Allen & Overy (A&O) has hired RPC’s head of civil fraud, its second senior financial services-focused disputes lateral in London this month.

Andy McGregor’s signature follows that of Norton Rose Fulbright’s EMEA head of disputes, Michael Godden, and their arrival will position the firm to take advantage of an anticipated rise in Covid-19 related fraud cases.

It also re-stocks the senior team following the departure of senior disputes partner Lawson Caisley to White & Case last July.

McGregor, who will join A&O later in 2022 at a date to be agreed, has played an integral part in developing RPC’s commercial disputes practice alongside global head of commercial disputes Tom Hibbert and banking and finance specialist Jonathan Cary. 

He is leaving RPC after twelve years, having previously spent eight-and-a-half years at Ashurst, where he trained and qualified. Over his nearly two decades of practice he has developed particular expertise in banking litigation, having worked with Hibbert on a number of cases during the global financial crisis. 

McGregor is credited with growing RPC’s civil fraud practice, especially banking and oligarch-led disputes. He acted for Oleg Deripaska in Navigator Equities v Deripaska, a long-running dispute with fellow oligarch Vladimir Chernukhin, represented by Clifford Chance. 

That offers A&O the chance to challenge Hogan Lovells, which has a market-leading position representing Russian and CIS banks. 

McGregor also has an interest in emerging areas of the law, including cryptocurrency frauds.

A&O’s head of litigation, Calum Burnett said: “Andy is a civil fraud litigation heavyweight who has built a fantastic practice. His expertise will be invaluable to our clients in helping them navigate high value, high stakes fraud litigation.”
 
Karen Seward, global head of litigation, said McGregor would boost the firm’s top tier civil fraud capability which she described as “a key component of a premier London practice, ensuring we can provide our clients with holistic solutions across all areas of litigation.”
 
She added: “The continued attractiveness of the English courts and the steep increase in our civil fraud cases has reinforced the importance of having real strength in this area, and Andy is one of the very best fraud lawyers in the market. His track record of acting on some of the most significant civil fraud cases in recent years speaks for itself.” 
 
McGregor said the magic circle firm’s international footprint would provide him with “a great platform to support clients in a market in which civil fraud activity is at record levels”.
 
James Miller, managing partner at RPC, said: "Whilst we are, of course, sad to see any colleagues leave, Andy will leave us later this year with our best wishes and our thanks for his contribution towards the success of RPC's commercial disputes practice.”
 
Miller added: “That international practice remains one of the key strategic areas for the firm and we expect as part of its ambitious growth plans to announce the hiring of further new partners in the coming months." 
 
It does so on a good platform; the firm previously promoted one of McGregor’s colleagues – Dan Wyatt – to partner in 2020. Commenting then, McGregor called Wyatt “one of the driving forces behind our civil fraud team,” and his exit underlines Wyatt’s importance.