Tobias is an associate in our International Disputes Group, based in our Tokyo office.
Tobias focuses his practice on complex international contentious work, covering both the private and public law spheres. His practice encompasses commercial litigation and arbitration, investor-state disputes, corporate crime, global investigations (including in relation to ESG concerns), as well as economic sanctions. Tobias has gained substantial expertise in running cross-border investigations involving the United States Department of Justice, the Securities & Exchange Commission, and the Department of State; the United Kingdom's Serious Fraud Office; the French Parquet National Financier; and Singapore's Commercial Affairs Department.
Tobias has a strong background in the law of evidence and criminal and civil procedure. He has published and given extensive training on legal professional privilege, disclosure obligations, and the admissibility of evidence in criminal and civil proceedings. Tobias has appeared before masters in the English High Court in relation to different types of interlocutory applications. He has also assisted claimants and defendants in commercial arbitrations governed by LCIA, HKIAC, SIAC and UNCITRAL rules seated in a variety of jurisdictions, often in the context of white-collar defence. Tobias also has expertise in diverse areas of e-discovery and predictive coding. In addition, he has acted for a wide array of pro bono clients, with a strong interest in judicial review, immigration-related work, and criminal law reform.
Prior to joining Freshfields, Tobias gained experience at leading international law firms in London and Singapore, and at the European Commission in Brussels, working on civil disputes, corporate crime, economic sanctions, and international trade. Most recently, Tobias was an associate at a U.S. law firm in London, in a Tier-1 ranked white-collar defence and securities litigation practice. He has also been on client secondment in France to one of the world’s largest aircraft and defence manufacturing conglomerates.
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- Advising an energy investor on the assignment of an award in an investor-state arbitration.
- Advising companies in Asia on disclosure obligations and legal professional privilege in civil, regulatory and criminal proceedings.
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Advising a global cryptocurrency exchange in a Hong Kong-seated commercial arbitration and litigation.
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Advising a noteholder in relation to a winding up petition brought in the Hong Kong courts.
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Advising a global energy company in connection with an investigation by the Singapore Police Force’s Commercial Affairs Department.
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Advising Japanese and Hong Kong companies on their global economic sanctions and countermeasures obligations, and on putting in place adequate compliance procedures.
- Advising a leading global aircraft and defence manufacturing group in a cross-border investigation into allegations of fraud, bribery and corruption in its civil aviation business, and negotiating a deferred prosecution agreement worth around USD 4 billion with British, French and U.S. regulators.*
- Advising a leading global aircraft and defence manufacturing group in defending civil- and common-law seated arbitral proceedings.*
- Advising the board of a major U.S. utilities company in its internal investigation carried out in response to threatened derivative shareholder actions.*
- Advising a leading non-governmental organization on country submissions to the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review.*
- Assisting a major investment bank in its cross-border investigation into allegations of bribery and corruption.*
- Assisting on obtaining enforcement of an arbitral award through the English court system against the assets of an entity subject to European and U.S. sanctions.*
*Prior to joining Freshfields.
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Education
- M.A. in Jurisprudence, University of Oxford, Christ Church, Hogan Lovells LLP Scholarship in Law
Qualifications
- Attorney and Counselor at Law, New York
- Registered Foreign Lawyer, Singapore
Languages
- English
- French
- German
- Italian
- Spanish
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