Catherine joined Winckworth Sherwood in September 2022 from Charles Fussell & Co LLP, a boutique litigation firm based in the West End. Catherine is a Senior Associate in the Commercial Disputes team.

Catherine has a broad commercial litigation background, having worked on claims in the High Court and Court of Appeal as well as the Upper Tribunal and County Courts. She has experience in alternative dispute resolution, including arbitration and mediation.

Catherine advises both individuals and corporate clients. She has worked on a broad range of litigation, including civil fraud claims, shareholder and breach of director’s duty disputes, and contract disputes in the media, mining, hospitality and technology sectors. She has litigated claims of anti-competitive behaviour and advised on insolvency issues, injunction applications and enforcement. Catherine has also acted in cases with cross-jurisdictional elements, working with local counsel.

Recent experience

• Advising a technology software reseller in a £270M High Court claim against Microsoft for abuse of a dominant position, and anti-competitive behaviour to restrict, prevent or distort trade. JJH Enterprises Limited (trading as ValueLicensing) v Microsoft Corporation and others [2022] EWHC 929 (Comm)
• Acting for two fund directors on a £700M claim involving UN sanctions and frozen assets, coordinated across multiple jurisdictions against a fast-moving political background.
• Advising the CEO of an Australian mining company on a shareholder dispute in a circa $16M gold mining claim regarding tenements in Brazil, which involved negotiating with a liquidator in UK proceedings to obtain and assign rights to various mining contracts following liquidation proceedings and then instructing local counsel on two separate arbitrations in Brazil.
• Acting for a local franchisee against a national food supplier in a franchise contract dispute in the hospitality sector.
• Defending a high-net-worth client’s bankruptcy claim on the grounds of Centre of Main Interests.
• Defending a contractual claim against the new owners of a construction company and bringing a misrepresentation counterclaim against the former owner.
• Acting for shareholders in a media company defending an unfair prejudice petition and on subsequent related shareholder disputes.
• Defending an international bitcoin mining company in a claim brought by an IT supplier relating to the provision of an IT banking system, in the Commercial Court. Digital Capital Ltd v Genesis Mining Iceland EHF [2021] EWHC 2462 (Comm)
• Defending a fraudulent misrepresentation claim against the CEO of a start-up medical supply company based in the Middle East. Barley v Muir [2018] EWHC 619 (QB)