Kelly is a dual-qualified barrister and solicitor with more than 20 years’ experience in commercial litigation and arbitration in City of London firms. His practice has a distinct international focus and includes banking, shareholder disputes, professional negligence, fraud, and money laundering issues. Kelly has extensive experience in dealing with financial services and regulatory issues which has seen him work with an array of high-profile clients, on numerous reported cases. In addition, Kelly often advises on the enforcement of restrictive covenants across the finance, legal, recruiting, insurance and yacht brokerage sectors.
He has written many notable articles about litigation and arbitration issues that have been published in various professional publications including The Commercial Litigation Journal, New Law Journal and Legal Week.
Expertise
- Commercial litigation
- International arbitration
- Financial litigation including mis-selling claims
- Partnership and company disputes
- Professional negligence claims
- Fraud and money laundering issues
- Injunction proceedings
- Whistleblowing
Experience
Commercial Disputes
- Acted in an ICC arbitration in Amsterdam and London which lasted two and a half years and which involved complex antitrust issues, resulting in an $82 million recovery for a Disney and Sony subsidiary.
- Acted in international fraud cases, including St Vincent v Robinson [2016] EWHC 2920 (Comm) and Petrotrade v Smith [2000] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 486.
- Acted in company shareholding/breach of fiduciary duty disputes, including for Bernie Ecclestone in relation to the control of Formula One, and Regentcrest PLC v Cohen [2001] 2 BCLC 80.
- Advised a syndicate of Singaporean funds in relation to potential claims against promoters of an IPO of a UK plc.
Financial & Professional Services
- Advised on banking claims, including Independent Insurance v Lloyds TSB [1998] EWCA 1853.
- Assisted the trader of a major Swiss bank with respect to a FCA foreign-exchange price-fixing investigation, and advised a senior trader in an investment bank in relation to FSA allegations of insider trading, and advised a client in relation to assisting to launder money for a criminal syndicate.
- Advised various parties in relation to the US$240 million collapse of Cayman Hedge Fund, Dynamic Decisions Capital Management.
- Acted for partners of Ernst & Young and Deloitte in Moscow, in relation to high-profile whistleblowing claims against the big four firms.
- Advised Svenska Handelsbanken in relation to £100 million loans to the pension funds of Royal Mail and British Gas.
- Managed EMEA professional liability claims during a nine-month secondment with the Office of General Counsel of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Other
- Acted for the estate of Vladimir Putin’s security advisor in relation to £5 million share dilution.
- Acted for the defendant in a £7million fraud claim relating to the Bonnington Hotel Group in London and Dubai.
Please note: The experience list above may include examples of work completed prior to joining Keystone Law.
Recognition
Kelly is a member of the Professional Negligence Lawyers Association and a committee member of the Anglo-Australasian Lawyers Society UK Chapter.
Career
Kelly qualified as a barrister and solicitor in Australia in 1996 before being admitted in England and Wales in 1998. Prior to joining Keystone Law in 2017, he worked at Shakespeare Martineau.