News

We are pleased to announce the promotion of Steven De Lara to the partnership. Steven was a Senior Associate and practices both in London and Gibraltar.

Steven joined Signature shortly after the launch of their Gibraltar office in early 2017. Since then he has built a considerable reputation for his work in international litigation, with a particular focus on corporate litigation, contentious insolvency, regulatory investigations and private client disputes.

Steven is particularly well regarded in the financial services industry, and regularly acts for and against international banks and multinational companies on civil fraud, derivatives trading, funds and other matters.

Uniquely, Steven is also currently the only lawyer in Gibraltar to be licensed by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission as an Insolvency Practitioner, with an unrestricted capacity to act as liquidator, administrator or a receiver in insolvency proceedings. He is able to offer services not available to other lawyers or firms and can often concurrently manage complex litigation and transactional mandates.

Steven has built up an impressive portfolio of litigation, insolvency and financial services work, advising international banks with operations in Gibraltar on contractual and regulatory matters, acting for insurers on liquidation and consumers on pursing claims against insurers and managing litigations involving complex issues relating to private international law.

Since opening in 2017, Signature’s Gibraltar office has doubled in size and is active across multiple high value matters in general commercial litigation, regulatory and insolvency proceedings, transactions and trusts and funds disputes.

Recently, the office achieved success at the Court of Appeal, which ruled that the Gibraltar Regulatory Authority (GRA) has the power to grant Gib Fibre Speed access to Gibtelecom’s data centre. This decision is an important stepping stone for the jurisdiction and enshrines the GRA’s duty to promote fair and efficient competition.

Commenting on his appointment to Signature Litigation’s partnership, Steven De Lara said: “I am delighted to now be a partner at Signature Litigation and am looking forward to working with my colleagues in London and Paris to bolster our offering of conflict free dispute resolution services to our international clients.”

Elliott Phillips, Partner at the Gibraltar office said: “Steven’s appointment will serve to further consolidate our unique capabilities in Gibraltar, which complements Signature’s work in other international territories, including CIS, Russia, MENA, China and Latin America.”

Founding partner Graham Huntley commented: “First and foremost Steven’s appointment strengthens our commitment to growing with the right people, but also through Steven it provides us with unique capabilities in our Gibraltar office.”

Signature Litigation now comprises 14 partners and 70 staff across their London, Paris and Gibraltar offices.

Coverage of Steven’s promotion has been published in Legal Week, CDR News, Gibraltar International and Legal Moves.