Frances is a Senior Associate in our civil fraud and commercial litigation department. Her practice covers high-value, complex commercial disputes and multi-jurisdictional fraud claims.

Frances has worked with many international clients with interests in Russia, Ukraine, the FSU, francophone countries and Latin America. Frances' previous experience covers a broad range of contentious matters in general commercial litigation, international arbitration, insolvency, construction & engineering and insurance & reinsurance disputes.

Legal 500

• In the 2024 edition, Frances is identified as a 'Key Lawyer' for Commercial Litigation.

Notable Experience

• Acting for defendants in a $3 billion cross-border dispute involving fraud allegations and misappropriation of assets.
• Acting for trustees in a seven-jurisdiction trust dispute concerning $500 million of trust assets
• Acted for the majority shareholders of a major Russian retailer in LCIA arbitration proceedings worth $170m in relation to allegations of breaches of relevant statutory director obligations, the Shareholders' Agreement and unfair shareholder prejudice. The arbitration proceedings gave rise to proceedings in Cyprus, Malta and the BVI.
• Acted for a Swiss oil trading and marketing company defending $100m of claims made in the Commercial Court by various international off-takers in respect of the failure to deliver various oil products arising out of a force majeure event in Russia.
• Acted for an aircraft lessor in relation to potential Ukrainian law governed insurance and reinsurance claims worth around $40m arising out of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
• Acted for a private FX investor in Commercial Court proceedings worth $15 million against its former broker regarding that broker's allegedly negligent close-out of two institutional-sized carry trade positions.
• Acted for a Ukrainian pharmaceutical company obtain maintain a Worldwide Freezing Order in support of ongoing Ukrainian proceedings, as well as obtain ancillary disclosure orders in Switzerland and the BVI.
• Acted for a Russian bank to enforce a Russian court judgment for £6.8 million in the English courts against a former oligarch residing in the jurisdiction.
• Acted for an Azerbaijani HNWI in consolidated LCIA arbitration proceedings in relation to breaches of various loan agreements.
• Acted for a Spanish Contractor in an ICC arbitration against an Uzbek State Entity and the State of Uzbekistan in relation to a claim for wrongful termination.
• Acted for the insured in relation to losses arising from civil unrest resulting in the of a wind turbine development site in Mexico.

Background

Frances read French and Russian at the University of Manchester and then completed the Graduate Diploma in Law and the Legal Practice Course at the College of Law in Manchester. Frances trained and qualified at a US firm in 2014 and speaks Russian, French and Spanish. She joined PCB Byrne in 2023.

Contact Frances