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Michael Godden

Partner

Email

michael.godden@aoshearman.com

Phone

+44 20 3088 2747

Offices

London

V-CARD
Michael has over 20 years’ experience representing banks, funds, dealers and corporate trustees in complex, high-profile and high-value disputes.

His cases frequently involve parallel proceedings.

He is best known for advising clients on banking and finance disputes, including those involving derivatives, debt capital markets, commodities and trade finance, Islamic finance and syndicated lending.

His experience also includes advising on sovereign debt issues.

Michael also advises clients on internal investigations, complex and cross-border fraud, asset tracing and enforcement, and restructuring and insolvency cases.

Experience

Representative matters

  • Ukraine v Law Debenture [2023] 2 WLR 699: acting Law Debenture as note trustee on Ukraine’s US$3bn eurobond default in December 2015. The case was listed as one of The Lawyer's Top 20 Cases for 2017 and is a leading authority on the capacity of states and on apparent authority (previous firm experience).
  • Mercuria Energy Trading PTE Ltd v Citibank NA [2015] 1 C.L.C. 999, acting for Citi in its US$285m dispute with Mercuria on aluminium and copper obligated repo transactions believed to be the subject of a third party fraud in the Chinese ports of Qingdao and Penglai (previous firm experience).
  • A sovereign state and its central bank on an attempted multi-billion dollar fraud. Successfully applied to the Commercial Court for a worldwide freezing order and proprietary injunction for over USD 500 million against corporations and individuals in jurisdictions across the globe and obtained a related disclosure order against a third party for key evidence and information. These actions ultimately led to an almost complete recovery of the proceeds of the fraud (previous firm experience).
  • Citicorp Trustee Company Ltd as the Delegate following the default of the US$650m Golden Belt 1 Sukuk. The transaction was one of the first Islamic Finance defaults and relates to the prominent Saudi conglomerate, Saad Trading and its general partner, Mann Al-Sanea. The case involved parallel proceedings in England and the KSA (previous firm experience).
  • Citicorp Trustee Company Ltd v Barclays Bank Plc [2013] EWHC 2608 (Ch), Citicorp Trustee Company Ltd on a Beddoe application and expedited Part 8 proceedings to obtain an urgent ruling on whether notes under two issues of CMBS notes had been disenfranchised from voting on a restructuring (previous firm experience).
  • The Toronto-Dominion Bank on the defence of a US$280m valuation dispute under the 1992 ISDA Master Agreement arising out of the Icelandic banking crisis. The dispute centred around the FX rates and interest rates selected by the bank for the close-out of a substantial derivatives book shortly after the collapse of Lehman (previous firm experience).
  • Deutsche Bank v Total Global Steel [2012] Env. L.R. D7 on successfully obtaining judgment in one of the only carbon trading cases to be heard by the English courts (previous firm experience).
  • Britannia Bulk Plc (in liquidation) v Pioneer Navigation Ltd [2011] 2 Lloyd's Rep. 84 acting for the successful liquidators on one of the leading cases on the interpretation of Section 2(a)(iii) and the Second Method and Loss provisions of the ISDA Master Agreement used to document FFA trades (previous firm experience).
  • Successfully obtaining a high value LCIA arbitral award for a major international bank on a default under loan participation notes (previous firm experience).
  • Shalson v Russo [2005] Ch. 281. Acting for the successful claimants on a major fraud and asset tracing case involving a £20m fraud. The case is a leading reported case on civil fraud and involved obtaining search and freezing injunctions, third party disclosure orders, appointment of receivers and provisional liquidators, successful proceedings for committal for contempt of court as well as related proceedings in Bermuda, Jersey and Switzerland (previous firm experience).

Published Work

  • Meaning of loss and second method under the 1992 ISDA Master Agreement, B.J.I.B. & F.L. 2011
  • Freight clarity from the courts M.R.I. 2011, 25(3), 12-13 
  • Possession really is nine-tenths of the law for payments made "under protest", B.J.I.B. & F.L. 2010, 25(1), 30 
  • New York turnover orders: an English law perspective, B.J.I.B. & F.L. 2009, 24(9), 561 
  • Multi-jurisdictional enforcement P.L.C., 2007, 18(9), 37-46 
  • Robbing Peter to pay Paul, T.Q.R. 2004, 1(4), 10-13 
  • Cash and charisma, S.J. 2003, 147(36), 1076-1077 
  • Co-author, first edition of Commercial Enforcement, 2005

Recognition

“ Recognized in the inaugural Lawdragon Global Litigation 500 list”
“Michael is intellectually very strong and is also a very good client handler as he can relate very complex themes to a lay audience.”
Chambers UK 2024

Qualifications

Admissions

Admitted as a Solicitor (England and Wales), 2001

Academic

Solicitor-Advocate (All Higher Courts), 2003

Diploma in Legal Practice, University of Bristol, 1998

Bachelor of Laws, University of Bristol, 1997

Disclaimer
A&O Shearman was formed on May 1, 2024 by the combination of Shearman & Sterling LLP and Allen & Overy LLP and their respective affiliates (the legacy firms). Any matters referred to above may include matters undertaken by one or more of the legacy firms rather than A&O Shearman.