Sonya specialises in banking litigation, contentious regulatory work and professional negligence, principally for accountants. She has acted for financial institutions and professional firms involved in domestic and international litigation. In particular she has acted for those subject to investigations by a wide range of bodies including DTI Inspectors, the Financial Services Authority, the Serious Fraud Office, the Inland Revenue, Customs and Excise, the New York District Attorney, the US Department of Justice and others.
That experience has been on behalf of clients, some of whom have been subject to investigation, others of whom have been requested to provide witnesses and documentation.
She has also acted for those subject to investigations by the Joint Disciplinary Scheme of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales.
Her cases have involved litigation in the US, the Caribbean, Luxembourg, Switzerland, France, Germany and the Channel Islands, as well as England.
Credentials
- Price Waterhouse in relation to the litigation brought by the BCCI Liquidators, initially involving a claim against Price Waterhouse of approximately US$11 billion
- Coopers & Lybrand (Singapore) in defending proceedings brought against them as the auditors of Barings Singapore following Nick Leeson's unauthorised trading. The claims were worth in excess of £1 billion
- Price Waterhouse on the very extensive work in the course of the BCCI litigation including dealing with numerous domestic and foreign regulatory bodies seeking information in various jurisdictions and involving several issues of banking law, in particular, complex questions of banking confidentiality
- Guinness PLC in respect of the Distillers takeover which involved responding to various regulatory authorities, including DTI Inspectors
- Advising financial institutions in connection with FSA investigations