Carmine has a broad practice across the full range of commercial disputes, with specific expertise in commercial contracts, commercial remedies, civil fraud, equity and trusts, insolvency and arbitration.  He frequently acts in high value and complex multi-jurisdictional commercial litigation and international arbitration.  Carmine is frequently instructed in connection with litigation abroad, being admitted to practise in the British Virgin Islands and being an Australian Legal Practitioner.  He also brings a diverse professional and academic background to bear on his practice.

Carmine appears both as sole Counsel and led in various jurisdictions (including the English High Court, English Court of Appeal and BVI Commercial Court), as well as acting as a member of larger teams on heavyweight litigation.  Recently, he has been instructed in various significant Commercial Court cases, including: JSC BTA Bank v Ablyazov, a complicated multi-jurisdictional fraud claim where the claimants sought damages of over USD6 billion; and Vale SA v Steinmetz, a deceit and unlawful means conspiracy claim involving a claim to proprietary relief valued at £1.25 billion.  Carmine was also recently sole Counsel representing a Kuwaiti businessman seeking to recover £8 million for various breaches of contract in Circuit Commercial Court proceedings.

Before being called to the Bar, Carmine was  a Senior Lecturer in Private Law at Keble College, Oxford, and a Law Fellow and Director of Studies at Homerton College, Cambridge.  He taught subjects including Contract Law, Equity, Trusts and Legal Reasoning.  Carmine’s research has been published in several leading academic journals.  Previously, Carmine completed his doctorate in commercial remedies at Oxford, under the supervision of Lord Burrows of the Supreme Court.

Also, before being called, Carmine practised for several years as a solicitor at Arnold Bloch Leibler, a top-tier commercial law firm in Melbourne.  He maintained a broad commercial litigation practice, which included appearing in various Federal and Victorian courts and tribunals.  Carmine advised on a range of high-profile and complex disputes for market leading corporates and high net worth individuals. 

Experience

Shortlist

Commercial

Carmine is an experienced commercial litigator.  He acts and advises in relation to a wide range of commercial disputes, across all industries and sectors.  Carmine appears regularly in the Commercial Court, Circuit Commercial Court, the Chancery Division and in arbitrations.  He appears with and without leaders, but also as a member of larger teams in substantial disputes.  Carmine also assists foreign lawyers in substantial overseas litigation, and has experience of acting in disputes before the Australian, BVI and Cayman Islands courts.

Carmine has a particular interest and expertise in commercial contract disputes, commercial remedies (including specific performance and injunctions), and interim relief.  His specialism in commercial contracts and remedies comes partly from his time in academia, when he completed a doctorate on damages, contractual penalties and relief against forfeiture at Oxford University, and he taught Contract Law, Equity and Trusts at both Oxford and Cambridge University.

Carmine’s commercial law practice also draws on his considerable experience as a solicitor in Australia, where he acted for industry leading and high net worth clients in the financial services, communications and construction industries. 

Cases

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Civil Fraud, Asset Recovery & Injunctive Relief

Carmine has a specific interest in and experience of civil fraud litigation.  He is frequently instructed in high value, international fraud claims, which often raise complex conflict of laws issues.  Carmine has particular experience of applying for and resisting applications for interim relief, including freezing orders, search and imaging orders, Norwich Pharmacal orders and disclosure orders.

As a commercial litigator, Carmine routinely acted for banks, business leaders and listed companies in complicated civil fraud and asset-tracing and recovery matters.  For instance, he represented: several Singaporean banks in a long-running cross-border dispute involving allegations of fraud and breach of fiduciary duty; a leading merchant banker in a deceit claim worth over AUD20 million arising out of an allegedly fraudulent ski resort development; and a major Australian corporation in an extended Australian Federal Police bribery and fraud investigation.

Whilst a Senior Lecturer and Law Fellow, Carmine taught on aspects of fraud and asset recovery whilst teaching Contract, Equity and Trusts.  Further, his research on bribery and constructive trusts has been published in distinguished journals such as the Law Quarterly Review and the Restitution Law Review.

