Thomas Williams

Thomas has a broad commercial and company practice. He is experienced in claims for breach of commercial contracts, joint venture disputes, fraud, and claims for knowing assistance and breach of trust. He has also enforced judgments in the English High Court and abroad. He has sought and resisted the winding-up of companies, including obtaining injunctions to restrain the presentation of statutory demands and winding-up petitions, and advised liquidators on claw-back remedies. He successfully presented the first creditor’s winding-up petition in the Qatar International Court. He also has considerable experience of personal insolvency.

His recent experience includes the following:

• Representing a company in resisting an application for an administration order (His Honour Judge Cawson KC, Chancery Division, Manchester). There were complex legal issues as to whether the company was able to pay its debts, in the context of authorities (including decisions of the Supreme Court) relevant to that test as applied to start-up companies. Unled, against Richard Chapman KC.
• Representing the claimant in a complex, 9-day fraud trial arising from a deed of undertaking (His Honour Judge Halliwell, Circuit Commercial Court, Manchester). Led by Paul Chaisty KC, against Lesley Anderson KC.
• Representing a company in resisting a petition under s.994 of the Companies Act 2006 (Companies Court, London). Unled, against Eleanor Temple KC. The matter settled before trial.
• Representing a company in proceedings against a director for breach of fiduciary duty, including an application for injunctive relief (His Honour Judge Berkley, Circuit Commercial Court, Bristol).
• Representing an English company against Dubai and Abu Dhabi companies, in a claim for commission arising from a corporate sale (His Honour Judge Pelling KC, Circuit Commercial Court, London).
• Representing the defendant in proceedings for fraud and breach of fiduciary duty (Chancery Division, Birmingham). 
• Representing the defendant in proceedings brought against it by the alleged assignee of debts, in the context of the sale and supply of goods (Circuit Commercial Court, Liverpool).
• Representing a Ghanian bank in enforcing an English judgment in India, including in the Indian Supreme Court, under the Indian Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016. This was the first case in which a foreign judgment had been used as evidence to found a petition under the Code.
• Representing a prominent Qatari businessman in a claim in the Qatar International Court, in relation to a dispute with a QFC-incorporated financial services company (Justices Lord Hamilton, Helen Mountfield KC and Fritz Brand SC). Thomas also made seminal applications on the claimant’s behalf for strike out and debarring orders.
• Representing an English supplier of energy products in winding-up proceedings in the Qatar International Court against a QFC-incorporated energy consultancy, arising out of an ICC arbitration (Justices Lord Hamilton, Ali Malek KC and Rashid Al-Anezi).
• Representing English defendants in a liability trial in the Qatar International Court, arising from the sale of a BVI company under an SPA (Justices Lord Hamilton, Helen Mountfield KC and Fritz Brand SC). The case also involved having to resist applications for a third-party debt order, a freezing injunction and security for costs.
• Representing an English businessman in proceedings brought by the QFC Regulatory Authority, including appeals against liability and sanction before the Regulatory Tribunal of the QFC (Sir William Blair, Chairman, and Justices Gopal Subramanian SC and Muna Al-Marzouqi), and the Appellate Division of the Qatar International Court (Lord Thomas, President, and Justices Chelva Rajah SC and Laurence Li SC). Unled, against Ben Jaffey KC.
• Representing an Australian businessman in a claim for unpaid wages and commission against a QFC company in the Qatar International Court (Justices Frances Kirkham CBE, Helen Mountfield KC and Fritz Brand SC). Thomas later represented the claimant in seminal contempt proceedings against the defendant (Justice Muna Al-Marzouqi).
• Representing company directors in proceedings brought by a former corporate shareholder in the Qatar International Court (Justices Ali Malek KC, Fritz Brand SC and Yongjian Zhang). The case involved consideration of whether the regulatory laws, rules and regulations of the QFCRA are actionable in private law proceedings (as with s.138D of FSMA 2000); if the usual rule that directors’ duties are owed to the company, and not to shareholders, is displaced; the principle of reflective loss; and the rule in Foss v. Harbottle. Within the same proceedings, Thomas made a seminal application for the defendant for security for costs, which created new law in the QFC as to the Court’s jurisdiction to award security for costs and the proper test to be applied.
• Representing the Qatar Free Zones Authority in proceedings in the Qatar International Court to contest the jurisdiction of the Qatar International Court over claims brought against it (Justices Lord Hamilton, Ali Malek KC and Muna Al-Marzouqi). Led by Paul Lowenstein KC.
• Representing Cambridge University in a seminal case before the Appellate Division of the Qatar International Court, on the question whether the Court has opt-in jurisdiction (Lord Thomas, President, and Justices Sir William Blair and Hassan Al-Sayed).