Charles Balmain is a senior associate in the London Dispute Resolution group. His practice covers a broad range of contentious matters on behalf of corporate clients and financial institutions.

Charles has acted for clients in litigation before the English High Court and Court of Appeal and in offshore jurisdictions, as well as in multiple international arbitrations, principally conducted under ICC rules. Charles is a Solicitor Advocate with oral advocacy experience, notably in arbitral proceedings. Charles also has a background in EU law, and specializes in advising on contentious competition matters.

Charles has previously practised in the firm's Brussels and Paris offices, and was recently seconded to the in-house dispute resolution team of an oil super-major.

Examples of recent representations include:

• Representing a major producer of synthetic rubber in its defence of a follow-on antitrust damages action which has been commenced against it by a group of leading tyre producers. The proceedings have been brought on the basis of a finding by the European Commission that the producer's former agent had participated in a cartel in the market for ESBR rubber, which is used in the production of tyres;
• Representing the owner of a controlling stake in Turkey's leading mobile phone operator in proceedings before the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (High Court, Court of Appeal and Privy Council), and English Administrative Court concerning the disputed ownership of a US$1.5 billion stake in the operator;
• Providing risk advisory and litigation advice in connection with the restructuring of Wind Hellas, one of Greece's largest mobile phone operators, in the UK's largest ever pre-pack administration. We advised on potential challenges by creditors in the English, US, Greek and Luxembourg courts in respect of the COMI transfer of the relevant Luxembourg company to London and the pre-pack administration sale;
• Acting for a European investment bank in proceedings before the English High Court concerning the extent of the bank's obligation to pay out under an English law performance bond while enjoined from doing so by an order of a continental European Court.
• Advising a leading Japanese producer of consumer electronic products in their defence of stand-alone actions for damages in the High Court for alleged breach of Article 101 TFEU. The defence strategy in these proceedings is being coordinated across the multiple jurisdictions in which our client is simultaneously being pursued for damages allegedly caused by cartels on the markets for cathode ray tubes and LCD panels;
• Representing a European oil and gas group in relation to the European Commission's investigation into paraffin wax and the related damages claims in the English High Court in which our client is defending contribution claims brought against it by members of the paraffin wax cartel;
• Advising in an arbitration concerning the design and construction of nuclear power stations;
• Acting for the owner in a US$175 million ICC arbitration concerning the construction of a gas processing plant, conducted in French and English and governed by a North African substantive law;
• Acting for a syndicate of international banks in connection with the recovery of in excess of US$1 billion owed to the syndicate by ministries of a sovereign state; and
• Assisting a client in its response to ex parte Search and Seize Orders obtained against it and in its subsequent defence of High Court proceedings based on an alleged misuse of confidential information.

Bars and Courts
Solicitor Advocate, 2008
England and Wales, 2003

Education
Legal Practice Course, The College of Law, London, 2001
LLM, European Law, College of Europe, Bruges, Bruges, Belgium, 1999
LLB, Law with European Legal Studies, King’s College London, Honors, 1998
Diploma in European Legal Studies, Heidelberg University, Germany, 1997

Publications
Co-author "More Haste, Less Speed—The Evolving Practice in Competition Damages Actions in the United Kingdom" 2011 Global Competition Litigation Review, Volume 4, Issue 4
Regular contributor to the Institute of Competition Law's E-Competitions bulletin
Consultant on the Oxera Quantification of Damages Study prepared for the European Commission, 2009

Languages
English
French
German

Citizenship
British