Richard Garcia

Richard Garcia

Partner - Head of Corporate & Commercial Disputes, London

Richard leads Stephenson Harwood's corporate and commercial disputes group. He specialises in corporate and commercial, financial and fraud disputes.

D +44 20 7809 2346 M +44 7811 409 216

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Awards and Recognition

Leading Partner – Commercial Litigation Premium
The Legal 500 UK 2025

"Richard Garcia is excellent."   

The Legal 500 UK 2025 - Public International Law

"Richard is thoroughly sensible and does a great job on complex and difficult matters." 

"Richard handles complicated cases very well and is a good organiser."

The Legal 500 UK 2025 - Banking Litigation

"Richard handles complicated cases very well and is a good organiser."

The Legal 500 UK 2025 - Banking Litigation

"Richard Garcia is a knowledgeable partner who is on top of the issues and will seek to go the extra miles for his clients."    

Legal 500 UK 2024 - Commercial Litigation Premium

Biography

Language - English
Jurisdiction - England & Wales

Richard has particular expertise in banking, funds, structured finance and financial products disputes. He is regularly instructed by banks, asset managers, sovereign states and large corporates on their most important and complex cases. 

Richard is also often instructed on shareholder, joint venture and private equity disputes. He regularly advises on a wide range of commercial disputes and has also advised investors and stakeholders on a number of major fund and institutional collapses. 

Richard has experience of a broad range of dispute resolution mechanisms including litigation, arbitration and mediation. He has advised on a number of group actions involving multiple claimant groups and third parties and he regularly coordinates large multi-party proceedings across multiple jurisdictions. 

The largest value cases often involve multi-faceted proceedings including jurisdiction challenges, freezing orders, cross-border evidence gathering and complex enforcement strategies and defences. Richard has been involved in many such cases, including enforcement proceedings arising from foreign judgments, LCIA, ICC and ICSID arbitrations.

Experience

  • Post M&A Dispute

    Acting for an institutional client in a corporate dispute with a seller (a global insurance company) involving claims arising out of the acquisition of a subsidiary for breach of warranty, fraudulent misrepresentation and related shareholder rights issues.

  • Oil & Gas Dispute

    Acting for a listed company in ICC arbitration proceedings relating to a major project in the middle east, involving claims for breach of contract, liquidated damages and fraudulent misrepresentation.

  • ISDA dispute

    Representing a European bank in $200m LCIA arbitration proceedings in connection with a series of transactions under the ISDA Master Agreement involving non-payment due to international sanctions.

  • CMA consumer investigation

    Acting for a global brand in an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority into alleged breaches of consumer law and related civil proceedings.

  • Banks Group Action

    Acting for a number of European banks on group claims including potential GLO proceedings in the UK and related proceedings in other jurisdictions. The claims arise from investments in real estate made by borrowers who allege that they are consumers and involve multiple third parties including developers, agents and professional advisers.

  • Collapse of XiO Group

    Acting for the new management of the XiO private equity group following the collapse of the group and the related litigation in several jurisdictions including Cayman, Hong Kong and London, claims for bonuses and carry by former senior managers and employees.

  • Central Bank

    Acting for a Central Bank on multiple disputes relating to state owned assets including gold bullion deposits, swaps and commodity trades, sovereign debt claims, freezing order and enforcement proceedings, sovereign immunity, authority and custody disputes.

  • New York Convention Enforcement

    Acting for the Republic of Venezuela in defence of the enforcement of an arbitral award arising from proceedings under the ICSID Additional Facility rules brought by Gold Reserve Inc., a Canadian gold mining company.

  • Tchenguiz litigation

    In one of the largest disputes of the past decade, the ongoing multi-faceted Tchenguiz litigation, achieved a series of victories including securing jurisdiction against Kaupthing Bank Hf and a successful judicial review challenge against the SFO.

  • Mobil v PDVSA

    Successfully discharging a $12 billion freezing order obtained from the English Commercial Court and advising on related proceedings arising from an investment treaty dispute under ICSID arbitration rules arising from the nationalisation of oil interests in the Orinoco belt.