Nicola Timmins

Areas of practice:

Litigation and advice in the areas of commercial litigation and arbitration, company law, corporate insolvency and bankruptcy.

Commercial litigation and arbitration

In her previous position as a solicitor Nicola gained experience acting in a wide range of commercial disputes. Nicola regularly acted in multi-jurisdictional disputes and acted for several foreign governments and state owned entities.

Nicola has been involved as a junior in a number of complex commercial cases. Recent experience includes acting for:

• Raiffeisen Zentralbank (led by Jeffrey Gruder QC of Essex Court Chambers and Christopher Harrison) in its claim against RBS for misrepresentation in connection with a syndicated loan to Enron (Raiffeisen Zentralbank Osterreich AG v Royal Bank of Scotland Plc [2010] EWHC 1392 (Comm)).
• Raiffeisen Zentralbank (led by David Mildon QC of Essex Court Chambers) in proceedings against a major investment bank for breach of a tri-partite repo agreement arising out of the collapse of Lehman Brothers (Raiffeisen Zentralbank Osterreich AG v JP Morgan).
• The Fattals (led by David Chivers QC of Erskine Chambers) in proceedings in which two of five trusts claimed to be entitled to exercise rights of pre-emption under a joint venture agreement in relation to another trust's interest in companies owning a substantial London commercial and residential property (Fattal v Walbrook Trustees (Jersey) Ltd [2010] EWHC 2767 (Ch), [2010] EWHC 3049 (Ch)).

Nicola is currently acting for Heritage Oil and Gas Limited (led by Ian Glick QC of One Essex Court and Khawar Qureshi QC of Serle Court) in a Commercial Court action and arbitration proceedings concerning an alleged tax liability for a $1.35bn oil transaction.

In addition, she regularly advises and litigates in general contractual disputes, both in the High Court and County Courts.

Company Law

Nicola's recent experience includes acting as a junior for:

• Centenary Holdings III (led by Robert Miles QC and Richard Hill) in its action against PwC and Vivendi arising out of a financial assistance transaction (Centenary Holdings III Limited v Constant & ors).
• Mr Vandyk (led by David Chivers QC and James Potts, both of Erskine Chambers) in a claim against a former director and associated companies for negligence, misrepresentation and breach of fiduciary duty arising out of a property transaction (Izodia Plc v Vandyk & ors).

Nicola gained experience during pupillage advising on unfair prejudice actions and derivative actions.

Trust Law

Nicola has particular experience in relation to actions involving claims of breach of fiduciary duty (against both professional trustees and directors). Recent experience includes the Fattal and Vandyk litigation.

Corporate Insolvency

Nicola regularly appears in the High Court in corporate insolvency matters, especially applications for:

• Injunctive relief restraining presentation or advertisement of a winding up petition; and
• Validation orders.

Bankruptcy

Nicola regularly acts for petitioning creditors in the bankruptcy court.

Academic

MA and LLM (Emmanuel College, Cambridge).
Emmanuel College Awards: Porter Scholarship, Rodwell Prize, College Prize.

Publications and articles:

"Freezing injunctions and instructive litigation", Fraud Intelligence, January and February 2008 (co-authored with Andrew Keltie).

"The Effect of the UNCITRAL Draft Convention on Electronic Communications in International Contracts on the Hague Conventions", produced for Member States by the Hague Conference on Private International Law (co-authored with Dr Andrea Schulz).