David Mohyuddin KC

Call: 1999 (England and Wales); 2023 (BVI) | Silk: 2016

King's Counsel

An ‘excellent strategist’ who is ‘terrifically bright,’ David Mohyuddin specialises in corporate and personal insolvency and commercial litigation, involving business disputes of all types, including contractual and company claims, allegations of fraud and breach of directors’ duties. He is called to the Bar of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (BVI).

A ‘silk who gets his hands dirty,’ he is a ‘reassuringly thorough and tenacious advocate’ who is ‘technically excellent’ and ‘very aware of the practical and commercial context of his advice.’ He is popular with clients, being ‘fantastic to work with.’ David likes to be part of a team, recognising clients’ commercial and practical problems and the need to achieve the speedy and cost-effective resolution of their disputes.

He has experience of high profile, significant and long-running litigation, as one of the Silks leading the Secretary of State’s team in the directors disqualification proceedings arising from the failure of Carillion plc. The case was included in The Lawyer’s ‘Top 20 cases for 2023’.

David is just as comfortable in multi-day trials in complex and high-value claims as he is in making urgent applications and advising those already involved in or contemplating litigation.

INSOLVENCY

David has some 23 years’ of specialist insolvency experience. In Silk, he has continued his extensive and highly-regarded practice covering all aspects of insolvency and insolvency-related litigation. David acts for office-holders (including in professional negligence type claims against them) and those subject to and affected by insolvency proceedings in whatever type of regime. He has vast experience of appearing on routine, controversial and urgent applications and of advising on complex and technical matters arising in the conduct of insolvencies. He is popular with his clients, who describe him as ‘extremely user-friendly’ and ‘clever, authoritative and willing to buy into the case and be part of the team.’

He has specific experience of the insolvency of peer-to-peer lending platforms, having been instructed in the administrations of three different peer-to-peer providers. He has in depth and extensive experience of acting in directors disqualification and public interest cases. He is one of the Silks leading the Secretary of State’s team in the very significant disqualification proceedings arising from the failure of Carillion plc. He acted for the Official Receiver throughout the liquidation of the Redcar steelworks.

Examples of David’s work include:

representing the former receivers of Blackpool Football Club, obtaining an order striking out a claim against them that they had sold assets at a multi-million pound undervalue: Denaxe Ltd v Cooper & Rubin [2022] EWHC 764 (Ch) and successfully resisting the subsequent appeal: [2023] EWCA Civ 752

representing the trustees in bankruptcy in a large and complex bankruptcy: State Bank of India v Mallya [2022] EWHC 617 (Comm) and ongoing
a heavily contested application for an administration order: Aartee Steel Group Ltd [2023] EWHC 1701 (Ch)
advising and representing the administrators of a peer-to-peer lending platform generally and on an application concerning the proper treatment of assets held on trust for investors (2022)
advising and representing the administrators of a peer-to-peer lending platform in an application for directions as to deduction of fees from asset realisations (2021)
resisting a challenge to the appointment of an administrator: Secure Mortgage Corp Ltd v Harold [2020] EWHC 1364 (Ch)
representing the administrators of a peer-to-peer lending platform in seeking directions for the proper distribution of assets: Avery-Gee v Sibley [2021] EWHC 798 (Ch)
representing directors accused of breach of duty in causing a company to enter into employee-benefit trusts: Toone v Ross [2019] EWHC 2855 (Ch)
appearing in the Court of Appeal on behalf of a barrister whose fees due under an honorarium were claimed by his trustee in bankruptcy: Gwinnutt v George [2019] EWCA Civ 656

