Mishcon de Reya has secured a US court victory for an Islamic banking client facing accusations of financing terrorist organisations in the run-up to 9/11.

Dar Al-Maal Al-Islami Trust (DMI Trust), an Islamic financial institution, had faced trillions of dollars in claims after being accused of financing Al Qaeda.

The claims had been brought by those directly affected by the 9/11 attacks, as well as a raft of insurance companies.

Mishcons fielded a team out of its fledgling New York office led by managing partner and white collar crime specialist litigator Jim McGuire.

A New York court on Monday (17 September) dismissed all claims against DMI Trust, ruling that it had shown nothing to indicate that it ever did anything more or less than engage in routine banking services.

The case is the last of a series of similar lawsuits handled by McGuire since August 2002, involving DMI Trust, the Fahd of Saudi Arabia Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Ibrahim al-Ibrahim, and companies and individuals related to both parties.

All claims against all of those parties have now been dismissed.

McGuire commented: "This is clearly a case that has been very emotionally charged and the allegations against our clients were extremely serious. The judgments have cleared our clients of any connection to 2001′s devastating attacks on the US and we can now draw a line under these cases."

Mishcons launched in New York this January with the hire of a 15-strong team headed up by McGuire from US firm Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton.

McGuire joined Sheppard Mullin in 2004 from fellow US firm White & Case.

The US launch gifted Mishcons its first office outside the UK, with the firm bidding to take advantage of an upturn in global fraud and regulatory work.