| Other Information: | Before completing the BVC in 2008, Matthew Boyden was a successful musicologist, classical music critic, and broadcaster. He is the author of biographies, music guides, books on singing and singers and, most notably, the best-selling Rough Guide to Opera. Matthew completed his pupillage at the leading banking and finance chambers, 3 Verulam Buildings, before spending a year working in Brussels for the world’s pre-eminent competition and anti-trust practice, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, where he advised on the clearance of the $40 billion merger of pharmaceutical giants Merck and Schering Plough. Matthew joined Rougemont at the end of 2009, since when he has developed a wide-ranging national practice in commercial litigation, company law and insolvency. He makes regular appearances in the High Court and Companies Courts, and represents parties in alternative dispute resolutions, particularly mediations.
BOOKS:
- Arnold Schoenberg, (biography - Faber, UK; Northeastern University, US).
- Cleary Gottlieb Antitrust Developments in Europe 2008, (LexisNexis, 2009).
- Coutts (Bank) Family Business Prize Books, 2007, 3 x series (Coutts, 2008).
- Coutts (Bank) Family Business Prize Books, 2006, 3 x series (Coutts, 2007).
- Icons of Opera (Brown, UK; Thunderbay, US; Hors Collection, France, 2000).
- The Best 100 Operas on CD (Penguin Books, 1999).
- Richard Strauss (biography - Weidenfeld & Nicolson, UK; North Eastern University Press, USA; Europa Verlag, Germany; 1999; Hungary, 2005).
- Naked Classics (Channel 4 Books & Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1997).
- Rough Guide to Opera (Penguin, 1st - 4th editions, 1997 - 2007).
- Rough Guide to Classical Music (Penguin, 1st - 4th editions, 1996 - 2006).
PRACTICE AREAS:
Commercial Litigation
Matthew is regularly instructed on a wide range of general commercial matters and business disputes, on behalf of individuals and corporations. He has appeared in all forums, in a range of matters spanning contract disputes, banking litigation, CFO and PDQ fraud, corporate libel, trade/contract disputes, patent breaches, and professional negligence. Matthew has specialised in the defending of claims on guarantees and indemnities, and he is able to advise on the recovery of commercial debts and security realisation. Matthew has considerable experience of commercial banking disputes, and is experienced at obtaining and discharging emergency interim remedies.
Current and recent work
- Obtaining freezing orders in international trade dispute
- Registered and unregistered design right infringement
- High value disputed probate litigation
- Corporate defamation
- Resisting an interconnected sequence of personal guarantees
- Recovering a substantial commercial debt in international multi-jurisdictional dispute
- Acting for claimants in a substantial CFO fraud
- Numerous high-value defendant-insurer actions
- High value professional negligence claim against accountants
- Institutional discrimination claim
- High value professional negligence claim against solicitors
Company Law
In the field of company law, Matthew's advisory and litigation work is focused primarily on directors' obligations and disputes, and spans s.994 unfair prejudice petitions, director disqualifications, breaches of directors' duties, the various company insolvency procedures, company separation and minority shareholder disputes. Matthew is able to represent parties in mediation.
Current and recent work
- Advising media company on breaches of director duties
- Advising on directors' emoluments
- Mediating settlement of directors' disputes in advance of Petition
- Acting for minority shareholder in s.994 Petition
- Advising on director disqualification
- Acting for administrator in protracted dispute concerning trustee fees
- Acting for administrator in s.303 IA 1986 dispute
- Acting against high street bank in protracted winding-up process
- Annulment of personal bankruptcy
- Acting for private bank in a long-running process of asset recovery
- Securing freezing orders pursuant to a company wind-up
- Advising on transactions at an undervalue
- Acting in a series of residential claims arising out of estoppel arguments
- Resolution of commercial lease disputes
- Acting for local authority in dispute with administrators
- Substantial and protracted dispute concerning disposition of family home
- Advising on unlawful evictions
- Numerous advises on evictions awards damages
- Advising on property disposal and disputed intestacy
Insolvency
Matthew advises and represents parties involved in personal and corporate insolvency proceedings. His instructions include litigation concerning transactions at undervalue and preferences, disputed bankruptcy petitions, administrations, and applications to set aside statutory demands.
Current and recent work
- Acting for administrator in protracted dispute concerning trustee fees
- Acting for administrator in s.303 IA 1986 dispute
- Acting against high street bank in protracted winding-up process
- Annulment of personal bankruptcy
- Acting for private bank in a long-running process of asset recovery
- Securing freezing orders pursuant to a company wind-up
- Advising on transactions at an undervalue
Landlord & Tenant
Matthew undertakes all aspects of litigation and advisory work relating to business and residential landlord and tenant work, and advises on housing strategy, variations of tenancy agreements, notices, possession, injunctions and disrepair claims. Matthew is experienced in the resolution of commercial disputes, having represented landlords and tenants in premises litigation, and also lease/licence/trespasser disputes, and claims concerning rent, repairs, forfeiture and renewals. In residential disputes Matthew advises on lease/licence disputes, unlawful eviction, disrepair, assured shorthold tenancy questions, and a range of issues arising from claims relating to or relying on estoppel.
Current and recent work
- Acting in a series of residential claims arising out of estoppel arguments
- Resolution of commercial lease disputes
- Acting for local authority in dispute with administrators
- Substantial and protracted dispute concerning disposition of family home
- Advising on unlawful evictions
- Numerous advises on evictions awards damages
- Advising on property disposal and disputed intestacy
IRRELEVANT EXPERIENCE
Matthew's defining enthusiasms are for his wife, four children and their dog. However, he is a keen musician also, and continues to compose music that is unlikely ever to be heard by anyone else. Chiefly quartets. Matthew continues to write also (under a pseudonym), and of his eight books, the Rough Guide to Opera remains the most successful single volume on the subject. His biography of Richard Strauss is published in four languages, and was voted book of the year in various newspapers and magazines in the UK and Germany. When time allows, Mathew pursues his passions for painting (creating large canvasses unlikely ever to be seen by anyone else), travel, science, theatre, cooking, cricket and his expanding collection of life and death masks. Details of Matthew's needlessly involved funeral arrangements are to appear in a book about death in 2012. |
