Meet the Team: Dan Wise

Dan Wise, Partner at MKS Law, was recently ranked as a leading dispute resolution lawyer by Chambers & Partners

Hi Dan, congratulations on being ranked by Chambers and Partners once again, this time in the Global Guide. 

Thank you.

For anyone who might not know you, could you tell us a bit about yourself?

I qualified a solicitor in London in 1994. Before that I was a British Army officer. In London, a significant chunk of my work involved civil fraud claimant work and investigations, both in private practice and at LIFFE [the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange]. I was also lucky to act in a good number of international cases, which I always enjoyed.

How did you end up here in the BVI, working for MKS Law?

I met Martin Kenney in about 2003 in London, when he was looking for London lawyers with experience of freeze orders. We couldn’t act in that matter, but his practice sounded interesting and we stayed in touch. Martin was based in Ireland then and I joined him there in June 2005. The practice comprised about five or six people then. We moved to the BVI in late August 2005.

Did you always want to be an “asset recovery lawyer”?

I fell into the work by accident in London, while a trainee solicitor; I enjoyed the practice area from the “get go” and sought out more of that work as I could.

What had you done before a career in law?

I was sponsored by the British Army through university and went to RMAS [Royal Military Academy Sandhurst] and then into an infantry battalion as a platoon commander. I enjoyed the army, although it was going through a quiet period then, which could be frustrating. I learned a lot running teams and leadership, which has proved valuable throughout my time as a lawyer.

How does “asset recovery” differ, essentially, from other forms of law?

I think it’s super varied and very fact-sensitive, which I like. It is also really international in its scope. This keeps it really varied and there are often really interesting cultural issues that need to be managed along with the intersection of different legal systems.

Other areas of dispute resolution have some of these components, but I think few require such in-depth analysis of facts and the identification and management of witnesses, who often have some area of compromise to worry about.

You’ve worked alongside Martin Kenney since, I think, pretty much the early days of the firm. Tell us a few things which have changed since then?

The volume and quality of the work has increased steadily over the years. We have increased in head count by about 500% and developed our investigative resources to include a specialist forensic accountant with expertise in crypto.

Do you think it’s harder being a lawyer, or asset recovery lawyer, since you first qualified?

There is more competition than there was, and the good firms are really specialist now. Twenty years ago practitioners were more generalist in their approach.  

Frauds have also got much larger and more international in scope. The global spread of AML/KYC infrastructure has moved quite a lot of defendants from proper rule-of-law jurisdictions, like Cayman, to less rule-of-law jurisdictions which I won’t name.  

Litigation funding has become more available and that has given life to some meritorious but unfunded victims (although litigation funding can have its own issues).

Overall I would say that the English common law courts have become more muscular in providing remedies to victims, especially in the BVI.

I think more work is required to succeed in fraud claims now than when I started, due to an increasing scope for wrongdoers to move between jurisdictions. Conversely the increasing role of transnational insolvency law in fraud claims has helped matters.

What is some of the work you’re most proud of doing at the firm?

I acted for 120 victims of a Ponzi scheme in St. Kitts from 2005 until about 2016. That was a great case with a fantastic cast of characters on all sides. We won the case, then the Government seized the resort in dispute and we had to litigate successfully with the Government.

We ended up making a meaningful recovery for the victims and it was a really fun and worthwhile venture.

And what have been the biggest challenges you’ve faced?

Often in fraud cases you are short of facts, funding and time; you do your best in the circumstances and need to ensure you are honest with the court – notwithstanding that having your actions picked over by well-resourced defendants months later can be dispiriting.

Luckily our courts increasingly look to the actual circumstances in play and are cautious about ascribing blame to meritorious claimants and their lawyers.

Could you tell us about some of the work you’re doing now …?

I have been working on a crypto fraud, where I got a secret freezing order against persons unknown. I think this was the first one so granted in the BVI, but because it was done in secret it couldn’t be discussed at the time.

I’m also acting for an Interim Receiver-Manager over a major asset in Barbuda. That isn’t a fraud case, but it’s extremely interesting. I always enjoy acting in other Caribbean jurisdictions.

In addition, I have some involvement in a multi-jurisdictional dispute between beneficiaries under a will. This is an asset recovery case and involves a series of overlapping jurisdictions.

What’s one thing you wish you could tell your younger self?

Have faith in your judgement and don’t beat yourself up when things go wrong.  

And do you have any advice for those seeking a career in the law, or in the early stages of their legal career?

The more ‘spade work’ you put in in the first eight to 10 years of practice, the better you will do later. It is really worth understanding the basics about litigation and then implementing them.

Ensure you can see the wood for the trees, too; it’s easy to get stuck on non-essential detail, because it’s “there”.

– Thank you for speaking to us, Dan.

Check out Dan Wise’s bio here