John Shirley-Rakhra

John works closely with a range of clients advising on a wide variety of high-value contentious matters across a number sectors, with a focus on corporate/commercial disputes and insurance/reinsurance coverage. 

John provides key assistance on large technical disputes and is often involved in particularly complex litigation, where he provides key insight into difficult legal and technical matters but always with a focus on achieving clients’ commercial objectives.   

Notable recent experience includes:
• advising on a c. $530 million shareholder dispute relating to the ownership of a large games developer;
• advising on English law aspects of a £10 million coverage dispute under a directors and officers liability policy in relation to a class-action;
• advising on claims in excess of $1.5 billion under various reinsurance contracts;
• acting on various corporate / shareholder disputes regarding deferred payments, breach of confidentiality and economic torts;
• advising on a highly technical Construction All Risks coverage dispute relating to a large development in North London; and
• a BVI seated arbitration claim (subject to English and Welsh law) regarding construction projects in Nigeria;

Before pursuing a legal career, John studied Philosophy and Politics at Cambridge, qualified as a teacher and subsequently worked as a lobbyist running communications campaigns.