Areas Of Practice
Company and Commercial law, Civil Fraud and Asset Recovery, Financial Services and all aspects of corporate and personal Insolvency.
In the company law field Gregory acts for and advises companies, directors and shareholders in relation to directors’ duties, derivative proceedings, shareholder disputes (including petitions under section 459 of the Companies Act 1985) and directors’ disqualification.
Gregory also acts for the victims of fraud in tracing and recovering funds, and for those accused of fraud. He has acted for companies in actions against directors or employees, and in obtaining injunctive relief, and has also represented States in major asset recovery exercises arising out alleged corruption on the part of former leaders.
Gregory acts in a wide variety of commercial disputes. He has recently acted for Russian-based entities in resisting on forum non-conveniens grounds proceedings brought against them in the British Virgin Islands, and in resisting a petition for special leave to appeal to the Privy Council.
He has developed a particular specialism in transfers of insurance business under Part VII of FSMA
Gregory has also been engaged in the drafting of Company Law regulations for the Government of Tanzania (Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs) as part of a project funded by the World Bank.
In the insolvency field, Gregory has frequently acted for liquidators in applications against former company directors under the Insolvency Act 1986, and for both debtors and creditors in relation to disputed bankruptcy and winding up petitions.
Cases Of Interest
Alexiou & Ferguson v Campbell[2007] UKPC 11 - Construction of consent order compromising a dispute between shareholders, appeal heard by the Privy Council sitting in the Bahamas.
Pakistan v Zardari [2006] EWHC 2411 (Comm) – Proceedings brought on behalf of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to recover property alleged to represent the proceeds of secret commissions.
Re Vos [2006] BPIR 348 – Administration of insolvent estates, ratification of payments between death of insolvent and appointment of trustee.
Re Pearl Assurance [2006] EWHC 2291 (Ch); Re Eagle Star Insurance Co Ltd [2006] EWHC 1850 (Ch); Re Allied Dunbar Assurance plc [2005] 2 BCLC 200 - Insurance business transfer schemes under Part VII of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.
Astian Group Limited v TNK Industrial Holdings – Forum challenge by Russian oil company to a freezing injunction obtained in the British Virgin Islands; proceedings stayed on forum grounds, decision affirmed on appeal.
Bracken & Partners Limited v Gutteridge & ors [2001] All ER (D) 256 (freezing injunction) [2003] 2 BCLC 84 (summary judgment). Smalley v Bracken Partners Limited [2004] 1 BCLC 377 (CA) (appeal) issues of constructive trust , tracing, and whether a trustee had sufficient standing to bring proceedings in respect of misappropriated trust monies. The issues raised in the case are considered in Gregory’s article “Misappropriation: Tracing, Set-off and Priority”, Trusts and Estates Law & Tax Journal (2004) No.55 pages 18-20.
Federal Government of Nigeria v Abacha & others – Injunctive relief and claims against the family of the former dictatorship to trace and recover money looted from the Central Bank of Nigeria; use of frozen monies subject to a proprietary claim in defending proceedings.
Re TBL Realisations plc; Oakley-Smith & ors v Greenberg & ors [2004] BCC 81 (CA) - Creditor erroneously excluded from a Company Voluntary Arrangement; extent to which creditor could enforce a judgment against the company.
Appointments
Junior Counsel to the Crown (C Panel) (2006)
Academic
Gregory completed his LLB in Law with American Law at the University of Nottingham, with a year spent at the University of Texas in Austin. At Nottingham University he won the Cavendish Prize for Contract Law. At bar school he received a Sunley Scholarship from Lincoln's Inn.
Professional
Member of the Commercial Bar Association (COMBAR), Chancery Bar Association and Yound Fraud Lawyers' Association.
Notes
Gregory was born and educated in Hong Kong.