Richard Eschwege practises in heavyweight litigation and arbitration; he has acted in some of the highest profile and most significant cases of recent years. He has a broad, predominantly commercial, practice, and has advised on and acted in a spectrum of disputes, including energy and natural resources, banking and financial services, civil fraud, insurance and reinsurance, professional negligence, telecommunications, conflicts of interest, conflicts of laws, and jurisdiction battles. He has appeared in the national courts at all levels and before many international arbitral tribunals.
Richard took silk in 2023. He is ranked in the legal directories as a leading silk in Commercial Dispute Resolution, Energy and Natural Resources, Banking and Finance, Civil Fraud, Insurance and Reinsurance, and International Arbitration. He was one of Legal Week’s ‘Stars at the Bar’.
Richard has a particularly strong practice in disputes relating to energy and natural resources, banking and finance, reinsurance/insurance and civil fraud matters.
He has acted in a large number of substantial oil and gas, mining or infrastructure disputes across the globe, including in the North Sea, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, central Asia, the Americas and central and west Africa. He has appeared in many of the major energy and natural resources cases of recent years, including Excalibur Ventures. Richard has appeared in Município de Mariana v. BHP, a £36 billion claim arising from the collapse of a Brazilian dam; it is the largest group litigation ever before the English Court. He recently successfully defended the principal defendant CEO and CFO in Alta Trading (formerly known as Arcadia Petroleum) v. Bosworth, a US$500m alleged fraud concerning West African oil trading. After a 10-year battle fought in courts in England and abroad and a 3 month trial, the Commercial Court dismissed the fraud claim against Richard’s clients on all grounds.
Richard has worked on a variety of banking litigation matters, often involving complex financial products. He has acted for lenders, borrowers, hedge funds and other fund management companies, in a wide range of financial disputes, including asset and security enforcement, the restructuring of facility agreements, repos, disputes under bank guarantees, disputes involving bond issues and clearing systems, LIBOR manipulation, swaps mis-selling cases, and payments under letters of credit. He has experience of insolvency matters and had involvement in proceedings arising under the Takeover Code or investigations involving regulators.
Richard also has extensive experience of civil fraud matters, both for claimants and defendants, and frequently in the context of multi- jurisdictional disputes. In addition to his work in Alta Trading, he currently acts in a number of other substantial fraud cases that are before the English court.
Recent court matters on which Richard Eschwege has been instructed include:
Recent arbitral matters on which Richard Eschwege has been instructed include:
Education
Inns of Court School of Law
City University
Balliol College, Oxford
Qualifications
M.A. (Oxon)
Literae Humaniores (2006) - First Class (Congratulatory)
Honour Moderations (2004) - First Class
Bar Vocational Course (2008) - Outstanding
CPE (2007) - Distinction