Peters & Peters

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Philip Gardner


Senior Associate

Philip is a Senior Associate in our Fraud & Commercial Disputes department. He works on a range of English High Court litigation and other international disputes. He has particular experience in sovereign disputes, banking litigation and civil fraud claims. Philip is a committee member of the Young Fraud Lawyers Association.

Philip has substantial experience of high-value Commercial Court litigation, acting for both claimants and defendants. This includes jurisdiction challenges, trials of preliminary issues, freezing orders and complex disclosure disputes. Philip has acted in a number of proceedings involving parallel proceedings in multiple jurisdictions, including criminal proceedings engaging issues relating to the privilege against self-incrimination. He is particularly interested in private international law and foreign law issues, having acted in matters involving Russian, Mozambican, Swiss, UAE and Ukrainian law. He also has notable experience with respect to expert evidence on a wide range of topics (foreign law, forensic document analysis, national security considerations and valuation of maritime assets and infrastructure).

Philip acts as part of the team representing the Republic of Mozambique in litigation before the English Court, including the successful appeal to the UK Supreme Court on the correct interpretation of section 9 of the Arbitration Act 1996.

Philip is listed in Legal 500 (2020) for Commercial Litigation.

Prior to training at Peters & Peters, Philip worked in public affairs for a charity and was involved in lobbying members of Parliament and the government on both domestic and foreign policy. He holds a BA from King’s College London in History and War Studies, an AM from Harvard University in Middle Eastern Studies and the GDL and LPC from BPP University.

Contact details

Tel: +44 (0)20 7822 7782
Case examples

Acting for the Republic of Mozambique in the US$2 billion “tuna bonds” Commercial Court proceedings against Credit Suisse and Abu Dhabi-based shipbuilder Privinvest.

Representing the Republic of Mozambique in defending a series of claims arising out of the "tuna bonds" scandal including from VTB Capital Plc, Banco Comercial Português, Beauregarde Holdings LLC and United Bank for Africa Plc.

Acted for Russian businessman Alexander Tugushev on Commercial Court claims brought against Vitaly Orlov and others relating to one of Russia's largest international fishing businesses.

Young Fraud Lawyers Association – Committee Member
Young International Arbitration Group (YIAG) – Member
London Solicitors Litigation Association (LSLA) – Member
Anglo-Omani Society – Member

Society of English and American Lawyers (SEAL) – Member

Franco-British Lawyers Society – Member