Nicola McKinney, Partner
Civil Fraud & Asset Recovery, Commercial Disputes, Asset Tracing and Recovery
Nicola is a barrister and partner with over twenty years’ commercial litigation experience, specialising in complex commercial and cross-jurisdictional disputes, particularly civil fraud and asset recovery cases, and matters relating to cryptocurrency, digital assets and emerging technologies.
Starting her career as a criminal defence barrister, Nicola was admitted, in 2004, to the Bar in England & Wales and in The Bahamas. She developed a commercial practice and appeared as counsel in the Chancery and Commercial High Court, Employment Appeals Tribunal and Privy Council, as well as advising on Bahamian law cases. In 2014 she joined a leading boutique litigation firm, and has worked on several of the most high-profile and high-value recent cases in the English Courts.
Nicola specialises in civil fraud cases, many of which involve worldwide freezing orders and other forms of injunctive relief, as well as challenges to jurisdiction, complex investigations, potential reputational damage and human rights claims. She acts for companies and for high net worth entrepreneurs. She has drawn on her multi-disciplinary background when working on these complex cases, particularly where there are co-existing criminal and civil disputes with potentially competing strategies, coordinated legal and media attacks, and multiple proceedings ongoing in several jurisdictions.
With extensive general commercial litigation experience, Nicola has regularly acted in shareholder disputes and commercial contract disputes, particularly in the hospitality and technology sectors. She has experience in managing cases which engage complex sanctions issues.
Nicola has also acted in several Privy Council cases, including as junior counsel for the successful first Defendant in Kenneth Higgs Senior v Leshelmaryas and Annamae Woodside [2009] UKPC 47, and as Privy Council agent in Bacardi and Company Ltd v Whyms & Ors JCPC 2018/0053 (Bahamas).