Ewan Mcquater QC

3 Verulam Buildings WC1R 5NT DX: LDE 331 Gray’s Inn, London. Telephone: +44(0)20 7831 8441 Barristers regulated by the Bar Standards Board Ewan McQuater QC Email Address: [email protected] Year Of Call: 1985 Year Of Silk: 2003 Ewan McQuater QC is the Joint Head of Chambers at 3VB. He is an exceptionally well regarded and hugely accomplished silk who brings a wide range of exemplary advocacy and advisory skills to any commercial dispute. He is an established presence in the banking and finance arena, having extensive experience of the banking practices and instruments which underpin many financial disputes, combined with his in depth knowledge of the insolvency and restructuring context, which can be fundamental to determining strategy. Clients name him as the"silk of choice for complex financial and insolvency matters". Ewan is also hugely experienced in civil fraud cases and in broader areas of commercial and commercial/chancery work. He has developed a formidable reputation in court as"one of the sharpest and best advocates", having fought and won a series of substantial trials in silk and his skills as an exceptional cross-examiner frequently attract comment. Clients observe that he "makes difficult advocacy look easy" and other counsel cite him as "a formidable opponent". Recognised by Chambers & Partners 2019 as a Star at the Bar, ranked in 7 practice areas with this review: “True commercial heavyweight" and “leading civil fraud advocate” Ewan impresses with his “excellent instincts in big litigation” and his “hands-on yet strategic perspective on matters.” He is top-rated for his expertise in big-ticket disputes in the commercial and chancery courts, and regularly turns his hand to complex offshore and restructuring matters. Sources praise him as a “tough operator in court” with "enormous gravitas” and also laud his impeccable work ethic and calm demeanour outside of the courtroom. One source says: “He is unflappable; nothing fazes him. He knows the case and does the preparation, so there is no stress or drama.” Others praise his “very commanding presence” and say: “He is very good at delivering clear and concise advice to clients.” This combination of “fierce intellect with first-rate litigation instincts” means Ewan is considered “deservedly one of the go-to names for the most complex and high-value banking disputes,” such as the defence of Barclays Bank against a £1 billion claim brought by PCP Capital Partners with regards to the bank’s £5.8 billion capital raising during the financial crisis. Recognised in The Lawyer’s Hot 100 list 2020 Nominated by the Legal 500 Awards for Commercial Silk of the Year 2020 Nominated by the Legal 500 Awards for Insolvency Silk of the Year 2018 Page 1 / 27 3 Verulam Buildings WC1R 5NT DX: LDE 331 Gray’s Inn, London. Telephone: +44(0)20 7831 8441 Barristers regulated by the Bar Standards Board Nominated by the Chambers Bar Awards for Commercial Silk of the Year 2013 Nominated by the Chambers Bar Awards for Chancery Silk of the Year 2012 Nominated by the Chambers Bar Awards for Banking and Finance Silk of the Year 2011 Nominated by the Chambers Bar Awards for Banking and Finance Silk of the Year 2010 Recognised by Chambers & Partners 2014 as a Star at the Bar, ranked in 7 practice areas In 2012 Ewan was appointed as a board director of the Masters Degree in Corporate Law (MCL) at Cambridge University, the University's innovative post-graduate degree for those wishing to practice as commercial lawyers. The degree seeks to combine practical legal insights with academic and theoretical rigour. He is the only barrister on the board. His role involves giving seminars to graduates and he is involved in creating and shaping the degree course. Many of Ewan's matters have an international element and he has frequently acted and advised in relation to litigation and arbitration disputes in English law based jurisdictions including the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, The Bahamas, the BVI, Hong Kong, Singapore, Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Brunei. Expertise Banking & Finance PCP Capital Partners v Barclays Bank Plc (2017 - current) - Ewan is leading the counsel team defending Barclays in this high profile dispute with financier Amanda Staveley (the principal of PCP) relating to Barclays' £5.8 billion capital raising at the height of the financial crisis. The complaint centres on allegations that Ms Staveley was deceived in relation to £360 million of fees and $3 billion of loans being paid to Qatari investors in the same fundraising. Ms Staveley claims that she would have made profits of £1.5 billion if she had been aware of the true facts. Press interest in the dispute has been extensive and has been heightened by the parallel criminal proceedings which the SFO has been bringing against senior executives of Barclays involved in the capital raising including John Varley the former CEO and Roger Jenkins the former head of Middle East operations. The 10 week Commercial