Cases

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Equity, Trusts & Restitution

Carmine’s equity and restitution practice covers all disputes involving actions for equitable wrongs, equitable remedies, unjust enrichment claims and restitutionary remedies.  He often acts in legally difficult cases involving claims for breach of trust and breach of fiduciary duty, dishonest assistance and unconscionable receipt, and where both proprietary relief (including following tracing) and personal relief is sought.

As an academic, Carmine published pieces on breach of fiduciary duty, trusts and restitutionary relief in leading journals and books, whilst he also taught undergraduates at Oxford and Cambridge in these areas.  Further, his doctoral thesis – supervised by Lord Burrows of the Supreme Court – covered various commercial remedies which included contractual penalties and relief against forfeiture.  As a solicitor, Carmine was involved in a broad range of equity and trusts disputes and advisory work, including several high-profile and complex matters. 

Cases

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Restructuring & Insolvency

Carmine has been involved in several high value and complicated insolvency matters, acting for various parties, including officeholders, shareholders and investors.  He appears in all divisions of the High Court, and has experience of both trial work and interlocutory proceedings.  Carmine’s recent insolvency experience includes officeholder’s applications for directions, winding up and unfair prejudice petitions, provisional liquidator applications and claims regarding transactions to defraud creditors.

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Financial Services & Banking

Carmine’s practice covers a range of financial services disputes, arising both in England and overseas.  He appears in financial services matters as sole Counsel or with a leader.  In 2020, Carmine acted for the regulators in the first appeal to be heard under the Qatar anti-money laundering regime, in which the regulators successfully secured financial penalties of USD8.5million.

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Arbitration

Carmine has been involved in several institutional arbitrations (including under the LCIA and ICC Rules).  He also has experience in enforcing arbitral awards.

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Offshore

Carmine is frequently instructed in connection with high value, complex commercial litigation abroad.  He has experience of acting in disputes before various overseas courts, including those in the BVI, the Cayman Islands and Australia.

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Achievements

Education

Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours) (University of Melbourne)

Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours) (University of Melbourne)

Bachelor of Civil Law (Distinction) (University of Oxford)

Master of Philosophy in Law (University of Oxford), for the thesis 'Penalties and Forfeitures Reinterpreted' (supervised by Lord Burrows)

Doctor of Philosophy in Law (University of Oxford), for the thesis 'Penalties Reworked: The Rule against Penalties Restated, Justified and Refined' (supervised by Lord Burrows)

Bar Transfer Test (Top of Year) (BPP University)

Scholarships and awards

  • Allan Myers Oxford Law Faculty Scholarship (to read for the BCL)
  • Leggatt Melbourne Law Faculty Scholarship (for outstanding academic performance)
  • Highest ranked student (Advanced Torts, Contract Law, Civil Litigation, Political Theory, Property Law, Insolvency Law and Modern Political Thought)    

Publications

  • ‘Deposit Clauses’ in Graham Virgo and Sarah Worthington (eds), Commercial Remedies: Resolving Controversies (CUP 2017) 
  • ‘The Penalty Rule Revisited’ (2016) 142 LQR 382
  • ‘From Only the ‘Bottom-up’? Legitimate Forms of Judicial Reasoning in Private Law’ (2015) 35 OJLS 1
  • ‘No Proprietary Relief for Breach of Fiduciary Duty’ (2012) 128 LQR 184
  • 'The Death Knell Tolls for Attorney-General for Hong Kong v Reid’ [2012] RLR 118
  • ‘The Continued Obscurity of Economic Duress’ [2011] LMCLQ 333
  • ‘The Jurisdiction to Relieve Against Penalties and Forfeitures’ (2010) 126 LQR 529
  • Edwin Peel, Treitel on the Law of Contract (13th edn, Sweet and Maxwell 2011) (Research Assistant)

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