Mishcon de Reya

Mishcon de Reya LLP is a British international law firm with offices in London, Cambridge, Oxford, Singapore, as well as an association with Karas So LLP in Hong Kong. Founded in 1937, it employs more than 1450 people with over 650 lawyers. It is regarded by some as forming part of the "Silver Circle" of leading UK law firms.

Mishcon de Reya's revenue for 2022-2023 was £255 million with a profit of £93 million.

In January 2022, the company paid a record $315,000 fine in the UK for violating anti-money-laundering rules.

History
Mishcon de Reya was formed by the merger of Victor Mishcon & Co, a one-man office founded by Victor Mishcon, and Bartletts de Reya.

The firm became a limited liability partnership on 9 October 2015. In May 2020 the firm opened a new branch office in Singapore. In 2021, the firm announced MDR Solutions I,  a venture with Harbour to fund litigation and arbitration cases. In 2023 Mishcon de Reya LLP merged with Taylor Vinters.

In 2008, the firm launched the specialist 'Pink Law' Legal Advice Centre in conjunction with Queen Mary, University of London, offering free legal advice on issues affecting the LGBT community. In 2016, this expanded to include SPITE, for victims of 'revenge porn', and again in 2020 with the Black Justice Project.

Corruption and moneylaundering
In connection with the murdered Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, The Guardian newspaper reported:"'In the months before her death, the anti-corruption journalist received letters from the London office of the blue-chip firm Mishcon de Reya, which specialises in bringing defamation cases. Mishcon had been hired to defend the reputation of a client doing business in Malta. 'The firm sought to cripple her financially with libel action in UK courts,' Caruana Galizia's three sons claim in a letter to the writers' campaign group English PEN and seen by the Guardian. 'Had our mother not been murdered, they would have succeeded.''"

According to the British satirical magazine Private Eye:

"'Daphne also wrote about receiving 'harassing letters from Mishcon de Reya in London' that threatened 'to ruin me financially in a London court.' Letters from Mishcon, seen by the Eye, order her to remove articles discussing the lucrative sale of Maltese passports and the EU citizenship that goes with them.'"

In 2020 the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) announced that their forensic and anti-money laundering investigators were conducting a multi-year investigation into the company's activities.

The company ran a VIP Russia service that provides "reputation protection," wealth structuring and asset protection for Russian clients. The Pandora Papers revealed that the company helped Russian politician Alexei Chepa use an offshore company to buy a London mansion.

In January 2022, the firm agreed to pay a record fine of £232,500 plus costs, following an investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), for committing what the SRA called "serious breaches" of money laundering rules.

A Mishcon spokesperson said:

"'We are pleased to have come to a settlement with the SRA relating to two separate and historic investigations in relation to which we have made appropriate admissions. Mitigating factors such as our cooperation with the SRA throughout the investigations and the corrective action we have taken since to prevent a recurrence have been recognised by the SRA in reaching this outcome'"

Awards and accolades
Mishcon de Reya was named Law Firm of the Year at The Legal Business Awards 2017, UK Trademark Litigation Firm of the Year in the Global IP Awards 2022, UK Trademark Contentious Law Firm of the Year at the Managing Intellectual Property EMEA Awards 2022, the 2022 'Insurance Law Award' at the annual National Insurance Awards.

Notable clients
In 1995 one of the firm's solicitors, Anthony Julius, represented Diana, Princess of Wales, in her divorce. In 2000 the firm represented historian Deborah Lipstadt in the case David Irving v Penguin Books and Deborah Lipstadt. The 2016 film Denial was based on the case.

Mishcon de Reya's Employment team won a case in the UK Supreme Court on behalf of its client Krista Bates van Winkelhof, in which it was determined that members of limited liability partnerships (LLPs) do have the protection of whistleblowing legislation.

In 2016 the Supreme Court ruled financial claims can be brought over 20 years after divorce for client Kathleen Wyatt. In 2016 the company co-ordinated a challenge in the High Court by Gina Miller, an investment manager and philanthropist, against the process of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union. The Government in January 2017 appealed the High Court ruling to the Supreme Court, but were unsuccessful. In a majority decision, it ruled that Parliament must vote on whether the Government could start the process of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union.

The firm again represented Gina Miller in 2019 in R (on behalf of Miller) v The Prime Minister. The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Prime Minister Boris Johnson's decision to prorogue Parliament was unlawful.

In 2019 the Court of Appeal overturned the Judgment of Mr Justice Warby dated 8 October 2018 which had refused Mishcon de Reya's client, Richard Lloyd, permission to serve a representative action on Google LLC. The claim relates to what is known as the "Safari Workaround" - Google's alleged unlawful and clandestine tracking of iPhone users in 2011 and 2012 without their consent through the use of third party cookies.

In 2020, the firm acted on behalf of 397 Hiscox Action Group members, in a £52 million claim against Hiscox Insurance for refusing to pay out on business interruption claims due to COVID-19. The Supreme Court handed down its judgment in favour of the policyholders.