Court trial is due to commence in October 2019. Featured in the Lawyer’s Top 20 Cases for 2019. Rafed Al Khorafi and otrs v Bank Sarasin Ltd (2016 - 2019) - Ewan led the counsel team defending Bank Sarasin in the DIFC against claims exceeding $1 billion brought by Kuwaiti former clients alleging deceit or misrepresentation said to have induced deposits or investments with the bank in the Gulf. The alleged losses included substantial losses on real estate projects and an intended London share flotation. In January 2019 the DIFC Court of Appeal struck out the entire claim as an abuse of process. The case has generated significant press interest in Dubai and is also of considerable legal interest in exploring the currently topical question of the boundaries of the abuse of process doctrine. Moreover it raised unresolved issues of limitation and bank regulation. Investec Trust Ltd v Glenalla Properties Ltd (2016 - 2018) - Ewan led the successful counsel team representing BVI liquidators in the hearing in November 2017 of 9 appeals in the Privy Council from Page 2 / 27 3 Verulam Buildings WC1R 5NT DX: LDE 331 Gray’s Inn, London. Telephone: +44(0)20 7831 8441 Barristers regulated by the Bar Standards Board 5 decisions of the Guernsey Court of Appeal. The case concerns £150 million of claims against the Tchenguiz Discretionary Trust, a now insolvent trust connected to failed Icelandic bank Kaupthing and to property tycoon Robert Tchenguiz and his highly publicised disputes with the SFO and with Grant Thornton office holders, following the SFO's controversial raid of Tchenguiz's UK based businesses. The Privy Council ruled on these appeals in April 2018 paving the way for enforcement proceedings against Tchenguiz's assets including his prestigious property opposite the Albert Hall. The ruling addresses a number of complex but unresolved issues of wide importance to the trust industry relating to the private international law rules governing trustee liability, the personal liability of trustees to trust creditors in commercial dealings (where local statutes purport to limit that liability) and the true scope and effectiveness of clauses purporting to exclude trustee liability. The ruling also addresses the much debated doctrine of free acceptance in an unjust enrichment claim. Nopporn Suppiat and otrs v Nop Narongdej and otrs (2018 - current) - This is a substantial banking fraud claim (said to be valued at some US$700m) against the Thai-based Siam Bank and other defendants. Ewan is leading the counsel team defending Siam Bank in proceedings in the Commercial Court in England against allegations that it participated in a fraudulent scheme to misappropriate shares in a Thai wind energy company. The claimant says he is a political refugee from Thailand (having been forced to flee in the face of criminal charges of defaming the Thai monarchy) who was induced by fraud to sell his Thai shareholdings and was then wrongfully deprived of the opportunity to repurchase them. There are multiple defendants and parts of the dispute have already seen LCIA arbitration proceedings in Singapore and proceedings seeking injunctive and disclosure relief in Hong Kong, BVI, Belize, New York and Singapore. Lehman Brothers International v DZ Bank AG and Bank of New York (2015-2017) - Ewan led the counsel team in this dispute concerning multiple claims triggered by Lehman's collapse and its default on a whole series of high value tri-party repo positions. Ewan's client (German state-owned DZ Bank) hotly disputed Lehman's claim through its administrators that it seriously undervalued its counterparty repo positions following Lehman's insolvency and made its own claims against Lehman and against Bank of New York Mellon the collateral manager, that it gravely mismanaged the collateral allocation process, such that much of DZ's collateral was in fact ineligible in any event. Legally the case raised novel and untested issues relating to the duties of the collateral manager and complex valuation and causation questions. With about £100m in dispute the case was due for trial between November 2016 - January 2017 but settled shortly before. Kaupthing hf v Goldman Sachs/Morgan Stanley International (2017) - Ewan acted as expert witness of English banking and insolvency law in proceedings between Kaupthing hf and Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley International in the District Court of Reykjavik, Iceland. The Icelandic Court was addressing the question of whether (for the purposes of the European Winding-up Directive in relation credit institutions) English law permitted a means of challenging a series of high value swaps transactions entered into by Kaupthing in the lead up to the financial crisis and the near collapse of the Icelandic banking system. The case (valued around US$100m) involved some highly unusual challenges to the swaps which were self-referencing ie the underlying reference asset was Kaupthing itself.

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