William Allison

Will leads the firm’s Financial Institutions/D&O Service Lines specialist teams.

He specialises in handling complex insurance and reinsurance disputes and coverage disputes on behalf of London market, European and US insurers and reinsurers.

Will's specialist fields include financial lines and D&O coverage; liability claims against banks and capital markets professionals, fund managers and wealth managers; financial services professional indemnity defence and coverage; first party fraud losses and bankers bond/crime risks; and complex insurance and reinsurance coverage disputes.  

He has more than 30 years’ experience advising clients in the insurance and reinsurance sectors and has been involved in some of the largest and highest profile disputes in the London and international markets.

Relevant experience includes:

• Advising London market and international reinsurers across multiple years of account in connection with a USD multi-billion claim against the directors of a Latin American oil refinery, who are accused of fraud relating to delays and overspend in the redevelopment of the refinery. The claim is one of the largest claims in the insurance market and is of significant importance.
• Advising London market insurers in connection with a US securities class action against an international company and its directors for damages arising from a US$6bn stock drop, allegedly caused by disclosures, non-disclosures and misrepresentations relating to #Metoo issues and issues with the company’s credit portfolio.
• Advising London market D&O insurers of a large multi-national company in connection with multiple claims valued at in excess of €6bn brought against the company and its directors in various jurisdictions relating to a stock drop following a public announcement about irregularities in the company’s financial statements.
• Advising D&O insurers of a large institutional bank in connection with exposures relating to a high profile FCA/PRA investigation following issues with migration of the bank’s IT systems from one platform to another, which resulted in various data breach issues.
• Advising insurers of an international telecommunications company in connection with exposures relating to ongoing investigations by Italian authorities relating to alleged financial irregularities.

Will is recommended in Legal 500 UK as “brilliant”, ”first rate for finance-related instructions” and as “very intelligent and friendly”.