MoFo, Blackstone and Doughty St act on Barclays Libor application
Senior lawyers at Morrison & Foerster (MoFo), Blackstone Chambers and Doughty Street Chambers have advised on the high-profile application to ensure anonymity for 104 current and former Barclays employees named in a Libor test case. The High Court ruling last week saw Mr Justice Flaux find in favour of a challenge by four media organisations, including the Financial Times and the Telegraph Media Group, which argued that naming those involved was in the interest of the public.
January 29, 2013 at 06:13 AM
4 minute read
Senior lawyers at Morrison & Foerster (MoFo), Blackstone Chambers and Doughty Street Chambers have advised on the high-profile application to ensure anonymity for 104 current and former Barclays employees named in a Libor test case.
The High Court ruling last week saw Mr Justice Flaux find in favour of a challenge by four media organisations, including the Financial Times and the Telegraph Media Group, which argued that naming those involved was in the interest of the public.
Flaux said granting the individuals anonymity "would be an affront to the principle of open justice".
The US Department of Justice had originally asked the court to keep anonymous the names of 207 individuals, allegedly to protect criminal investigations in the US into manipulation of Libor, a widely-used interest rate benchmark.
This was one of several reasons cited by Blackstone's Lord Pannick QC and Andrew Scott – who had been instructed by MoFo – in their application on behalf of the individuals. They had also sought to be referred to in open court only by a key or numbering system.
The Telegraph's in-house legal team instructed media and privacy specialist Guy Vassall-Adams of Doughty Street as counsel.
All of the 104 names released had sought anonymity, though Flaux said a large number of those are not thought to be involved in any impropriety. More than 20 of those listed are alleged to be involved or implicated in manipulation of institutional interest rates.
Court documents show that MoFo has taken the role of "lead or liaison for a number of firms representing the individuals".
Flaux continued: "I have concluded that the individuals' application that they should remain anonymous until trial fails at the first hurdle, because they have simply not established by clear and cogent evidence, or at all, that the order they seek or any aspect of it is strictly necessary for the proper administration of justice."
The ruling is only the latest chapter in an escalating controversy regarding Libor manipulation that has already engulfed many of the world's leading banking groups and generated a large stream of work for City litigators and regulatory advisers.
According to the Financial Times, those named include Bob Diamond, Barclays' former chief executive, and Jerry del Missier, its former chief operating officer, who appear on a shortlist of 25 individuals who had previously been detailed anonymously in regulatory documents as part of the bank's £290m Libor settlement in June.
There are no Barclays in-house lawyers named on the list, which largely consists of management and former traders.
The documents came out in the first important test case for complaints surrounding alleged mis-selling of the Libor rate. The case is brought by Guardian Care Homes, a residential care home operator based in Wolverhampton, England, which is suing Barclays for up to £37m in a claim that it was mis-sold interest rate hedging products which were based on Libor.
The case, which is set to be heard in October, sees Guardian advised by Cooke Young & Keidan, which has instructed by Brick Court Chambers' Tim Lord QC and Farhaz Khan of Outer Temple Chambers. Barclays is being represented by Clifford Chance and 3 Verulam Building's Adrian Beltrami QC, with the magic circle law firm continuing its role which saw it act on Barclays' June settlement.
MoFo declined to comment.
Click here to view the judgment.
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