Oliver Rule
Counsel
London
Oliver Rule
Counsel
London
Contact Details
Oliver Rule is Counsel in Allen & Overy's Litigation & Investigations Group in London, specialising in complex financial litigation with a particular focus on insolvency and trustee disputes.
He has extensive experience of litigating in the English Courts, including victories for many financial institutions, including in the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. Oliver has also worked on many high profile restructurings including Virgin Active, Virgin Atlantic Airways, KCA Deutag, Phones 4U and DTZ, and numerous challenging insolvency disputes, for instance arising from the collapses of Greensill, Enron, TXU, Lehman Brothers and the Icelandic Banks.
Oliver was named from 2018 to 2022 by Legal 500 as one of the “rising stars” in the field of Banking and Finance Litigation.
Expertise
Practices
Litigation, Arbitration and Investigations
Investigations, Enforcement and Business Crime
Sectors
Qualifications
Professional
Admitted as solicitor, England and Wales, 2006
Academic
MA, Classics, University of Cambridge, 2006
LPC, BPP Law School, 2004
Post Graduate Diploma, Law, BPP Law School, 2003
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Experience highlights
Advising Virgin Active, on its on its landmark financial and leasehold estate restructuring, which was the first time a leasehold estate has been restructured using a Part 26A restructuring plan and also first time that an application under this legislation had been litigated.
Advising the Administrators of Greensill Capital (UK) Limited in connection with the numerous contentious issues arising out of the collapse of this supply chain finance provider.
Attestor Capital in successfully preventing the implementation of the MF Global CVA, in a case which took 11 weeks from the instigation of High Court proceedings to final resolution in the Court of Appeal.
Advising The Delegate, under a $700m sukuk transaction in successfully defending a claim in the English courts by Dana Gas seeking to invalidate the transaction on the basis that it was allegedly not compliant with sharia law, thereby protecting the substantial interests of the certificate holder investors.
Expertise
Practices
Litigation, Arbitration and Investigations
Investigations, Enforcement and Business Crime
Sectors
Qualifications
Professional
Admitted as solicitor, England and Wales, 2006
Academic
MA, Classics, University of Cambridge, 2006
LPC, BPP Law School, 2004
Post Graduate Diploma, Law, BPP Law School, 2003
Other noteworthy experience
Advising:
- Virgin Atlantic Airways on its £1.2 billion restructuring, which was first ever UK Restructuring Plan.
- A trustee in getting the crucial issue that was holding up the Norske Skog restructuring heard and successfully resolved by the English High Court in just ten weeks, thereby saving the company and preserving value for creditors.
- High Court and Court of Appeal victories, in a dispute relating to notes linked to the official rate of inflation in Argentina.
- Elavon in the Titan the litigation in successfully arguing in the High Court and Court of Appeal that the Class X noteholders (related to the issuer) were not entitled to increased interest payments following the issuer’s insolvency, thereby preserving significant value for the noteholders in the structure.
- A Trustee in pursuing claims on behalf of bondholders in the insolvency of Kaupthing, Singer and Friedlander (KSF). This involved pursing a successful appeal to the UK Supreme Court on a novel question of law, which resulted in a significantly increased recovery for bondholders.
- Man GLG in the Supreme Court in relation to the distribution of client monies from the Lehman Brothers Europe Estate.
- A number of different financial institutions on close-out calculation disputes under the ISDA Master Agreement following the collapse of the Icelandic Banks.
- A large US-headquartered global investment adviser on an acrimonious dispute with its debt servicer in both Poland and UK. Achieved a successful settlement and resolution of all issues within 6 months of taking over the matter from another firm.
- A global bank in defeating a court challenge by a company to the sale of its assets (a large property in Canary Wharf) by way of a pre-packaged administration.
- DTZ on a successful rescue of the company via a pre-packed administration in the face of challenge from certain shareholders.
