Withers is preparing to take on Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in a mis-selling court battle on behalf of bankrupt student housing company Opal Property as the fallout from the Libor fixing scandal continues.

Opal owner Stuart Wall claims he is owed damages after being sold hedging products linked to Libor at the same time as the lender was attempting to rig the benchmark lending rate.

Withers litigation partner Andrew Wass is representing Wall, who says in court documents that RBS was "unjustly enriched" after entering an interest rate swap with Opal in 2007 intended to hedge against the risk of rates rising.

Wall says in the documents that RBS representatives had knowledge of misconduct over Libor setting, but did not disclose this or information on known weaknesses in the commercial mortgage-backed securities market.

Legal Week understands that Dentons is representing RBS on the case.

RBS reached a £325m settlement with the European Commission last December over its role in rigging interest rates in euro- and Japanese yen-denominated derivatives, with King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin (KWM) taking the lead role for the bank on that occasion.

Withers does not have panel arrangements with RBS, and though it does act for some banks, its private client-focused practice means that, unlike the majority of firms in the Legal Week Top 50, it is able to take on cases for clients suing the major lenders.

Both Withers and Wass declined to comment on the ongoing litigation.