Barclays has asked the High Court to order a former Dewey Ballantine partner to repay a loan of around $180,000 taken out to make capital contributions to the now-defunct firm.

The claim was filed in July this year, more than four years after Dewey & LeBouef filed for bankruptcy, marking the largest law firm collapse in history.

The case relates to a loan taken out by Robert de By, who joined Dewey as international arbitration head in 2005, prior to the 2007 merger with LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & MacRae that formed Dewey & LeBouef.

de By, who left Dewey in 2009, is now a partner at litigation boutique Connon Wood, splitting his time between London and Los Angeles.

In 2006, he took out a loan of $186,702 with Barclays to make capital contributions that he and other partners were required to pay into Dewey. This loan was increased to $230,851 in 2007. In February 2011, a payment of $69,833 was credited to de By's loan account, reducing the balance of the loan to $161,017.

However, in June 2012, just days after Dewey filed for bankruptcy, de By allegedly failed to make an interest payment on the loan, a failure described by the court filing as "an event of default" under the loan agreement.

Barclays then demanded repayment of the whole amount of the loan in February 2013, which including interest, now stands at $180,378. Barclays is also claiming an indemnity for liabilities, costs and expenses, including legal costs, that the bank has incurred as a result of the claim.

Addleshaw Goddard is representing Barclays on the case, led by City associate David Wigg. de By has turned to Farrer & Co, with Khawar Qureshi QC of Serle Court Chambers instructed as counsel.

Barclays instructed Addleshaws in 2014 to chase payments from former Dewey partners. The firm was appointed after finance litigation partner Richard Clayton brought the instruction with him when he moved to Addleshaws from TLT in late 2014.

Clayton had been the sole TLT partner acting for Barclays in its attempt to recoup loans made to four former partners – Charles Landgraf, Londell McMillan, Lewis Rosenbloom and Elias Farrah – before Dewey collapsed in 2012.

In June last year, Barclays won a High Court lawsuit against McMillan, a US entertainment lawyer who has represented Prince and Stevie Wonder, for repayment of a $540,000 loan.

Landgraf, Rosenbloom and Farrah settled out of court with the bank for an undisclosed sum, just days before the trial was due to take place on 5 May, and which ultimately went ahead with just McMillan.