Stephen Moi "is absolutely first class. His outwardly polite and polished manner belie a steely and tenacious litigator." He is described as “very smart and commercial” and “a clever partner with excellent judgement."

Legal 500

Overview

Stephen Moi is a partner and solicitor-advocate in Mayer Brown’s Litigation & Dispute Resolution practice. He represents clients in a variety of commercial contexts, with a focus on cross-border disputes and investigations relating to finance, energy, and restructuring and insolvency.

Stephen advises on private international law issues (regarding jurisdiction, governing law, and enforcement of foreign judgments and arbitral awards), and has managed cases from the pre-action stage through to the substantive hearing and appeal; this includes UK High Court and Court of Appeal proceedings, and arbitral proceedings under LCIA, ICC, UNCITRAL, and LMAA Rules. 

He also acts for clients in internal investigations and contentious regulatory matters - in particular, those involving allegations of fraud, bribery and corruption, money laundering, and other financial wrongdoing. Between 2016 and 2018, Stephen was seconded to the firm’s Hong Kong office, where he acted for a leading international bank in a group-wide investigation regarding financial crime and compliance related matters.

Stephen is active in advising the firm’s pro bono clients, and in undertaking corporate social responsibility activities.

Spoken Languages

  • English

Experience

Litigation

  • Advising the liquidators of an engineering and construction company, which went into insolvent liquidation with debts totalling over US$2 billion, in litigation against former directors, officers, and shareholders, and on asset tracing and recovery strategy in multiple jurisdictions, including on claims involving false accounting, fraud, breach of directors’ and other fiduciary duties, wrongful and fraudulent trading, unlawful distributions, knowing receipt and dishonest assistance, and unlawful means conspiracy.
  • Representing a number of leading casinos in multi-jurisdictional litigation in connection with debt and asset recovery actions, involving cross-border issues concerning jurisdiction, the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments, proprietary remedies, and bankruptcy and insolvency petitions.
  • Acting for a leading financial institution in litigation and asset recovery actions in multiple jurisdictions regarding various disputed trade finance transactions.
  • Acting for the Administrators of a substantial real estate business in court proceedings relating to the scope and effect of various security interests in the administration estate: Re Industrial North West LLP (in administration) [2020] EWHC 3052 (Ch).
  • Advising UBS in English Commercial Court proceedings concerning single-tranche CDOs and credit default swaps entered into with a municipal water company: UBS v. Kommunale Wasserwerke Leipzig GmbH and others [2014] EWHC 3615 (Comm).
  • Defending a bank in a Commercial Court trial against a claim brought by a pension fund in respect of investments made in a structured investment vehicle under a securities lending programme: Första AP-Fonden v. Bank of New York Mellon and others [2013] EWHC 3127 (Comm).
  • Advising clients on multi-jurisdictional evidence issues in support of litigation and arbitration, including on cross-border document production and on compelling witnesses to give depositions and other evidence pursuant to the Hague Evidence Convention or for section 1782 applications.

Arbitration

  • Acting for an Indian energy company in an ICC arbitration regarding a contractual dispute arising from an LNG infrastructure project.
  • Acting for an international bank in an arbitration under UNCITRAL Rules concerning disputed payment calculations in relation to a cross-border oil pipeline.
  • Representing an oil refinery in LCIA arbitration proceedings concerning the supply of crude oil.
  • Representing an oil company in LMAA arbitration proceedings arising out of exploration and production activities offshore Brazil.
  • Advising various corporates in ICC and LCIA arbitrations regarding disputed derivative contracts under ISDA Master Agreements, including in relation to allegations concerning invalidity, misselling, fraud, negligence, and foreign exchange controls.

Investigations

  • Advising the Independent Reviewer of the Connaught Review concerning the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) supervision of the collapsed Connaught Income Fund Series 1, including conduct of the investigation and preparation of the public report. Identified lessons to be learned by the FCA, all of which were publicly accepted.
  • Acting for a global financial institution in an enterprise-wide compliance investigation into its financial crime risk controls arising out of a deferred prosecution agreement.
  • Advising the liquidators of a manufacturing company on investigations into, and litigation arising out of, suspicious and potentially fraudulent transactions, following a pre-packaged administration.
  • Investigation into alleged corrupt practices in the Brazilian and Canadian operations of a European company. Conducted remediation measures, including advising on related litigation, termination of third party contracts, and dismissal of employees, and engagement with internal stakeholders and the client’s key customers.
  • Investigation into whistleblowing allegations concerning an oil and gas client, including advising on communications with regulators.
  • Investigation into whistleblowing allegations within a financial institution.

Education

The College of Law, London, Legal Practice Course

University College London (University of London), LLM Master of Laws

Pembroke College, Oxford University, MA (Hons) Law

Admissions

  • England and Wales
  • Solicitor Advocate with Higher Rights of Audience (Civil)

Activities

  • London Solicitors Litigation Association
  • LCIA Young International Arbitration Group
  • ICC Young Arbitrators Forum
  • Listed as a key lawyer for Banking Litigation and International Arbitration: "absolutely first class. His outwardly polite and polished manner belie a steely and tenacious litigator"; "a clever partner with excellent judgement"; "very smart and commercial" - Legal 500 2024.
  • Listed as a key lawyer in three categories: Banking Litigation, Fraud, and International Arbitration: "Stephen Moi – excellent new partner, very hard working and commercially minded"; "Stephen’s promotion to partner is well deserved. He is very hard working and extremely bright. The quality of the work produced by him is always of an exceptional standard" - Legal 500 2023.
  • "Stephen Moi is very good at detail, is very thorough and easy to work with. He is very good at client handling and coordinated really tricky issues regarding communication with the FCA and stakeholders and was key to keeping the matter on track. Mayer Brown were excellent and always one step ahead in thinking through issues and solutions to problems that might arise. Resolved an issue that had been ongoing for several months, within a matter of weeks" - Legal 500 2022.