RECOGNITION

“David is thoughtful, concise, easy to get on with, accessible and not afraid to say something the client does not want to hear.” (Company, Chambers UK Bar 2024)
“Provides excellent client service, and seamlessly tailors his advice to best suit the client.” (Company, Chambers UK Bar 2024)
“David is very good with clients; he puts them at ease and understands and anticipates their concerns.” (Company, Chambers UK Bar 2024)
“A tough, robust but always pleasant advocate.” (Chancery: Commercial, Chambers UK Bar 2024)
“David provides excellent client service. He seamlessly tailors his advice to best suit the particular recipients within the client organisation.” (Commercial Dispute Resolution, Chambers UK Bar 2024)
“David is very responsive and user friendly. You really feel like he is part of the team.” (Commercial Dispute Resolution, Chambers UK Bar 2024)
“David clearly communicates complex legal issues in an easily digestible way and has no trouble with quickly getting to grips with difficult legal problems.”(Restructuring/Insolvency, Chambers UK Bar 2024)
“He’s thoughtful, concise and very thorough.” (Restructuring/Insolvency, Chambers UK Bar 2024)
“David is terrifically bright.” and “His written work is outstanding. He is utterly persuasive on his feet, but in a very calm way.” (Commercial Dispute Resolution, Chambers and Partners Northern Bar 2023)
“David is pragmatic, keeps the big picture in mind and identifies objectives well. He is on top of the detail and strategic direction, and is a good leader.” (Restructuring/Insolvency, Chambers and Partners Northern Bar 2023)
“David is a pleasure to work with. He quickly gets to the heart of complex issues and provides sound and clear strategic advice. He is also a reassuringly thorough and tenacious advocate.” (Company and Insolvency, Legal 500 Regional Bar 2021)
“Good communicator; client friendly; practical; gets to the core issues quickly; go-to choice for large cases and has never let me down.” (Commercial Litigation, Legal 500 Regional Bar 2021)
“Very bright and a great team player. He is very personable and gets the right balance between being aggressive but also pragmatic and sensible when needed.” “David is fantastic to work with – on top of being technically excellent he is extremely user-friendly and very quickly builds up a great rapport with clients.” “Technically sound and very aware of the practical and commercial context of his advice.” (Chambers and Partners UK)
“He produces good skeleton arguments.” (Chambers and Partners UK)
“He sets a position out very clearly and his advocacy is excellent in court. He is easy to get on with and takes a very collaborative approach, which is refreshing for a silk.” (Chambers and Partners UK)
“Technically excellent in his advice while providing a commercial focus.” “My go-to: very considered, calm and easy to work with.” (Chambers and Partners UK)
“A relatively young silk who’s highly knowledgeable and a good choice if you need some aggression to be injected into a case.” (Chambers and Partners UK)
“David is fantastic to work with – on top of being technically excellent, he is extremely user-friendly and very quickly builds up a great rapport with clients.” “He is extremely personable, bright and gets to the heart of issues very quickly.” (Chambers and Partners UK)
“He’s very down to earth and happy to take calls at any time.” “He’s very useful as he gets you over any initial hurdles you might have.” (Chambers and Partners UK)
“He’s extremely bright, but at the same time has the ability to engage with clients.” “He’s absolutely fantastic – he’s a real team player.” (Chambers and Partners UK)
“He is clever, authoritative and willing to buy into the case and be part of the team.” “Extremely precise in court.” (Chambers and Partners UK)
“He is very forensic and analytical in his approach and his arguments are very well put together.” “A very personable type and he is good on his feet.” (Chambers and Partners UK)
“He’s very well prepared and his papers are immaculate – he thinks outside the box.” “He’s excellent, very proactive, bright, tactical and frankly very cost-effective.” (Chambers and Partners UK)
“Decisive and thorough, he displays an intricate knowledge of the law and applies it brilliantly.” “An excellent strategist.” (Chambers and Partners UK)
“A renowned insolvency barrister with a strong reputation in the adjacent field of commercial chancery.” (Chambers and Partners UK)
“He has the gift of being able to condense an argument where others would be overly verbose. His skeleton arguments are always spot-on and to the point and he has a very persuasive advocacy style.” (Chambers and Partners UK)
“Proficient senior junior adept in a variety of commercial and insolvency work, including commercial fraud matters. Assists with high-value cases of legal importance, including Court of Appeal briefs.” (Chambers and Partners UK)
“He has in-depth knowledge. He is also very straightforward and very down-to-earth.” (Chambers and Partners UK)
“Really user-friendly. He rolls up his sleeves, gets involved and is prepared to put his neck on the line and back his judgement, which he always comes through on.” (Chambers and Partners UK)
“He is decisive and thorough, he displays intricate legal knowledge and he crafts the perfect legal strategy for the client.” (Chambers and Partners UK)
“He is at the top of our list for instructing.” (Chambers and Partners UK)
“He is always very thorough and well prepared, and he is fantastic on his feet. He is a match for any insolvency barrister on the Northern Circuit.” (Chambers and Partners UK)
“He is superb on his feet, very bright and highly recommended for commercial matters.” (Chambers and Partners UK)
“A real expert in insolvency matters.” (Chambers and Partners UK)
“A silk who gets his hands dirty.” (The Legal 500)
“A forceful advocate with a great client manner.” (The Legal 500)
“A star performer.” (The Legal 500)
“An extremely capable and forceful advocate.” (The Legal 500)
“Tactically excellent; he is liked and respected by clients.” (The Legal 500)

David Mohyuddin KC

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