Mr. Sanfilippo represents clients in complex international disputes including internal investigations, regulatory and criminal enforcement matters, cross-border asset recovery and international enforcement of judgments and arbitration awards.

Prior to joining Kobre & Kim, Mr. Sanfilippo practiced at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP.

Daniel Saval has a diverse background in contentious, cross-border restructuring, insolvency and asset recovery matters. He frequently designs and executes global strategies for monetizing claims arising from distressed or defaulted debt, often in cases involving fraud or other misconduct. Mr. Saval also acts for major parties in complex disputes and investigations in U.S. Chapter 11 restructurings, on both the debtor and creditor sides. Additionally, he regularly advises funds on investments in distressed and special situations across jurisdictions, particularly where recoveries are driven by litigation outcomes.    

Mr. Saval regularly works on behalf of a wide range of stakeholders including debtors, trustees, independent directors, lenders, bond and equity holders, creditor committees, foreign insolvency representatives and judgment creditors. 

Before joining Kobre & Kim, Mr. Saval was part of the Bankruptcy & Corporate Restructuring and International Disputes practices at Brown Rudnick LLP. Before that, he clerked for the Honorable Barbara A. Lenk of the Massachusetts Appeals Court.

Elina Sfongali is an Associate for Kobre & Kim Business Advisors in Cyprus*. A UK-admitted lawyer and fluent Greek speaker, she helps delivers the firm’s business strategy in Cyprus, providing strategic support on legal and commercial issues to Kobre & Kim’s clients and lawyers on issues with a nexus to Cyprus and the broader surrounding region.

Before joining Kobre & Kim, Ms. Sfongali practiced as a solicitor at Spector Constant & Williams, where she focused on representing individual and institutional clients in commercial litigation, particularly in financial, business, corporate and property multi-jurisdictional disputes.

* Kobre & Kim Business Advisors (Cyprus) Ltd is not a Cypriot law firm and does not practice law in Cyprus.

Helena Shipman focuses her practice on representing ultra-high-net-worth individuals and their families in cross-border disputes involving allegations of fraud and misconduct. In particular, she has extensive experience working with international private clients and their advisors to develop cross-border litigation and reputation management strategies aimed at mitigating business and reputational risks involving their global business interests.

Ms. Shipman also advises on defamation, misuse of private information, harassment and data protection claims, including pre-publication and post-publication issues. She has also advised on cases with copyright elements and acted on international sanctions cases including applications to the General Court of the European Union. Ms. Shipman has acted for both claimants and defendants before the English High Court, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and the European Court of Justice.

Ms. Shipman is recognized in the leading industry publications, having been ranked as an “Associate to Watch” in Chambers and Partners since 2021 and as a “Rising Star” in The Legal 500 since 2021. Most recently, she was highlighted for her “strength in defamation and privacy cases”, her “outstanding knowledge with excellent communication skills”, and as being “simply the best in her field.”

Before joining Kobre & Kim, Ms. Shipman practiced at Carter Ruck, where she focused on reputation, media and privacy disputes.

Genna L. Sinel represents individuals and entities in internal investigations, government enforcement actions and complex commercial litigation. She defends clients against allegations of fraud, corruption and other misconduct brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and other regulatory and enforcement agencies. She has experience in white-collar criminal cases, employment law and immigration proceedings.

Before joining Kobre & Kim, Ms. Sinel practiced at Jones Day, focusing on appeals, commercial litigation and white-collar criminal investigations. She served as a law clerk for the Honorable Robert J. Luck of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit from 2021 to 2022, and for the Honorable Francisco A. Besosa of the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico from 2017 to 2019.

Benjamin Sirota is an experienced litigator who focuses on competition-related disputes, including civil antitrust litigation, trade secret matters, and M&A and other high-stakes commercial actions. A former prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division, Mr. Sirota frequently represents corporations and individuals in criminal and civil antitrust investigations brought by competition enforcers around the globe. Much of Mr. Sirota’s work is cross-border and trial-focused in nature.

Recognized as a leading antitrust lawyer by Chambers USA, Mr. Sirota is described as a “thoughtful, engaging and dynamic advocate,” who “marries a real substantive expertise with great lawyer and client-handling skills.”

Mr. Sirota began his legal career as a litigator with Debevoise & Plimpton LLP.  While at Debevoise, Mr. Sirota was awarded an externship to serve as a Special Assistant District Attorney with the Kings County District Attorney’s Office, where he tried numerous cases to verdict. 

Mr. Sirota is the former chair of the New York State Bar Association Antitrust Section.

