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London

Founded in 2012, Signature Litigation has grown into one of London’s pre-eminent specialist dispute resolution practices. From the outset, we set out to do things differently: a conflict-free, disputes-only platform designed to give clients the undivided focus and strategic agility that complex, high-stakes matters demand.

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Gibraltar

Established in 2017, Signature Litigation's Gibraltar office was founded to address growing demand for specialist expertise in commercial litigation and private wealth disputes on the Rock.

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Paris

Signature Litigation AARPI houses one of France’s most enviable product liability practices, with the team also handling commercial and corporate litigation, insurance and reinsurance, toxic tort and ESG, civil fraud and asset tracing, international arbitration, administrative and public law.

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Frankfurt

Frankfurt has emerged as one of Europe's foremost financial and commercial centres and, increasingly, as a bridge between European and Asian markets. With that growth comes an increasing demand for sophisticated dispute resolution. Signature Litigation established its Frankfurt office to meet this need, bringing our conflict-free, disputes-only platform to the German market.

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Henry Coates

Senior Associate

The quality of their service has always been exceptional. The team excels at developing and coordinating litigation strategies that are not only thorough but also realistic and perfectly aligned with clients’ expectations. 

– The Legal 500 EMEA 2026

The team is excellent, always ready to meet our needs and anticipate risks and expectations.

– The Legal 500 EMEA 2026
Very good advice, to the point and with attention to detail. 
– The Legal 500 EMEA 2026

Henry is a Senior Associate at Signature’s London office, specialising in Commercial Litigation, Civil Fraud and Commercial Arbitration.

Henry has over 7 years’ experience across a range of sectors including private equity, corporate, banking, pharmaceutical, technology and telecommunications. Within those sectors, he has represented banks, private sector companies, funds (including those based in Scandinavia, Luxembourg, Switzerland and the US) and high-net-worth individuals from the UK, Europe and the Middle East, reflecting the international nature of the disputes he handles.

Henry’s commercial litigation experience has spanned a range of disputes, often heard in the Commercial Court, including post-M&A disputes (particularly in the technology and private equity sector), shareholder disputes, claims for breaches of warranty, earn-out disputes and disputes involving allegations of professional negligence (including by auditors and investment managers). He has seen a number of these disputes progress from pre-action to trial, involving applications for summary judgment and strike-out, specific disclosure, security for costs and preliminary issue.

Henry also has strong experience in civil fraud, including claims for unlawful means conspiracy and the misappropriation of significant sums and assets in the funds sector. As part of this, he has been prominent in achieving worldwide freezing injunctions, prohibitory injunctions and the recovery of over GBP 80m worth of assets from foreign jurisdictions, including Hong Kong, Turkey and Mauritius.

Henry’s commercial background is further complemented by his experience in Commercial Arbitration, where he has advised in proceedings under LCIA and LMAA rules for companies in the energy and funds sector and which has involved arbitral proceedings begun by way of injunctive relief under s44 of the Arbitration Act 1996.

Outside of his fee-earning work, Henry has volunteered at the South Westminster Legal Advice Clinic, a free legal advice clinic providing support across a range of legal and non-legal issues. He is also a member of the LSLA and has contributed to publications in the fields of banking and commercial litigation.

Prior to joining Signature, Henry was an Associate in the Complex Litigation and Dispute Resolution practice at Goodwin Procter. Alongside his contentious work at Goodwin, Henry regularly advised clients on litigation matters in the context of wider M&A and corporate transactions, ensuring he always approaches a case with a commercial mindset and an appreciation of the motivations of clients when deciding whether to litigate or seek settlement.

