Andrew Willins

Bio

Andrew Willins is a partner and Group Head of the Dispute Resolution department in the British Virgin Islands. He has over 15 years experience as an advocate, drawn from his time at the Chancery Bar in London and in the British Virgin Islands. He has particular experience in insolvency litigation, shareholders´ disputes and in complex commercial litigation, including professional negligence and cross-border fraud and asset tracing claims. He appears regularly in the Commercial Division, before the High Court of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, and has appeared on a number of occasions before the Court of Appeal, in both England and in the BVI, as sole advocate.

Andrew is ranked as a leading lawyer in the British Virgin Islands by all of the major directories. Most recently, Andrew was ranked in Band 1 by Chambers Global, which noted his excellent market reputation and described him as “a stellar advocate”. In 2018 he was described as ‘one of the best advocates in the BVI: pragmatic, creative, clever and user-friendly’. In Chambers Global 2016, clients described him as “very tough in pursuing a claim, leaves no stone unturned but also knows when to compromise.” Chambers Global 2015 also recognised Andrew for being “very good for cross-border work, particularly for insolvency and hedge funds”. Other sources added “we really like working with Andrew – he´s a very intelligent litigator and we rate him as an advocate”.  Clients interviewed by Chambers Caribbean 2014 described Andrew as “a person with whom you want to work with – he is very supportive, explains options very well and provides practical solutions”.

Andrew is a member of the Chancery Bar Association, the Property Bar Association and INSOL International. He served as 2nd Vice President of the BVI Bar Association for two terms, between 2011 and 2013.

Expertise:

Recent experience includes:

Commercial Litigation

• Acting for the Eighth Defendant in JSC MCC Eurochem v. Livingston Properties et al and establishing the proposition in the Court of Appeal that the Court has no jurisdiction to order cross-examination on an asset disclosure affidavit against a person that is not subject to the territorial jurisdiction of the Court and has not submitted to the jurisdiction.
• Before the Court of Appeal, defeating an application for anti-suit and enforcement relief, to restrain reliance upon Ukrainian judgments by way of set off against a BVI judgment.
• Before the Court of Appeal, defeating an application for leave to bring derivative proceedings on the basis that an alternative remedy in the form of claims for unfair prejudice existed.
• Appearing on behalf of Congo Mineral Developments Limited in its US$2bn claim relating to the expropriation of mining rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
• Acting on behalf of three Isle of Man companies in relation to the BVI aspects of litigation which reached the Privy Council (Altimo Holdings and Investment Limited and Others v. Kyrgyz Mobil Tel Limited and Others [2011] UKPC) relating to the ownership of the Kyrgyz cellular communications company, Bitel.
• Appearing before the High Court and the Court of Appeal on behalf of Tajik Aluminium Company, one of the world’s largest aluminium smelters, in connection with fraud claims exceeding US$400 million, involving the supply of raw materials at excessive prices and the purchase of finished aluminium at excessive discounts.

Fraud and Asset Tracing:

• Appearing for the successful applicant in UVW v XYZ in seeking Norwich Pharmacal relief.  The resulting decision is widely credited with having expanded the reach of Norwich Pharmacal jurisdiction, and extended it to a post judgment context where there is evidence of wilful evasion and to enable the BVI Court to police foreign freezing injunctions.
• Obtaining injunctive and receivership orders against a BVI and an Anguillan Company in support of LCIA proceedings in London, and securing the transfer of related Anguillan proceedings to be determined in the Commercial Division of the High Court in the BVI.
• Appearing as advocate in a series of decisions which explored the outer limits of the Black Swan jurisdiction.

Insolvency & Restructuring

• Acting for the Liquidators of Peak Hotels & Resorts Limited.
• Acting for the Liquidators of Unicorn Worldwide Holdings Limited and related companies.
• Appearing on behalf of the Liquidators of Pioneer Iron & Steel Group Company Limited, in litigation where total creditor claims in the liquidation are said to exceed US$500 million.
• Advising the liquidators and appearing in litigation concerning the liquidation of a BVI incorporated insurance company which was party to multiple fraud, misrepresentation, asset recovery claims and related litigation.

Trust & Estate Litigation

• Acting for the Second Defendant in litigation which was decided in the Privy Council that there is no presumption that a trustee to whom there has been a gratuitous transfer holds the asset on the terms of a particular trust (Khan v. Gany Holdings [2018] UKPC 21).
• Including claims against trustees and the administration of the BVI aspects of the Estate of the late Nina Wang (deceased).