Claire Colonnese

Claire is a Senior Associate in Signature’s London office specialising in high-value commercial litigation, frequently with multi-jurisdictional elements.

Claire’s experience spans cases in the Commercial Court, Chancery Division, Court of Appeal, and the Privy Council, as well as LCIA arbitrations. Claire also has significant experience in toxic tort/industrial disease cases and public procurement disputes.

Claire was called to the Bar before cross-qualifying as a solicitor in April 2012. She previously worked in the dispute resolution banking team at Hogan Lovells. During her training, Claire was seconded to a family office, where she acted on complex asset tracing disputes. After working in-house at a family office for two years, Claire re-joined Signature in 2016.
Claire is a member of the London Solicitor Litigation Association, Women in Law London, and Gray’s Inn.

Representing the investment fund of Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili and his family in a dispute valued at USD 600m–USD 1.2bn against Credit Suisse entities for the recovery of losses arising out of mismanagement of his investment portfolio through a range of trust arrangements, which have led to criminal proceedings against the bank’s fund managers. This case involved parallel proceedings in Switzerland, Singapore, New Zealand and Bermuda.
Representing an entity within a large gambling group in defending an anti-suit injunction in favour of a USD 600m ICC dispute arising out of a joint-venture partnership with a listed software group in relation to a project in LATAM. The case involved parallel court proceedings in England and LATAM, as well as ICC arbitration proceedings.
Representing a Middle Eastern HNW individual in a USD 120m claim against two Chinese conglomerates in relation to misappropriation of property and company shares. The case involves allegations of sanction busting and breaches of international money laundering regulation.
Representing partners in a UK private equity firm, along with associated global entities, in a Commercial Court claim alleging diversion of the business opportunity to conduct an asset recovery process on behalf of the Family and Estate of the late Badri Patarkatsishvili, a Georgian billionaire. The claim is valued in excess of USD 100m.
Representing a HNW individual in a GBP 50m claim against a major Asian aviation conglomerate concerning fraud and unlawful conspiracy relating to commissions on inward investment opportunities into Europe.
Advising manufacturers and retailers of food, feed and consumer products in connection with numerous safety issues, including global product recalls and an investigation into the cause of a USD multi-million food contamination crisis.
Representing a national security services provider in a GBP 10m claims against Magnox Limited, a company specialising in the safe and secure decommissioning and restoration of nuclear sites, for damages arising out of its unsuccessful bid in the commercial procurement process for the provision of security services and equipment at five nuclear sites across the UK.
Representing a facilities management company in a review of the rationality of a decision made by Hertfordshire County Council in respect of the public procurement process relating to a GBP 25m multi-site property management and security services contract. The case also included issues of the unlawful exercise of delegated power by an officer. The case involved a damages claim for GBP 10m.
Representing Cape plc, a large multinational group which provides industrial services to the energy and natural resources sectors, in its bet-the-company “unprecedented” successful action for injunctive and declaratory relief against a receiver appointed over the company by the court in South Carolina.
Representing a Middle Eastern HNW individual in a multi-million USD claim against a Middle Eastern oil & gas engineering and construction company concerning unlawful misappropriation of assets.