Benjamin Wells is a Barrister and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators based in London. His practice is focused exclusively on dispute resolution with a cross-border dimension, encompassing both international arbitration and litigation. He also sits as an arbitrator.

Benjamin has represented clients in proceedings conducted under the rules of leading arbitration institutions and regularly advises on matters involving concession agreements, company and shareholder disputes, banking, investments, trading, shipping, insolvency, international civil fraud and enforcement.

He has a particular specialism in sanctions, asset-tracing, contentious trusts and matrimonial disputes. Benjamin is an executive committee member of the British-Kazakh Law Association and holds rights of audience at the Astana International Finance Centre, reflecting his strong focus on Central Asian and post-Soviet jurisdictions.

Prior to founding Belgravia Law, Benjamin trained and practised at leading international firms including Freshfields, Linklaters, Gide Loyrette Nouel and CMS Cameron McKenna. Benjamin writes and publishes articles on sanctions and international arbitration, including contributions featured by the Law Society of England and Wales.

Case Examples

International Arbitration

• Successfully representing an international energy concern in ICC arbitration against an American engineering company. The engineering company pleading breach of contract relying on force majeure provisions in relation to export controls and sanctions.
• LCIA Arbitration – representing the Claimant in relation to non-acceptance of shipped goods under a supply contract for damages, claiming repudiatory breach. Vigorously defending the respondent’s counterclaim and settling in the Claimant’s favour.
• HKIAC Arbitration – representing the Claimant in a dispute over the purchase of a manufacturing company which concerns the misappropriation of funds during execution of a share purchase agreement (SPA).
• Representing two BVI holding companies involved in a Cyprus joint venture dispute over a major mining company. In this high-stakes shareholder dispute, the clients successfully secured a LCIA arbitration final award in their favour. The value of our clients' claims, including the value of the underlying asset, exceeded $500 million.
• Leading an ad hoc arbitration (using LMAA rules) on behalf of an international distributor as the respondent in an alleged breach of a charterparty agreement.
• Provision of evidence to the LCIA opining on whether a group of companies is subject to sanctions taking into account the minority shareholders’ stakes.
• Submission of expert evidence to the Tribunal of a GAFTA arbitration on the English Law principles of limitation and whether an admission of liability reset limitation in accordance with the Limitation Act 1980.

Commercial Litigation

• Representing the minority shareholders of a mining plc in a corporate dispute to the value of £10 billion.
• Representing the defendant in a shareholder dispute involving multiple IT businesses, including one particularly well-known in the domain of mobile navigation.
• Acting for a real estate developer in a High Court joint venture dispute in relation to property located abroad but subject to English jurisdiction by way of shareholders’ agreement.
• Representing a Kazakh Bitcoin mining entity in a dispute with a power producer following the illegal confiscation of Bitcoin-producing servers.

Sanctions

• Representing ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWI) to challenge their UK sanctions designations. Compiling sanction review requests and submitting them to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) in accordance with their statutory rights under s23 of the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 (SAMLA);
• Managing licence applications for companies, trusts and UHNWIs. Interacting with the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI). Advising clients to assist them to adhere to the sanctions regime.
• Representing PL Germany GMBH in its successful judicial review of OFSI’s lack of response to a licence application that would have resulted in the bankruptcy of the client entity. Believed to be one of the first cases of its kind.
• Representing an international IT company to challenge its sanctions designation in a claim against the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs. The first court review of a UK designation under Chapter 4 of SAMLA.
• Representing one of the largest private financial institutions in Southeast Asia and its shareholders with respect to financial sanctions imposed by the UK and US. Providing advice on a voluntary self-disclosure of a potential sanctions violation; updates to company’s sanction compliance policies.
• Advising an American fund on the applicability of sanctions to a large real estate sale.
• Unfreezing wrongly blocked transfers of funds on behalf of individuals and companies. OFSI and OFAC applications.
• Successfully securing licences for clients from the Belgian Treasury to enable them to release their securities from Euroclear.

Contentious Trust

• Defending eight trust and corporate entities against a USD 3 billion without notice freezing injunction obtained in England, BVI, IOM and Jersey by a large crude oil producer.
• Applying for a licence from the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission (BVI Regulator) permitting two trusts to appoint service providers allowing those companies to function once again securing the interests of the 40 healthcare and IT companies owned by those trust entities.
• Procuring confirmation from OFSI for a trust client that it does not have a UK nexus (transactions are not caught by sanctions) and so money held by its bank can be transferred, unfreezing the money and allowing it to be paid out to beneficiaries and earn interest.

Matrimonial Disputes

• Representing an UHNWI in the Supreme Court to successfully defend a Part III claim made by his ex-wife;
• Representing a Cyprus manufacturing and supply company with King’s Counsel to advise on its liability under divorce proceedings in the UK based on jurisdictional issues, post-nuptial agreements and related child abduction proceedings. Value of EUR 250 million.
• Representing the ex-wife of a well-known billionaire in a dispute over the family home, located in the English countryside.