Sebastian Said is a senior associate in the Litigation & Insolvency department. He practises all aspects of commercial litigation, contentious insolvency and contentious trust issues. He has particular experience of cases involving investment funds, banking and finance, civil fraud, directors’ liability and shareholders’ remedies.
Sebastian studied Law at Pembroke College, Oxford, where he took a double first and was awarded a Domus Scholarship and the Monk Prize. He remained in Oxford to pursue the BCL, a masters degree in law, for which he took a distinction and was awarded the Simms Prize by the university. Whilst at Oxford, he was also invited to sit the examination for a Prize Fellowship at All Souls College.
Following a period as the Research Assistant to Professor Andenas, Director of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, Sebastian was called to the English Bar in 2004, as a Major Scholar of Inner Temple. He undertook pupillage at, and later practised as a tenant of, Fountain Court Chambers, one of the Commercial Bar's "magic circle", before joining Appleby in April 2011.
With Patricia Robertson QC, he is the co-author and editor of the chapter on Fund Managers, in the leading professional negligence text, Simpson (ed.), Professional Negligence and Liability.
Sebastian is a member of the Bar Pro Bono Unit and the Joint Academic Stage Board.
sebastian said
Senior Associate
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Address
1st Floor
Lefebvre Place, Lefebvre Street
St Peter Port
GY1 2JP Channel Islands
Guernsey
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profile
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expertise
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Some recent examples of work include:
- Acting on behalf of a plaintiff bringing a shareholder derivative action (before Lieutenant Bailiff Talbot QC) against the directors of a Guernsey closed-ended fund, set up to invest in CLOs and CDOs, for breaches of their duties to the fund when entering into a related party real-estate joint venture. This is the first shareholder derivative action known to have been brought before the Royal Court. Legal issues include whether the Court should adopt the pre-Companies Act 2006 law on derivative actions, i.e. the exceptions to the rule in Foss v. Harbottle
- Acting for an offshore insurer in preparing for, and during, a two week trial in the Royal Court (before Lieutenant Bailiff Southwell QC) concerning various points of construction of the contractual terms of a US$30m investment in a range of funds through a life insurance wrapper. The claimant was trustee of the family trusts of the former owner of Celtic FC, Fergus McCann. The main legal issue was the proper role of the Court in reviewing an exercise of contractual discretion: Woodbourne Trustees Limited v. Generali Worldwide Insurance Company (2010, Royal Court)
- Acting for the liquidator of an SPV set up to invest in residential mortgage backed securities in a US$1bn claim in the Royal Court against the directors, the parent companies and the investment manager
- Advising a major offshore private bank on claims brought in New York by Irving H. Picard, the trustee in the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC relating to investments in the Fairfield Funds
- Advising on the voluntary winding-up of Northern Rock Guernsey so as to satisfy regulators' concerns about customer prejudice
- Instructed for the second and third defendants in this four-week high-profile £90 million trial in the Commercial Court (before Flaux J) involving allegations of fraud, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty made by the claimants (the investment vehicles of a day trader) against their former brokers (the case involved the sale of derivatives: CFDs and options in particular): Parabola Investments v. Man Financial Limited [2009] EWHC 901; Parabola Investments v. Man Financial Limited (No.2) [2009] EWHC 1492
- Instructed on behalf of Barclays’ group companies in respect of claims brought by customers for alleged mis-selling of payment protection insurance. Assisted with preparation of advice on overall strategy and the general legal analysis as well as acting in the individual claims (both by settling pleadings and acting in applications for pre-action disclosure): The PPI Litigation (2009)
- Acted for a group of claimant investors in a US$30m claim against the London branch of a major bank for losses made on derivatives based on Russian National Debt (PRINs and IANs)
- Acted in the defence of a £25m negligence claim brought against a firm of solicitors for an alleged failure to seek relevant information at the completion meeting of a management buy-out. The proceedings included a contribution claim against the accountants who also acted in the buy-out: Finlan v. Eyton Morris and Winfield and Grant Thornton (2007, Chancery Division)
- Acted, as a pupil, for the claimants in a trial involving fraud and forgery by a solicitor relating to a mortgage, in particular by preparing submissions on tracing through the solicitor's client account: Campden Hill v. Chakrani [2005] EWHC 911 (Ch D). Case cited by Goff and Jones, The Law of Restitution, in their discussion of tracing
- Acting on behalf of a plaintiff bringing a shareholder derivative action (before Lieutenant Bailiff Talbot QC) against the directors of a Guernsey closed-ended fund, set up to invest in CLOs and CDOs, for breaches of their duties to the fund when entering into a related party real-estate joint venture. This is the first shareholder derivative action known to have been brought before the Royal Court. Legal issues include whether the Court should adopt the pre-Companies Act 2006 law on derivative actions, i.e. the exceptions to the rule in Foss v. Harbottle
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education
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Permbroke College, Oxford (England)
Inns of Court School of Law
King's College, London (England)