Mishcon de Reya LLP is a British international law firm with offices in London, Cambridge, Oxford, Singapore, as well as an association with Karas So LLP in Hong Kong. Founded in 1937, it employs more than 1450 people with over 650 lawyers. It was regarded by some as forming part of the " Silver Circle" of leading UK law firms. Mishcon de Reya's revenue for 2022-2023 was £255 million with a profit of £93 million. In January 2022, the company paid a record $315,000 fine in the UK for violating anti-

money-laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds into ...

rules.

History

Mishcon de Reya was formed by the merger of Victor Mishcon & Co, a one-man office founded by Victor Mishcon, and Bartletts de Reya. The firm became a limited liability partnership on 9 October 2015. In May 2020 the firm opened a new branch office in Singapore. In 2021, the firm announced MDR Solutions I, a venture with

Harbour A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be Mooring, moored. The t ...

to fund litigation and arbitration cases. In 2023 Mishcon de Reya LLP merged with Taylor Vinters. In 2008, the firm launched the specialist 'Pink Law' Legal Advice Centre in conjunction with

Queen Mary, University of London Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and formerly Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of London. Today, ...

, offering free legal advice on issues affecting the

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

community. In 2016, this expanded to include SPITE, for victims of 'revenge porn', and again in 2020 with the Black Justice Project.

Corruption and moneylaundering

In connection with the murdered Maltese journalist

Daphne Caruana Galizia Daphne Anne Caruana Galizia (; 26 August 1964 – 16 October 2017) was a Maltese writer, journalist, blogger and anti-corruption activist, who reported on political events in Malta. She was known internationally for her investigation of the Pa ...

, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' newspaper reported: According to the British satirical magazine ''

Private Eye ''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely recognised ...

'': In 2020 the

Solicitors Regulation Authority The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is the regulatory body for solicitors in England and Wales. It is responsible for regulating the professional conduct of more than 125,000 solicitors and other authorised individuals at more than 11,00 ...

(SRA) announced that their forensic and anti-money laundering investigators were conducting a multi-year investigation into the company's activities. In January 2022, the firm agreed to pay a record fine of £232,500 plus costs, following an investigation by the

(SRA), for committing what the SRA called "serious breaches" of

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

rules. A Mishcon spokesperson said:

Awards and accolades

Mishcon de Reya was named Law Firm of the Year at The Legal Business Awards 2017, UK Trademark Litigation Firm of the Year in the Global IP Awards 2022, UK Trademark Contentious Law Firm of the Year at the Managing Intellectual Property EMEA Awards 2022, the 2022 'Insurance Law Award' at the annual National Insurance Awards.

Notable clients

In 1995 one of the firm's solicitors,

Anthony Julius Anthony Robert Julius (born 16 July 1956) is a British solicitor advocate known for being Diana, Princess of Wales' divorce lawyer and for representing Deborah Lipstadt. He is the deputy chairman at the law firm Mishcon de Reya and honorary ...

, represented

Diana, Princess of Wales Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William, ...

, in her

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the M ...

. In 2000 the firm represented historian

Deborah Lipstadt Deborah Esther Lipstadt (born March 18, 1947) is an American historian and diplomat, best known as author of the books ''Denying the Holocaust'' (1993), ''History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier'' (2005), ''The Eichmann Trial'' ...

in the case '' David Irving v Penguin Books and Deborah Lipstadt''. The 2016 film ''

Denial Denial, in colloquial English usage, has at least three meanings: * the assertion that any particular statement or allegation, whose truth is uncertain, is not true; * the refusal of a request; and * the assertion that a true statement is fal ...

'' was based on the case. The company ran a VIP Russia service that provides "reputation protection," wealth structuring and asset protection for Russian clients. The Pandora Papers revealed that the company helped Russian politician Alexei Chepa use an offshore company to buy a London mansion in 2011. Mishcon de Reya's Employment team won a case in the

UK Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (initialism: UKSC) is the final court of appeal for all civil cases in the United Kingdom and all criminal cases originating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as some limited criminal cases ...

on behalf of its client Krista Bates van Winkelhof, in which it was determined that members of

limited liability partnership A limited liability partnership (LLP) is a partnership in which some or all partners (depending on the jurisdiction) have limited liabilities. It therefore can exhibit aspects of both partnerships and corporations. In an LLP, each partner is n ...

s (LLPs) do have the protection of

whistleblowing Whistleblowing (also whistle-blowing or whistle blowing) is the activity of a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe, unethical or ...

legislation. In 2016 the Supreme Court ruled financial claims can be brought over 20 years after divorce for client Kathleen Wyatt. In 2016 the company co-ordinated a challenge in the High Court by

Gina Miller Gina Nadira Miller (' Singh; born 19 April 1965) is a Guyanese people, Guyanese-British people, British business owner and activist who initiated the 2016 ''R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union'' court case against the ...

, an investment manager and philanthropist, against the process of the

United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET). The UK, which joined th ...

. The Government in January 2017 appealed the High Court ruling to the Supreme Court, but were unsuccessful. In a majority decision, it ruled that Parliament must vote on whether the Government could start the process of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union. The firm again represented Gina Miller in 2019 in R (on behalf of Miller) v The Prime Minister. The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Prime Minister Boris Johnson's decision to prorogue Parliament was unlawful. In 2019 the Court of Appeal overturned the Judgment of Mr Justice Warby dated 8 October 2018 which had refused Mishcon de Reya's client, Richard Lloyd, permission to serve a representative action on Google LLC. The claim relates to what is known as the "Safari Workaround" - Google's alleged unlawful and clandestine tracking of iPhone users in 2011 and 2012 without their consent through the use of third party cookies. In 2020, the firm acted on behalf of 397 Hiscox Action Group members, in a £52 million claim against Hiscox Insurance for refusing to pay out on business interruption claims due to COVID-19. The Supreme Court handed down its judgment in favour of the policyholders.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mishcon De Reya 1937 establishments in the United Kingdom Law firms established in 1937 Law firms of the United Kingdom

History

Corruption and moneylaundering

Awards and accolades

Notable clients

See also

References