Sam is a senior associate in the commercial disputes team. She advises UK and international clients on complex commercial disputes, acting for both claimants and defendants across a range of sectors, with particular experience in technology and financial services. Her practice includes contractual disputes, shareholder, director and partnership disputes, contentious insolvency and fraud disputes.

Sam has experience acting at all stages of a dispute, from pre-action strategy and settlement negotiations, including mediation, through to High Court proceedings and trial. She also has experience of international arbitration, including ICC proceedings. Sam has worked on substantial multi-jurisdictional disputes, cross-border enforcement matters and investigations involving regulatory and law enforcement authorities.

Her work has involved a range of disputes concerning technology and complex technical subject matter, including software and intellectual property, technology services and licensing arrangements, and the commercial exploitation and deployment of technology.

Prior to joining Bristows, Sam spent several years practising at UK and US law firms. She also previously worked in the financial crime compliance team of a multinational investment bank.

Some of Sam’s work highlights include:

• Acting for the founder and former shareholders of a financial planning technology business in a dispute concerning earn-out payments and the deployment of acquired intellectual property across a global financial technology platform, with claims potentially exceeding $100 million.
• Acting for a defendant in a £90 million+ dispute involving fiduciary duties, asset ownership and complex trust structures, including parallel proceedings and a worldwide freezing injunction.
• Acting for a telecommunications and IT company in an ICC arbitration concerning a services and licence agreement with an overseas counterparty, including post-award enforcement issues.
• Acting in a substantial dispute involving an international oil trading business, including claims concerning the misuse of confidential information.