RUHI SETHI-SMITH

Call - 2012

"Robust, personable and client friendly, with high levels of attention to detail."

RUHI SETHI-SMITH

Call - 2012

“Robust, personable and client friendly, with high levels of attention to detail.”

"Robust, personable and client friendly,
with high levels of attention to detail."

Practice Overview

Ruhi has a busy commercial and chancery practice which includes banking and financial services litigation, insolvency litigation as well as fraud and asset recovery.

Ruhi is an experienced and robust advocate who regularly appears in the County Court, High Court and Courts of Appeal. Ruhi also has extensive experience in obtaining and resisting urgent injunctions in the High Court and the Insolvency and Companies Court.

Prior to transferring to the commercial bar, Ruhi worked for a number of well-respected City law firms where she earned a reputation as a very effective and strategic litigator who leaves no stone unturned for clients.

Areas of Expertise

Banking and Financial Services

Representing CCP in Santander v CCP [2025] EWHC 667 (KB) in the appeal brought by Santander in relation to the duty upon banks to retrieve funds which have been paid as a result of fraud. CCP were successful at first instance and whilst they were unsuccessful at second instance, the outcome of CCP’s application for permission to appeal is awaited.
Advising and representing high net worth individuals on retrieval duty claims flowing from Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud against a number of national banks ranging in value from £500k to £1.5million.
Advising and representing a global fund adviser in relation to a Quincecare claim against a challenger bank in the sum of £500,000.
Defending a national lender in respect of an APP fraud claim brought against it by guarantors of a company loan.
Successfully defending two company directors in a guarantee claim brought by a large international bank.
Ruhi has contributed a number of articles on APP fraud for the Journal of International Banking and Finance Law as well as editing chapters of the Encyclopedia of Banking Law.

Civil Fraud - Asset Recovery

Advising investors in the Seventy Ninth Group (79th Group) on potential claims following the fraud investigation by the City of London Police investigation commenced in February 2025.

Advising and representing a company director in a claim for fraudulent misrepresentation following the discovery of a Ponzi scheme

Advising and representing a company director in a claim for misappropriation of company funds and breach of fiduciary duties in the sum of £1.5 million.

Assisting lenders with enforcement of personal guarantees which regularly involves heavily contested proceedings regarding the validity of personal guarantees and transfers of assets to trusts.

Representing enforcement receivers in recovering assets covered by confiscation orders following proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA).

Commercial Litigation

Assisting with bringing an unfair prejudice petition by a large challenger bank against a European fund with quantum estimated in the sum of approximately £20million.
Advising on a partnership dispute which involved the expulsion of a partner from a limited liability partnership which included detailed consideration of the question of joint privilege.
Advising a construction company on a dispute between the directors and the shareholders pursuant to section 303 Companies Act 2006 and the merits of seeking an injunction to restrain the shareholders from holding a general meeting.
Successfully defending a guarantee claim brought by a national lender against a company director for the sum of £200,000.00.
Ruhi is currently working on a chapter for the 18^th edition of Rights and Duties of Directors which is published by Bloomsbury Professional Law.

Injunctions

Defending an injunction brought by a national loading systems company for breach of restrictive covenants and delivery up of documents and other property.

Successfully bringing numerous injunctions to restrain bringing winding up petitions on behalf of companies where the debts claimed in the statutory demands are genuinely disputed and obtaining indemnity costs against the alleged creditors.

Successfully resisting an injunction application brought by a company specialising in weather forecasting for the delivery up and destruction of company property.

Advising companies directors on freezing and worldwide injunctions as well as obtaining Norwich Pharmacal and Bankers Trust orders.

Insolvency

Successfully obtaining an order pursuant to Part 71 of Schedule B1 to the Insolvency Act for the Joint Administrators of Vision Manchester Limited (CR-2024-003416) to allow the sale of a property which the company had failed to develop and 150 individuals had invested in. The order provided for a sale in the sum of £16,000,000 which benefitted the secured creditor as well as the unsecured creditors.

