issues, injunctions (especially freezing orders) and the tactical, strategic and evidential problems which arise in the conduct of such litigation. She is particularly interested in the best ways of achieving enforcement of judgments and awards. She acted for Barclays Bank in the interest rates swaps litigation, and as advised many banks and institutions concerned about their exposure on their loans to and contracts with public bodies. She was involved in the Tin Council litigation.  She acted for Barclays de Zoete Wedd in the administration of British & Commonwealth Holdings plc, and in litigation arising from the collapse of Barings. She represented the Premier League in the trial concerning the issue of whether Premier League clubs were individually entitled to sell the television rights in their matches, and the pharmaceutical industry in a trial about whether resale price maintenance in that industry was justified. She acted for Motorola in seeking to recover over US$2bn from four members of a Turkish family called Uzan and their company.  She has an especial interest and expertise in conflict of laws rules and issues of foreign law, including, for example, Shari'a law and the laws of China; Chile, Peru and Venezuela; France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Monaco and Switzerland; Russia, Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan; the Lebanon; Abu Dhabi, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey and Liechtenstein, and of various American states e.g., Texas and Illinois.

She has given evidence as an expert in English law both in arbitrations (e.g. in Sweden) and in court proceedings (e.g. in Scotland).  She has sat as a Recorder for fourteen years in civil and criminal matters; has sat in the Manx Court of Appeal and at first instance; and as a Deputy High Court Judge.  She also sits as an arbitrator.