Banking Litigation

  • Representing over 200 institutional claimants with respect to over 1,000 different funds/portfolios in a c. GBP 1.5bn group action claim against Standard Chartered involving allegations of untrue or misleading statements and omissions in information published by the Defendant to the market giving rise to claims under s90 and s90A Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

Commercial Litigation

  • Representing Onecom Group, a major business Telecoms provider, in the Commercial Court in a claim for breach of warranty, arising out of an earlier earn-out dispute between the client and the individual who sold the companies to Onecom Group. The proceedings involved successfully defending a strike out application for breach of the contractual limitation period, and two sets of injunctive proceedings: in the Insolvency and Companies List (to restrain a winding-up petition against the client) and in the Commercial Court (to prevent the withdrawal of crucial customer services).
  • Representing the Nasstar Group, a major provider of network and cloud-based services, in proceedings for breach of contract in the Commercial Court. The proceedings began under CPR Part 8 before adopting a hybrid Part 7 approach with a bifurcated trial for liability and quantum.
  • Advising a start-up technology company in a dispute with a founder and significant minority shareholder over allegations of discrimination following investment by private equity funders.
  • Representing two directors in proceedings brought by an ex-director and founder of a pharmaceutical company regarding the sale of the company to Private Equity investors and application of ‘Bad Leaver’ provisions.
  • Representing a high-net-worth individual from the Middle East in a GBP 25m claim in the Commercial Court for fraudulent misrepresentation and breach of contract against a Premier League football team and its owner resulting from historic financing provided by the client.
  • Representing a major UK chemicals company in a Commercial Court claim by a US-based oil company in respect of a contractual dispute valued at approximately GBP 120m. Proceedings involved the trial of a preliminary issue regarding the client’s entitlement to withhold its service capacity pending price increases.

Banking and Financial Markets Litigation

  • Advising investors in claims against a major European bank for the poor performance of a real estate investment fund set up and managed by the bank.

Civil Fraud, Asset Tracing & Recovery

  • Representing a London-based investment company with significant Albanian assets in the pursuit of injunctive proceedings in the Commercial Court against a former employee who had misappropriated and dissipated approximately GBP 120m of client funds. The team successfully secured a proprietary and freezing injunction against the Defendant, as well as an order to deliver up his passport. Having secured injunctive relief, proceedings were issued against the Defendant for breach of fiduciary duties, breach of contract and knowing receipt of stolen assets.
  • Advising administrators in respect of claims against an audit firm following their failure to recognise the misappropriation of over GBP 100m of company assets by directors in the technology sector.
  • Representing Onecom Group in the Commercial Court in a claim for unlawful means conspiracy against the founder and seller of the company, his affiliated companies and his chauffeur. The proceedings involved injunctive proceedings to prevent the withdrawal of crucial customer services by the founder and his affiliated companies.

International Arbitration

  • Representing a Scandinavian-based fund in an LCIA arbitration claim against its member / manager regarding his breaches of an LLP agreement and employment agreement. The dispute originated with injunctive relief in the English High Court pursuant to s44 of the Arbitration Act 1996 before arbitral proceedings were commenced.
  • Representing a European infrastructure company in an LCIA arbitration arising out of breach of contract for the provision of services linked to underground pipes.
  • Representing a US-based, Puerto Rican registered alcohol distributor in an LCIA arbitration against its Italian producer arising out of a breach of contract and various historic allegations of fraudulent misrepresentation. Proceedings involved the defence of an application for security for costs by way of bank guarantee.
  • Representing a large German maritime company in an LMAA arbitration brought by its Cyprus-based logistics and courier company arising out of the alleged verbal amendment of a contract for provision of services.
  • Representing an ultra-high-net-worth individual in Swiss arbitration proceedings with the total value of in excess of c.USD 150m concerning fraudulent mismanagement of an offshore trust structure – a Panamanian Foundation.

Other

  • Advising the former Chief Executive of Carillion during investigations carried out by Parliamentary Select Committees, the FCA and the SFO into the company’s high profile insolvency.
  • Investigating the potential fixing of prices in the chemical sector, which involved a review of internal company correspondence and preparation for meetings with the CMA.
  • Investigating allegations of bribery and money-laundering in the gambling sector.
  • Advising on sanctions compliance following Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Contact

+44 (0)20 3818 3500

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