Stephen  Leontsinis

Stephen Leontsinis 

Managing Partner | Cayman | BVI

Insolvency and Corporate Disputes

  • Clients find Stephen Leontsinis 'client-focused and pragmatic.'
    Chambers and Partners
  • Stephen has an excellent strategic mind. He is a stand-out advocate who is equally effective in the boardroom or behind the scenes.
    Legal 500 2022
  • Very good and commercial operator with a very personable manner and unique ability to bring opposing sides together.
    Chambers and Partners
  • Stephen Leontsinis is a superb litigator and great leader of this growing team, which he has quickly established as a go-to litigation practice.
    Legal 500
  • Exceptionally good at seeing the big picture and working strategically to meet necessary goals.
    Chambers and Partners
  • Stephen is standout practitioner – drives culture of the firm which is a USP in their way of working collaboratively.
    Legal 500 2022
  • Stephen is highly collaborative, has solid technical skills and never loses sight of the commercial objectives. He is very solution orientated.
    Legal 500
  • Superb – the best litigator in Cayman.
    Legal 500 2024
  • Stephen is a phenomenal advocate who is very astute, commercially minded and results-driven.
    Chambers Global Guide 2022
  • His knowledge of the Cayman market and all its main players is second to none.
    Chambers Global Guide 2022
  • Stephen is a fantastic leader of his team, a great advocate for the firm, and an excellent technician.
    Legal 500 2024
  • He really understands from a practical perspective what is in the best interests of the client and how all of the pieces of a dispute fit together, often juggling multiple perspectives and viewpoints.
    Chambers Global 2023
  • Stephen is outstanding at stakeholder management and business development.
    Legal 500 2022
  • Leading individual.
    Legal 500

Overview

Stephen is Managing Partner of our Cayman office and global head of the Insolvency and Corporate Disputes team. He has a demonstrated history of advocacy in the practice of corporate and commercial litigation, with an emphasis on offshore insolvency and restructuring of companies. Stephen is qualified in South Africa, England and Wales, Cayman and BVI.

"The Cayman Islands is an extremely sophisticated, competitive jurisdiction and the practice of its laws, whilst challenging, is very rewarding. I am honoured to have grown and led our Cayman Islands Dispute Resolution team since April 2015. We aim to bring a fresh, innovative approach to providing our clients with added value to the normal legal services that they would otherwise expect from any other top tier law firm on the Island."

Experience

Stephen's practice has a strong focus on company law including corporate insolvency; schemes of arrangements; capital reductions; shareholder disputes; director's liability; international asset tracing; the enforcement of foreign judgments; worldwide Mareva injunctions, Anton Piller orders, and Norwich Pharmacal orders.

Stephen has significant contentious litigation experience arising from the representation of both liquidators, shareholders and creditors of companies and hedge funds including the claw back of fraudulent conveyances and undue preferences, allegations of investment fraud and investment manager disputes.

Since he began heading up our team of Cayman litigators, Stephen has grown the team from two to eight lawyers, all with a strong background in insolvency and restructuring matters. Prior to joining the firm Stephen spent two and a half years in Miami as a member of a boutique litigation firm in the United States which focused on cross border insolvency and trust disputes.

Background

Stephen was called as an advocate of the High Court of South Africa in 2003 and has subsequently qualified as a solicitor-advocate of the High Court of England and Wales and a solicitor-advocate of the Supreme Court of the Eastern Caribbean. He was called to the Cayman Islands Bar in January 2009 and BVI Bar in 2013.

Stephen is ranked in Chambers and Partners and recognised as a Leading Individual in Legal 500 2024.

 

 

HR and Practice Manager
Tiffany Turrell  
My services
Contentious risk and regulatory
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In regulatory disputes there are often fine lines between the usual wrangling with the regulator and something more serious – by matching our mix of experienced contentious and non-contentious lawyers to the particular problem at hand, we achieve better and more efficient outcomes. As regulatory experts, we frequently act on contentious matters and can leverage our experience to help clients achieve the highest regulatory standards and avoid common pitfalls.

Corporate disputes
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Our dispute resolution specialists collaborate seamlessly with our corporate advisory and banking teams across jurisdictions to advise multinational corporations, trust companies, banks, funds, insurers, governments and directors. We provide a global perspective, working closely with our clients to ensure that they are best placed to respond to customer issues, fraud risks, rapidly changing market conditions and regulatory demands.

Insolvency
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For financially distressed companies in need of restructuring and reorganisation, or for those where the opportunity to do so has passed or failed, we work to achieve the most beneficial outcome in these difficult situations. 

Currently working on some of the largest and most complex cross-border insolvencies in the jurisdiction, we frequently advise top law firms from the People’s Republic of China, the US, the UK and other jurisdictions. We are regularly briefed by Sovereign Wealth Funds and Fortune 500 Companies to advise on particular restructurings, as well as investment managers from Europe and the US.

At whatever stage we are engaged, our involvement will assist in identifying the ongoing risks facing a client and to enable that client to continue to identify and effectively manage deteriorating relationships with creditors, financiers, investors or other interested parties.

International arbitration and mediation
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With offices in the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Guernsey, Jersey and London, we can advise you on every aspect of international arbitration. Our dedicated arbitration specialists will work alongside you to quickly determine the best approach for a successful conclusion.

Read more
11 Dec 2024

GRR 100 2024

Collas Crill has once again been included in the 2024 Global Restructuring Review (GRR) 100 - an annual guide to the world's leading law firms for cross-border restructuring and insolvency matters.  Firms listed in the guide have been vetted for the...

19 Nov 2024

Ritchie, Lancelot and the limitation game

The moratorium on legal proceedings, commenced or continued, against a company in liquidation, is a tenet of an equitable and orderly winding up process, intended to distribute a company's assets equally and rateably between its stakeholders. The morator...

15 Nov 2024

Legal 500 Caribbean 2025

Collas Crill's teams in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and Cayman Islands have received another strong set of rankings in this year's Legal 500 Caribbean directory. The firm is consistently ranked across all of its key practice areas, having moved from...

14 Oct 2024

Welcome to Jonathan Barham

Jonathan Barham has joined Collas Crill as a Partner in the Global Insolvency and Corporate Disputes team. With more than 20 years’ experience of dealing with all aspects of commercial litigation, encompassing a broad range of business, corporate, insolv...

20 Sep 2024

2024 Collas Crill Moot launches in Guernsey and Cayman

Students in Guernsey and Cayman are once being invited to take part in this year's Collas Crill Moot. The Moot provides students from the Sixth Form College, Blanchelande College, Elizabeth College and the Ladies' College in Guernsey, and from Cayman Pre...

29 Aug 2024

Chambers chapter: Enforcement of Judgments

Collas Crill has contributed to Chambers and Partners Enforcement of Judgments 2024.  Cayman Local Managing Partner and Insolvency and Corporate Disputes global practice head Stephen Leontsinis co-authored the Cayman Islands: Trends & Devel...

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