Robert Dougans practices in the Dispute Resolution department of the firm’s London office.

Mr. Dougans joined the firm in 2007 after training and qualifying as a solicitor in 2003 with a leading London firm. Since then he has practiced a wide range of litigation and arbitration, usually with an international focus.

He has considerable experience of High Court litigation, including Freezing Injunctions and other interim remedies as well as trials and appeals, usually involving high-value commercial contract disputes. He is also regularly called upon to advise upon the thornier aspects of the Civil Procedure Rules. Amongst the cases he has been involved in recently are the Commercial Court trial and the appeal to the Court of Appeal in Seele v. Tokio Marine. He also has extensive experience of conflicts of law and other aspects of modern cross-border litigation, and was heavily involved in the case of BNP Paribas v. Russian Machines & Ingosstrakh-Investments - an important authority on the grounds upon which the English Courts will allow service upon non-EU defendants. In addition, he is a qualified Solicitor Advocate and regularly appears in contested hearings, most notably in the High Court decisions in Kaschke v. Osler and Kaschke v. Gray & Hilton. The decision of Mr. Justice Stadlen in Kaschke v. Gray & Hilton has been cited as a precedent in the 2011 edition of The White Book, the authoritative guide to civil procedure in the English courts.

Mr. Dougans has sizable experience in arbitration, having acted in an LCIA arbitration concerning the termination of a Joint Venture Agreement between investment funds located in Bermuda, and an $11 million claim arising out of the delivery of commodities to the Middle East. He has also worked on an ongoing dispute proceeding to an LCIA arbitration concerning the termination of a large-scale public sector IT project. He is currently instructed in an LCIA arbitration arising out of a dispute between an Asian textile and clothing company and its UK-based joint venture partner in respect of an investment in a US-based company.

His experience in defamation and privacy work is extensive, having acted in jury trials as well as the leading case on the calculation of compensation under the Offer of Amends procedure introduced by the Defamation Act 1996. He acted for the writer and broadcaster Dr. Simon Singh in the case brought against him by the British Chiropractic Association. This case was listed as one of the top ten cases of 2010 to watch by The Lawyer. The Court of Appeal's judgment in favour of Dr. Singh declaring that he may rely on a defence of fair comment was widely report in the national and international media. Mr. Dougans also attracted media attention for his successful defence of the journalist David Osler in what is widely reported as a case likely to grant more freedom to online publishers in respect of content in their web archives. Mr. Dougans received the award for Assistant Solicitor of the Year at this year's Lawyer Awards (June 2010) in recognition of his work in this area. The Times also has named Mr. Dougans Lawyer of the Week (April 2010).

Mr. Dougans also has developed considerable experience in appellate work, having acted in appeals against decisions of Masters and High Court Judges and is familiar with the procedure of the Court of Appeal.

Mr. Dougans spent 6 months on a placement with the Dispute Resolution team of an international investment bank, where he worked on High Court litigation and regulatory investigations and disputes.

Select Representations

• Jonathan Campbell-James v. Guardian Media Group plc [2005] EMLR 24.
• Npower Direct Ltd v South of Scotland Power Ltd [2005] EWHC 2123 (Comm).
• John v. Associated Newspapers Ltd [2006] EMLR 27.
• McCulloch v. Bank of Nova Scotia (Channel Islands) Ltd. and others [2006] 2ALL ER (Comm) 714, ChD.
• The Stax Claimants v Bank of Nova Scotia Channel Islands Ltd & Ors [2006] EWHC 3043 (Ch), [2007] EWHC 2438 (Ch).
• Seele v. Tokio Marine [2008] BLR 337 (Commercial Court), [2009] BLR 261. (Court of Appeal).
• British Chiropractic Association v. Simon Singh [2011] 1 WLR 133.
• Kaschke v. Osler [2010] EWHC 1075 (QB).
• Kaschke v. Gray & Hilton [2010] EWHC 1907 (QB).
• BNP Paribas S.A. v. OJSC Russian Machines & JSAMC Ingosstrakh-Investments [2011] EWHC 308 (Com); [2011] EWHC 3194 (Comm); [2012] EWHC 1023 (Comm).

Bar and Court Admissions

England and Wales, 2003

Education

Oxford Institute of Legal Practice, CPE, LPC, 2001

Oriel College, Oxford, B.A., 1999

Languages

German

Publications

• Co-author of “Virtual Veracity”, The Lawyer, 5 July 2010

Civic Involvement and Honors

• Assistant Solicitor of the Year, The Lawyer Awards 2010