Elena is an Associate in the Dispute Resolution department, specialising in civil fraud, commercial litigation and contentious insolvency matters.
She has acted for high-net worth individuals, governments, insolvency practitioners and large companies in a wide range of disputes which are often complex and multi-jurisdictional in nature. She undertakes investigations to identify whether her clients have been the victims of fraud, obtains injunctive relief to protect assets and pursues litigation and enforcement action on behalf of clients all around the world.
Elena has particular experience of:
- Asset Recovery - Obtaining and defending against a variety of High Court injunctions, including, worldwide freezing orders, delivery up orders and proprietary injunctions.
- Commercial Litigation - Litigating claims founded in the torts of conspiracy and deceit, breaches of contract, breach of directors and fiduciary duty and breach of trust.
- Contentious Insolvency - Leading investigations for insolvency practitioners (in particular, using the powers available pursuant to s234, s235 & s236 of the Insolvency Act 1986), advising insolvency practitioners in relation to the realisation of assets and their duties to the Court and creditors, advising the creditors of insolvent counterparties both pre and post an insolvency event.
- Advisory - Advising publicly listed corporate clients on listing, regulatory and competition issues, data breach notification requirements.
- Arbitration – Acting for commercial entities in arbitral proceedings, brought under the major institutional rules (LCIA, ICC) and enforcement of arbitral awards.
- Elena is also a co-founder of the UK Cypriot Enterprise Counsel's "Gen Y Innovation Network".
Key Experience
- Acting for one of the world's largest companies in a multi-jurisdictional $1.5bn conspiracy claim, including obtaining a variety of injunctive relief (in England and elsewhere) in support of enforcement of an arbitral award.
- Advising an individual on obtaining a prohibitory injunction against "persons unknown" in relation to identity theft.
- Acting for the Administrators of London Capital & Finance PLC (assisting the Administrators investigate the collapse of LCF in circumstances where it owes creditors in excess of £230million).
- Acting for the Department of Foreign Affairs of a large European nation (investigating the suspected fraudulent activity of a counterparty).
- Acting for a French entity in the renewable energy sector in dispute with an Iranian entity arising from a development agreement concerning the construction of 20MW solar power projects in Iran (LCIA arbitration, London seat).
- Acting for an Israeli telecoms company in a dispute against a southern African state-owned entity concerning a sales and licensing agreement (LCIA arbitration, London seat).
Recent notable cases:
- AA v BB [2021] EWCA Civ 1017 – Leading case dealing with the inter-connectedness of worldwide freezing orders (WFO) and criminal restraint orders (CRO). Elena acted for the successful party in the Court of Appeal.
- AA v BB [2021] EWHC 1833 (Ch) - Leading case dealing with the effect that a Proprietary Freezing Injunction has in respect of the payment of legal expenses.
- Re London Oil and Gas Ltd (In Liquidation) [2022] EWHC 1672 (Ch) – Assignment of commercial agreements found to be void due lack of authority. Elena acted for insolvency practitioners in long running administration of LCF and LOG.
- Confidential Internal Investigation [2019 – 2020] - Acting for the Department of Foreign Affairs of a large European nation investigating the suspected fraudulent activity of a counterparty. The investigation involved a multi-jurisdictional investigation across Europe and Africa.
Career History
Associate, Mishcon de Reya LLP
Trainee Solicitor, Mishcon de Reya LLP
BPP, GDL and LPC
University of Manchester, Politics and Modern History (BA)