Sandie Lyne

Sandie is a Guernsey Advocate with extensive experience in commercial and financial dispute resolution, especially contentious trusts, restructuring, insolvency, and regulatory matters. She regularly advises in connection with complex and high value international matters with multi-jurisdictional elements, including acting on the restructuring of Ocean Rig, one of the highest value restructurings on record, during a secondment to Ogier's Cayman office.

Background and experience

Sandie's recent cases include:

Contentious Trusts

• Advising the trustee in the recent Court of Appeal case In the Matter of the K Trust – this was an application for the construction of the trust instrument in circumstances where the word "share" had been used in the substantive provisions of the trust instrument to refer to a discretionary interest.
• Advising settlors and beneficiaries in dispute with trustees as a result of failures to pay historic taxes and other failings discovered as a result of the UK Requirement to Correct legislation
• Advising the former trustee in connection with a successful application in the Royal Court to remove the current trustee at the request of the beneficiaries due to the incapacitation of the current trustee.
• Advising a group of beneficiaries in connection with a long running dispute regarding the restructuring and separation of the trust
• Advising beneficiaries in connection with disputes concerning the investment of trust assets by the trustee.

Restructuring & Insolvency

• Advising Four Seasons Health Care, one of the largest independent providers of health and social care services (including care homes) in the United Kingdom in connection with its proposed restructuring. The Guernsey parent company Elli Investments Limited applied to the Royal Court for an Administration Order and was placed into administration on Tuesday 30 April 2019. Continuing to advise the administrators in connection with ongoing matters.
• Advising the Joint Liquidators of Guernsey companies in relation to:
  • Applications to convert a voluntary liquidation to a compulsory liquidation
  • International sanctions issues
  • Applications for directions in relation to interim distributions
  • Applications to fix the Joint Liquidators fees
  • Applications to the Commissioner for the examination of accounts.
• Advising the Joint Provisional Liquidators on the restructuring of Ocean Rig - the Cayman Islands' largest ever successful restructuring and one of the largest globally. The restructuring became effective within 6 months of the appointment of the JPLs, and resulted in an exchange by creditors of approximately $3.7 billion of debt for new equity.
• Advising William Hill in relation to a scheme of arrangement relating to NYX Gaming Group Limited.

Commercial Litigation

• Advising a 50% shareholder in Prodefin Trading Ltd v Midland Resources Ltd in connection with an unfair prejudice application and an application to wind up a Guernsey company on the just and equitable basis.
• Advising an international financial services provider in connection with asset tracing and injunctions in support of foreign proceedings.
• Advising the Plaintiff in relation to a Royal Court claim for compensation of over EUR20 million for losses caused as a result of entering into refinancing agreements on the basis of fraudulent misrepresentation
• Advising a GFSC regulated financial services provider defending a professional negligence claim for investment advice allegedly mismatched to the Plaintiffs' risk profile.

Regulatory

• Advising personal fiduciary licence holders in connection with Prohibition Orders
• Advising directors in connection with GFSC regulatory investigations
• Advising licensees in connection with regulatory and reporting obligations to the GFSC.

Employment

• Advising former employees in relation to Royal court claims to recover contractual entitlements including redundancy and bonus payments
• Advising employees in connection with disciplinary proceedings and dismissal procedures.

Sandie is Vice President of the Guernsey International Legal Association (GILA) – an informative forum for lawyers practicing in Guernsey, both in-house and in private practice. Her practice encompasses all aspects of commercial and financial dispute resolution with a special focus on cross-border contentious trusts, regulatory matters, insolvency, schemes of arrangement, employment and shareholder disputes. Sandie has acted for trustees, licensed fiduciaries, beneficiaries, high net worth individuals as well as international banks and professional liquidators. She is experienced in advising in connection with complex and high value international matters with multi-jurisdictional elements.

Sandie has written articles on a variety of subjects including the consequences of trustees' mistakes (published by the Solicitors Journal), the balancing of the rights of asset custodians and asset owners under Guernsey's AML reporting regime, third party funding (published by Westlaw), disclosure by beneficiaries (published in the Trusts and Trustees journal) and trustees as shareholders (published by Blue Islands inflight magazine). She is also a major contributor to the Guernsey chapter of International Trusts Laws (LexisNexis).

Sandie joined Ogier in 2014, having trained with Dawsons LLP in Lincoln's Inn, London and being admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales in 2009. Sandie has also been on secondment to Ogier's Cayman Islands office.

Sandie became an associate member of the Association of Contentious Trusts and Probate Specialists (ACTAPS) in 2010.

Admitted in:
2018 - Guernsey
2009 - England and Wales