Jonathan Kelly is a partner of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, resident in the firm’s London office.
Mr. Kelly’s practice focuses on substantial English and international commercial litigation and arbitration. He is a noted specialist in banking and financial services disputes, and regulatory investigations. He has advised major financial institutions, investment managers and other market participants on significant industry issues in asset management, banking, capital markets, derivatives, private banking, structured finance and regulatory enforcement.
Mr. Kelly has been consistently named as a leading individual in the Investment Banking Litigation, Commercial Litigation and Fraud sections of
Chambers and
The Legal 500 guides to the legal profession. He has been described as one of “the City’s leading banking and financial services litigators”, “one of the elite names in finance litigation”, as having “a first class reputation”, and as being “immensely well-respected”. He is also listed as an expert in the guide to the world’s leading litigation lawyers, published by Euromoney.
Mr. Kelly’s financial markets litigation experience includes:
- Dresdner Bank – Acting for Dresdner Bank in €40 million proceedings with Banco Popolare Italiana in the UK and Italy concerning a complex structured finance transaction in Italy, following one of the first securitizations of non-performance loans in Italy.
- Enron/Parmalat – Advised a leading investment bank’s employees on multi-jurisdiction litigation issues relating to actions in the US and Italy arising from the collapses of Enron and Parmalat.
- Madoff – Acted on English and related US litigation and regulatory matters for investment managers caught up in the Madoff fraud scandal.
- Merrill Lynch Investment Managers – Acted for Merrill Lynch Investment Managers in the landmark investment management dispute, Unilever Superannuation Fund vs. Merrill Lynch Investment Managers.
- Prudential-Bache/PRICOA – Represented Prudential-Bache in claims for $40 million brought by a number of Latin American HNWI investors in respect of the alleged mis-selling of step down, inverse floating rate fixed income products.
- UBS AG – Advised UBS on its defence of the $500 million mis-selling claims made by HSH Nordbank in respect of HSH’s investment in a multiple tranche synthetic Collateralised Debt Obligation, known as North Street 4.
- WestLB – Acted for WestLB in ground-breaking litigation arising out of a collapsed US$1 billion securitisation involving complex, novel and substantial issues relating to the duties of arrangers and lead managers, and prospectus liability.
Mr. Kelly has undertaken risk management advisory and consulting work in respect of a range of issues in the financial services industry, including suitability and product mis-selling issues, the effectiveness of representations and warranties in credit-linked products, marketing and sales practices relating to structured products, and intermediation/distribution policy and practice in the sale of sophisticated financial products to the non-institutional market.
Mr. Kelly has also advised on a wide range of other contentious commercial litigation and arbitration matters, including:
- corporate disputes involving cross-border litigation and arbitration proceedings in England, the British Virgin Islands and Russia;
- advising the Government of an African Republic on a very substantial arbitration dispute arising out of an oil exploration contract;
- representing Sovereigns in litigation arising out of Sovereign debt defaults and involving issues of the immunity of foreign states and their agencies under the State Immunity Act;
- follow-on damages claims arising out of cartel activity and related anti-trust issues; and
- multi-jurisdiction fraud and asset recovery actions involving Middle East and Russia/former CIS litigants.
In addition to his commercial practice, Mr. Kelly has advised on Holocaust Art spoliation claims, including advising both the Tate Gallery and the Courtauld Institute of Art on the first ever claims made against those institutions as well as advising private individuals and estates in this highly sensitive field; advising on Sports Law issues and disciplinary proceedings, including the establishment by the International Cricket Council of its Anti-Corruption Unit led by Lord Paul Condon; and advising on a range of defamation disputes.
Mr. Kelly joined Cleary Gottlieb as a Partner in April 2010, after 22 years at Simmons & Simmons, where he had trained, qualified as a solicitor in 1989, became a Partner in 1995 and was Head of the Financial Markets Litigation Group. Mr. Kelly worked in Hong Kong and London whilst with Simmons & Simmons.