Resisting an application to set aside a statutory demand in the sum of £2,000,000 issued against a property developer in respect of outstanding personal guarantees.
Advising and representing the Liquidators of a construction firm in proceedings against the directors for misfeasance, transactions at an undervalue, preference payments in the sum of £1,500,000-£2,000,000 and in relation to a challenge to a proof of debt received from a creditor in the sum of £800,000.00. This case also involves consideration of inclusion of transaction at an undervalue claim against a shareholder for receipt of a dividend as highlighted by the judgment in BTI 2014 LLC v Sequana SA 2019 WL.

Providing advice to the Trustees in Bankruptcy in respect of the validity of an overage agreement.

Advising Joint Liquidators and issuing proceedings against the directors for misfeasance and breach of director’s duties in respect of the misapplication of bounce back funds and other inexplicable payments.

Advising liquidators in relation to cross border proceedings for the recognition of foreign proceedings under the Cross Border Insolvency Regulations 2006.

Advising and representing administrators and liquidators in respect of administration extension applications and retrospective appointments. Ruhi appeared in Re Butler-Do Ltd (in creditors’ voluntary liquidation) [2024] EWHC 1291 (Ch) is the precedent for the re-appointment of liquidators with retrospective effect in the same way as administrators.

Advising and representing administrators and liquidators in applications for remuneration including out of time applications. Ruhi appeared in Re Better Wealth Management Limited (in creditors’ voluntary liquidation) CR-2024-003209 and Deputy ICC Judge Parfitt provided clarity on the circumstances in which the ICC would be prepared to extend the strict 18-month deadline for applications.

Advising and representing directors in relation to members’ voluntary liquidations and in particular dealing with challenges to their validity.

Professional Negligence

Representing investors in claims in class actions against solicitors for negligent advice in relation to unregulated collective investment schemes.

Advising and representing two high net worth individuals in a claim for £1,000,000 against their financial adviser for negligent investment advice and negligent misrepresentation.

Advising and representing administrators in a professional negligence claim against the insurance company for breaching the terms of the insurance policy relating to hotel premises.

Qualifications

BA (Hons) Law and SocietyUniversity of Exeter
Legal Practice Course UWE Bristol
Higher Rights of Audience Qualification The College of Law

Professional Bodies

Combar

Recommendations

"We have always found Ruhi to be robust, personable and client friendly, with high levels of attention to detail and comprehensive written work."

"We work with a number of Counsel at Forum including Paul O'Doherty, Phil Currie, Lloyd Maynard, Ruhi Sethi-Smith and Jonathan Lester. The Counsel we use at Forum are excellent, commercial and a pleasure to work with. They understand our clients, and provide advice that is always of a high level, precise and in a manner that allows the client to make the best strategic and commercial decisions on disputes. Written work is of a high standard and is often able to cut through the noise in defences and set out to the Judge in a clear and concise manner what the issues are and our clients position. This is reflected in advocacy at Court and Forum are our go to Chambers when certain defences are received."

"Ruhi is friendly and approachable, and her knowledge, professionalism and pragmatic approach lends significant value to claims of any size." Written work is of a high standard and is often able to cut through the noise in defences and set out to the Judge in a clear and concise manner what the issues are and our clients position. This is reflected in advocacy at Court and Forum are our go to Chambers when certain defences are received."

"Ruhi is always a pleasure to work with. She is good technically and has a relentless work ethic. Her ability to communicate complex legal matters in a straightforward way is invaluable to and greatly appreciated by clients."

"Ruhi is personable, easy to instruct, meticulous and responsive. She has excellent knowledge of her subject and offers thoughtful strategic input on her cases. She grasps details quickly and inspires confidence in clients."

"Ruhi is highly intelligent and capable, grasps commercial and strategic considerations very swiftly and reassures. I previously suspected that Ruhi would do well at the Bar when I tried to encourage her to remain at my firm as an Associate and with a view to partnership in the short term. Ruhi, however, then decided that a career including advocacy was her preference."