Tom McKernan
Partner

Tom is a partner in our civil litigation team and has been described as a “stellar lawyer” in the Legal 500. He has over a decade of experience acting in major fraud cases in the Commercial Court and has successfully represented high-profiles clients from around the world.

Tom specialises in complex, multi-jurisdictional fraud claims, often involving assets freezing orders. He also works across a wide variety of other commercial disputes, including arbitration, contentious insolvency, and shareholder disputes.

Tom acts for both Claimants and Defendants in asset recovery cases involving all manner of asset classes, including cryptocurrency.

The Directories Say

• “‘Tom McKernan is so clever, able to assimilate huge amounts of information and to see three steps ahead, so as to out-think and out-play his opponents long before they understand what is happening” (Legal 500 2026).
• “Tom McKernan has a great ability to oversee highly complex cases often involving international elements and early injunctive relief; he has an excellent rapport with all his clients” (Legal 500 2026).
• “Tom McKernan is brilliant - knows everything, works incredibly hard, and sees round corners” (Legal 500 2025).
•  “Bright, hard-working, and just gets it” (Legal 500 2025).
• Tom has also been identified in the Legal 500 as a “stellar lawyer”, an “experienced civil fraud lawyer”, and one of the firm's “key practitioners”.

Notable Experience

• Tom is leading the defence of the Estate of Fahad Al Rajaan against the claims brought by the Kuwaiti Public Institution for Social Security, one of the largest claims in the English High Court. This high-value and long-running litigation involves myriad legal issues in jurisdictions across the world.
• Acting for Rusal, one of the world’s largest aluminium producers, in its claim against Vladimir Potanin and others in a long running, extremely high-value and complex dispute relating to Norilsk Nickel, the Russian mining company.
• Acting for a high-net-worth investor in claims to recover funds paid to an apparent ‘ponzi’ scheme against various defendants involved in the fraud.
• Represented a defendant in the high profile action brought by the administrators of London Capital and Finance, a case involving multiple asset freezing orders and allegations of complex financial fraud.
• Led and successfully concluded claims brought by Teva Pharmaceuticals against two prominent 'Rich List' entrepreneurs for fraudulent misrepresentation and breach of multiple contractual warranties and fiduciary duties, in a dispute involving several sets of inter-related proceedings.
• Acted for a defendant in a $300m claim relating to Ukrainian refinery brought by Russian oil company in the Commercial Court in London (Tatneft -v- Bogolubov and others).
• Led the defence of Sir Alan Davies (one of the so-called 'superhead' teachers) against multi-million-pound civil fraud allegations brought against him by Brent Council.
• Assisted in settling a USD $30 million Commercial Court fraud dispute between investors in a failed oil and gas joint venture, in a case linked to civil and criminal proceedings in both Germany and Luxembourg.
• Acted for a defendant in the high-profile trial of Otkritie v Urumov & Ors [2014] EWHC 191 (Comm), which involved a sophisticated and high-value trading fraud and accusations of money laundering in multiple jurisdictions.
• Assisted Yukos in obtaining an unprecedented €1.9 billion ECHR judgment against the Russian Federation for 'just satisfaction' in relation to the former oil giant's break-up and nationalisation.

Background

Tom read law at the University of Nottingham and graduated in 2007. He joined the firm in September 2012 after completing his training at Edwards Wildman Palmer's London office. Tom is a member of the Young Fraud Lawyers Association.

Contact Tom