David Rees Smith

Full Profile

David has over a decade of experience in the professional indemnity market, including secondments to two leading insurers, and  is described by the Legal 500 as a "real team player".

Having trained at an international firm in the City, he joined Clyde & Co in 2019 after 8 years with a leading national insurance practice. He has significant experience of high profile and complex litigation, including a number of reported decisions, relating to both professional negligence and commercial disputes.

Experience

• Muduroglu v Stephenson Harwood [2017] EWHC 29 (Ch): successful strike out and summary judgment of an £11m professional negligence claim in relation to a complex series of share sales and alleged dishonesty.
• Defending a wasted costs application arising from the conduct of group litigation involving some 46,000 claimants pursuing damages from a well-known car manufacturer.
• Shaw v Leigh Day (a firm) [2018] EWHC 2034 (QB): a claim against a firm of solicitors for alleged negligence in the conduct of an inquest and related clinical negligence, successfully defended at trial.
• Connaught Income Fund v Hewetts [2016] EWHC 2286 (Ch): successfully defending at trial a £1.4m claim by an investment fund against conveyancing solicitors regarding the adequacy of their certificate of title.
• Guney v Kingsley Napley [2016] EWHC 2349 (QB): successful application to strike out a substantial part of a multi-million pound claim in relation to advice on a wills dispute.
• Agouman v Leigh Day [2016] EWHC 1324 (QB): defence of a multi-million pound representative claim on behalf of some 4,500 individuals, relating to the theft of £6m in settlement monies in the Ivory Coast.
• Advising Insureds and Insurers on the defence of systemic issues, such as "cannibalism" claims relating to personal injury, clinical negligence and VWF under-settlement.
• Advising Insurers on policy coverage, including in relation to purported block notifications by both solicitors and accountants with potentially substantial overall exposure for Insurers.
• Advising insurers on UK disclosure issues in relation to a €200m coverage litigation in Texas.
• Acting for the respondents in relation to an application for an injunction with penal notice, and the respondents' cross-application for security for costs.