Saaman’s commercial practice is diverse, high value, often international and comprises both led and unled work. He is recognised in the legal directories in commercial dispute resolution as:
“Very user-friendly, very approachable and very good commercially.”(Chambers & Partners Global, Dispute Resolution: Commercial UK 2020)
“He’s great to deal with, very hard-working and clever. His attention to detail is fantastic.” (Chambers & Partners Global, Dispute Resolution: Commercial UK 2020)
“A rising star.” (Chambers & Partners, Commercial Dispute Resolution 2021)
“He has an impressive commercial practice and does very good-quality drafting.” (Chambers & Partners, Commercial Dispute Resolution 2021)
Saaman’s expertise involves the full range of legal issues, such as conflict of laws/jurisdiction, contractual issues, fraud, professional negligence, and company issues. His experience spans a variety of sectors, including banking and financial services, manufacturing, IT, telecoms, energy, sports, hospitality and logistics.
Examples of his work include:
- Appearing for the administrators of FTSE 350 energy corporation in a $1billion Commercial Court claim concerning a multi-jurisdictional commercial fraud perpetrated against the corporation.
- Appearing for a European investment fund in a $20m Commercial Court dispute concerning corporate bonds.
- Appearing in a £15m Commercial Court claim concerning the failure of a cross-border IT contract.
- Appearing for the claimant in a £20m Commercial Court claim concerning the termination of a contract in the road transport sector.
- Acting for the defendant bank and counterclaimant in a multimillion $ contract claim brought by the former CEO of the MENA based bank.
- Acting in a Commercial Court contract claim brought by authors against the publishers of their works.
- Acting for a hospitality business in a Circuit Commercial Court contract claim concerning force majeure in the Covid pandemic.
- A dispute concerning the termination of a Formula 1 sponsorship contract.
- A dispute concerning the termination of a Premier League sponsorship contract.
- Acting in a £ multi-million claim concerning the actions of the trustees of a Guernsey trust.
- A £7m+ LCIA dispute in the IT sector.
Saaman has developed a particular expertise in Legal Professional Privilege and associated matters. Examples of his work in this field include:
- SFO v ENRC [2017] EWHC 1017 (QB) (included in The Lawyer’s Top 20 Cases) – one of the leading authorities on the scope of litigation privilege.
- Briggs v Gleeds [2019] EWHC 102 (Ch) – a comprehensive judgment concerning the scope and extent of the without prejudice privilege rule and waiver of the same. (Neil Hext QC and Mathew Bradley’s podcast discussing the judgment can be found here[1])
- Garvin Trustees Ltd v The Pensions Regulator [2015] Pens. L.R. 1 – application concerning the crime/fraud exception and the extent to which a company’s legal professional privilege survives its dissolution.
- Acting in a hotly contested disclosure battle against a bank seeking documents relevant to allegations of LIBOR fraud.