Zachary Sizemore focuses his practice on representing institutional and individual clients in high-stakes, complex civil litigation matters. He has experience in white-collar and arbitration cases.

Prior to joining Kobre & Kim, Mr. Sizemore served as a law clerk to the Honorable Robert J. Luck of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, following his clerkship with Judge Rodolfo A. Ruiz II of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Before his clerkships, he practiced at the New York office of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, focusing on data security and white-collar matters.

Zhiang (Sean) Song focuses his practice on complex cross-border dispute resolution in Greater China and across the Asia Pacific region. In particular, Mr. Song advises clients on international judgment and award enforcement, asset recovery, as well as joint venture and partnership disputes. He also represents corporates and high-net-worth individuals in cross-border government enforcement actions. In addition, Mr. Song is experienced in conducting multijurisdictional internal investigations and compliance reviews, as well as helping clients navigate international regulatory regimes and safeguard against potential legal and compliance risks.

Mr. Song has advised clients on matters involving anti-corruption and anti-bribery issues (including actions brought by U.S. authorities under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)), antitrust and competition law, export controls, and fraud and various other wrongdoings.

Before joining Kobre & Kim, Mr. Song practiced at Kirkland & Ellis in its Shanghai office, where he focused on white-collar investigations and China-related cross-border disputes. Before that, he practiced at Davis Polk & Wardwell in its New York and Hong Kong offices, where he focused on defending against U.S. government enforcement actions.

Mr. Song received his Juris Doctor (JD) degree from Yale Law School, where he served as Student Director of the Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center and a Submissions Editor of the Yale Journal of International Law.

Kelly Spatola represents clients facing high-value commercial disputes, concentrating on the financial services industry. She also counsels institutional and private clients in contentious white-collar criminal and regulatory defense matters.

Prior to joining Kobre & Kim, Ms. Spatola clerked for the Honorable Joanna Seybert of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York and practiced at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP.

Andrew Stafford KC is an English barrister and King's Counsel who represents corporations and ultra-high-net-worth individuals in complex, high-value disputes spanning multiple jurisdictions.

Admitted to practice in England & Wales, the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts, Mr. Stafford KC has deep experience acting in matters that have elements across key onshore and offshore jurisdictions, including the UK, the U.S., the BVI, Dubai, Hong Kong, São Paulo and Seoul.

He has particular expertise in international judgment enforcement, developing and executing strategies designed to secure effective collection of arbitral awards and judgments, including awards made against sovereign judgment debtors. In addition, Mr. Stafford KC’s expertise is of great value to high net-worth individuals needing advice in relation to complex problems and disputes affecting their assets, reputation and liberty.

A highly regarded appellate advocate and trial lawyer, Mr. Stafford KC appears in the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, and acts in international arbitrations on a range of matters, including financial derivatives, insurance and international commercial fraud.

With a focus on devising creative solutions to seemingly intractable problems, he has been cited by industry publications as "a really good lateral thinker" and "a great tactician" with "fantastic courtroom demeanor."

Before joining Kobre & Kim, Mr. Stafford KC practiced as barrister at Littleton Chambers and 4 New Square. 

George Stamatopoulos is an experienced litigator and trial lawyer who serves as counsel in high-stakes, complex litigation. He has litigated cases through trial and/or successful settlement in areas that include patents, trade secrets, financial products and services, and government enforcement actions. Mr. Stamatopoulos’s extensive and deep experience in litigating patent and trade secret disputes covers a wide array of technologies, including mobile devices, network infrastructure, software and life sciences; and he enjoys the process of distilling complex technical concepts into compelling narratives and legal strategies suited for presentation at trial. His work on such matters has helped companies and individuals to monetize their intellectual property rights or to effectively defend against meritless claims brought against them.

Mr. Stamatopoulos has litigated cases before state and federal courts and the U.S. International Trade Commission. An effective and skilled advocate with experience in all phases of litigation, he routinely brings to bear his experience in technology-related matters and his background as an engineer to develop and execute effective and aggressive legal strategies and arguments, and debunk meritless expert opinions in disputes that touch upon a variety of areas, including complex financial products, deferred compensation, market manipulation, cryptocurrency, white-collar criminal defense and multi-jurisdiction asset tracing.

Before his legal career, Mr. Stamatopoulos worked as a structural engineer. He speaks Greek fluently.

