Matthew Blower

• Slater & Gordon (UK) 1 Ltd v. Watchstone Group Plc: Defending a listed public company in a high profile £637 million claim for fraudulent misrepresentation and breach of warranty arising out of a sale of a number of its operating subsidiaries.
• Otello Corporation ASA v Moore Frères & Company and Last Lion Holdings Limited [2018] EWHC 2347 (Ch) – Acting for listed Norwegian software company Otello in its successful High Court action arising from Moore Frères & Co’s attempts to block Otello from selling its minority shareholding in Last Lion Holdings Limited for $53 million.
• Acting for an Australian manufacturer of commercial machinery in a dispute arising from a distribution agreement, resulting in a successful settlement.
• Acting for the UK subsidiary of large multinational in a swap mis-selling claim against a UK bank.
• Acting for an international bank in successful proceedings to enforce security following breach of a loan agreement.
• Acting for a listed US oil and gas company in an UNCITRAL arbitration against an Eastern European state, in which our client was claiming damages of approximately US$1 billion. The case proceeded to a hearing in February 2013.
• Porton Capital Technology Funds and others v 3M UK Holdings Ltd and 3M Company [2011] All ER (D) 171 (Nov) 2895 (Comm) – Acting for 3M in this claim arising from the acquisition by 3M of a device for testing for MRSA. The issues included whether 3M was in breach of an earn out provision in the contract by the way that it conducted its business manufacturing and selling the product, whether 3M was entitled to cease the business and what sales would have been achieved. The case was widely reported in the media for the meeting which the former UK Secretary of State for Defence Liam Fox held with a representative of the Claimants which ultimately led to the Secretary of State's resignation. 
• Consub Delaware LLC v. Schahin Engenharia Limitada [2009] – Acting for a subsidiary of SIEM Offshore in a dispute arising from a contract for the maintenance of transatlantic subsea telecommunications cables. 
• 889457 Alberta Inc v. Katanga Mining Limited and Others [2008] EWHC 2679 (Comm) – Acting for Canadian mineral mining company in a dispute with one Bermudan and two British Virgin Island companies as to the ownership of shares in a mining company registered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The dispute raised complex jurisdictional arguments and questions of Congolese law. 
• Acting on defamation proceedings brought on behalf of a publicly listed client.
• Acting for FTSE 100 company in a fraud claim against a former employee and sub-contractors, including applying for freezing and search orders and supervising ancillary proceedings in various offshore jurisdictions. 
• Mahonia Limited and JP Morgan Chase Bank -v- WestLB AG [2004] EWHC 1938 (Comm); [2004] All ER (D) 10 (Aug) - Acting for the Claimants in a successful action to enforce a $165 million letter of credit issued as security for a complex structured finance transaction entered into by the Claimants and a subsidiary of Enron Corp. 
• Acting for clients in disputes with former employees, enforcing employee post-termination restrictions. 
• Acting for a FTSE 100 company in a Financial Services Authority investigation into suspected market abuse. 
• Conducting a case in the Technology and Construction Court concerning the alleged breach of environmental warranties.

Matthew is the London office’s pro bono co-ordinator. He has a particular interest in representing Jamaican prisoners serving life sentences in appeals to the Privy Council. He has conducted a number of such appeals including Noel Campbell v The Queen [2010] UKPC 26, Peter Stewart v The Queen [2011] UKPC 11 and Jason Lawrence v The Queen [2014] UKPC 2.