Darryl Stein helps monetize judgments and arbitration awards throughout the world. By using his experience in a variety of jurisdictions, he helps companies and individuals find solutions to complex commercial and financial situations arising from litigations, arbitrations and investigations, with a focus on cross-border matters involving financial products and insolvency. In these matters, he has represented companies and individuals before U.S. and non-U.S. courts, arbitration tribunals, and prosecutorial and regulatory authorities. He also has particular experience in matters involving distressed companies in insolvency and judgment enforcement situations. Mr. Stein also works with lawyers throughout the firm’s global offices to help clients gathering, or opposing efforts to gather, evidence in U.S. Courts under Section 1782, in English common-law jurisdictions, and through other in-court and out-of-court tools.

Before joining Kobre & Kim, Mr. Stein practiced at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP.

Justina Stewart focuses her practice on high-stakes, cross-border disputes involving complex and high-value asset recovery, insolvency litigation and fraud. She has extensive experience in matters relating to financial technology, digital assets and related regulatory legislation that involve both onshore and offshore jurisdictions.

Prior to joining Kobre & Kim, Ms. Stewart practiced as a barrister in several jurisdictions. Earlier in her career, Ms. Stewart was an international investment banker, specializing in corporate finance.  As such, she is highly numerate and comfortable with more complex financial products and concepts.

Ms. Stewart is ranked in leading legal directories in numerous practice areas.

Nicholas Surmacz is a highly accomplished trial lawyer and investigator who has achieved significant victories for clients in numerous high-profile, cross-border matters involving allegations of fraud, bribery and other misconduct. He regularly represents corporations, executives and high net worth individuals facing investigations, enforcement actions, economic sanctions and asset forfeiture efforts by sovereign states and global regulators, including the various components of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), where he previously served as a senior member of the DOJ’s Fraud Section in Washington, DC. 

Mr. Surmacz is regularly recognized in leading industry publications. Testimonials in the Legal 500 recently recognized him as “exceptional counsel” and a tireless worker “who takes care to understand all information, large and small, to provide holistic strategic advice to address problems at every level.”  Earlier in his career, he was recognized as one of the world’s leading investigations specialists under 40 by Global Investigations Review and a “Future Leader in Investigations” by Who’s Who Legal. 

At Kobre & Kim, Mr. Surmacz has secured the declination of criminal and civil charges on behalf of corporations and high-profile individuals after investigation by the U.S. DOJ into violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) as well as the wire fraud, money laundering, and tax laws.  He has further obtained the dismissal of criminal charges and immunity from prosecution on behalf of others.  On behalf of corporate clients, he secured the dismissal of a $500 million fraudulent conveyance action for one and recovered over $400 in stolen cryptocurrency for another. 

Before joining Kobre & Kim, Mr. Surmacz served as an Assistant Chief of the DOJ Fraud Section in Washington, DC  As the only former DOJ Fraud Section supervisor in private practice outside the United States, Mr. Surmacz’s practice focuses heavily on cross-border matters across Europe, Africa and the Middle East, such as navigating cross-border treaty requests, including extradition and Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) requests for evidence.

Prior to his government service, Mr. Surmacz earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA), was licensed as a Certified Public Accountant, and practiced at White & Case LLP in New York.

Alexandria Swette is an experienced trial lawyer who advises institutional clients and their executives in high-stakes commercial disputes, cross-border investigations and government enforcement defense matters. She has extensive experience in contentious deal litigation, shareholder disputes, breach of fiduciary duty claims and securities actions, as well as in defending companies and individuals against allegations of fraud or other misconduct in regulatory and criminal matters involving state and federal government authorities. She has significant experience in cases involving the U.S. Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission.

Before joining Kobre & Kim, Ms. Swette practiced at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, where she focused on securities class action litigation, internal investigations, and white-collar criminal defense. Prior to that, Ms. Swette clerked for the Honorable Francisco A. Besosa of the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.

Su Mien Tee is a litigator who focuses her practice on cross-border arbitration and commercial litigation matters, including joint venture disputes and enforcement of or defense against arbitral awards and judgments. Ms. Tee has experience in arbitrations conducted under SIAC, ICC and ICSID Rules, representing high-net-worth individuals and institutional clients in multi-million dollar cross-jurisdictional disputes against various entities, including sovereigns and multinational corporations, and in complex litigation matters at all levels in the Singapore courts, including the Singapore International Commercial Court.

Ms. Tee also represents creditors and debtors in complex, multi-jurisdictional bondholder disputes and debt enforcement, with a particular focus on the Asia-Pacific Region, which often involve suspected fraud and asset dissipation.

Before joining Kobre & Kim, Ms. Tee practiced at Rajah & Tann Singapore, where she was involved in high-stakes arbitration and litigation matters. She also completed an attachment with a leading London set, Fountain Court Chambers, under a Singapore Academy of Law scheme, and was appointed Young Amicus Curiae of the Singapore High Court in 2019. 

Allison Teitler focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation, including internal investigations, regulatory investigations, government enforcement defense and matters involving high-stakes commercial disputes. She handles investigative and enforcement actions brought by U.S. regulators and agencies such as the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). She has experience in all stages of federal and state litigation. She is also experienced in all phases of discovery, including formulating discovery strategy, data collection and preservation, document review management, technology-assisted review methods, and privilege protection and challenge.

Before joining Kobre & Kim, Ms. Teitler was a compliance consultant at Citigroup's Investment Banking Division. After law school, Ms. Teitler clerked for the late Honorable Charles L. Brieant of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Jeremy Toh focuses his practice on high-stakes and complex commercial disputes and restructuring and insolvency matters with a nexus to the Asia-Pacific region. Mr. Toh has particular experience dealing with shareholder and joint venture disputes and schemes of arrangement. His experience in this area includes representing institutional clients, government-linked entities and high-net-worth individuals from a myriad of industries before the Singapore courts and in arbitrations under the HKIAC Rules.

Before joining Kobre & Kim, Mr. Toh practiced in Singapore at Tan Kok Quan Partnership.

Peter Tyers-Smith is an English barrister representing clients in complex, ultra-high value international disputes typically with a connection to one or more offshore jurisdictions. Mr. Tyers-Smith leads major litigation in the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands, where he holds permanent court-admissions, but also has significant experience in acting in global disputes originating from or proceeding before the courts of Nevis, Antigua, Bahamas, Bermuda and Gibraltar, where he has been admitted to appear pro hac vice.

Mr. Tyers-Smith’s practice is focused on disputes arising from distressed or insolvent private equity funds, failed joint venture arrangements or shareholder relationships and private wealth. He has substantial experience in litigation associated with the affairs of UK and offshore-domiciled companies and is a long-standing contributor to leading practitioner text Gore Browne on Companies (LexisNexis). Chambers & Partners - UK Bar (Company Law) has also ranked Mr. Tyers-Smith as "switched on" and for his "reputation for getting the results his clients want."

Mr. Tyers-Smith acts for and against large international corporations, institutional investors, sovereign states, general partners, investment managers, court-appointed officeholders, trustees and other financial professionals. His cases invariably involve allegations of grave financial misconduct, dishonesty and/or breach of fiduciary duty. Accordingly, Mr. Tyers-Smith has extensive experience in obtaining time-sensitive freezing injunctions, disclosure orders and interim receiverships as well as deploying aggressive on- and offshore discovery strategies in support of domestic and foreign proceedings. 

Mr. Tyers-Smith has very substantial advocacy experience. He has appeared as sole advocate in many trials and contested "heavy" interim hearings in the Commercial Court (now the Business and Property Court of England & Wales), the BVI Commercial Court and the Cayman Islands Grand Court, Financial Services Division, where he has often appeared against King’s Counsel. Mr. Tyers-Smith has also acted in cases before the House of Lords (now the UK Supreme Court) and the Court of Appeal (England & Wales, BVI and the Cayman Islands). The current edition of Chambers & Partners Global recognises Mr Tyers-Smith as “a magnificent advocate who should take silk very soon” and someone who “quickly builds trust and rapport with judges with his disarming advocacy style that is focused and compelling…”

Prior to joining Kobre & Kim, Mr. Tyers-Smith practiced as a barrister in the Commercial & Chancery Group at No.5 Chambers.

Kiran Unni is an English barrister focused on complex multijurisdictional disputes, particularly those involving allegations of fraud and misconduct. Mr. Unni has acted in English High Court litigation and international arbitrations across a range of industry sectors, including oil and gas, banking, cryptocurrency, private equity, shipping, technology and telecommunications. He advises on the enforcement of judgments and arbitration awards, as well as associated asset tracing and recovery projects, to help clients realize value from their claims. Mr. Unni also has particular experience in formulating offensive and defensive global litigation strategies for international private clients, including in relation to civil and criminal asset forfeiture, financial sanctions, trust structures, and commercial and insolvency litigation.

Before joining Kobre & Kim, Mr. Unni practiced at Baker Botts (UK) LLP representing institutional clients and private individuals in commercial disputes and regulatory matters involving bribery/corruption allegations and the application of economic sanctions. Earlier in his career, Mr. Unni was a judicial assistant to Lord Mance, Lord Brown and Lord Carnwath at the UK Supreme Court.