Daniel Isenberg

Daniel accepts instructions (both led and unled) in all areas of commercial dispute resolution and business protection matters. He has particular experience in claims relating to breach of directors’/fiduciary duties and boardroom disputes.

Current and recent instructions include:

• Acting in a breach of directors’ duties, conspiracy and restitution claim brought by a public company against both a former director and one of its shareholders.
• Acting as sole counsel for a former CEO in contractual claims against a publicly-listed company.
• Acting for an individual defendant in multi-party conspiracy and breach of duty claim brought by a publicly-listed company.
• Advising a solicitor in relation to a contentious exit from a firm, including in relation to the scope and applicability of various covenants.
• Arbitration proceedings in a team move case for an international law firm.

Daniel’s practice frequently involves cases engaging fraud and allegations of dishonesty.  Current and recent instructions include:

• Advising a company in respect of forged energy contracts purportedly taken out in its name.
• Advising a company in relation to a ‘business email compromise’ incident (email fraud) which led to payments owing to it instead being made to third-party fraudsters.
• Acting for a shareholder in fraudulent misrepresentation claims concerning investments made in the energy and mining sector.
• Acting for multiple defendants in deceit, conspiracy and inducement of breach of contract claims for over €1.4 billion concerning trades in medium term notes.

In addition to the business protection matters above, Daniel has built up experience on a range of statutory and common law employment matters, including claims under the Equality Act, unfair dismissal, minimum wage, working time and redundancy-related claims. He regularly appears as sole counsel before the Employment Tribunal, including in multi-day trials.

Daniel is particularly well-placed to advise and frequently acts on matters relating to employee- shareholders and employee-directors, and the overlap between employment and company law, including boardroom disputes and breaches of directors’ and/or fiduciary duties.

Recent instructions include:

• As sole counsel, successfully defending a leading university and individual academics in claims of race-related harassment, discrimination and victimisation following a six-day trial.
• Arbitration proceedings in a team move case for an international law firm.

Daniel has developed particular expertise in state immunity matters before the Employment Tribunal, instructed as sole counsel on behalf of foreign states.

As a judicial assistant, Daniel drafted submissions to the Privy Council in place of the absent Respondent in University of Technology, Jamaica v Industrial Disputes Tribunal [2017] UKPC 22 (see para 2), about whether the Industrial Disputes Tribunal was entitled to take into account matters of which the employer was unaware at the time of the dismissal.

Daniel is particularly well-grounded in equality and discrimination law following his involvement in Essop v Home Office, Naeem v Secretary of State for Justice [2017] UKSC 27, concerning whether in an indirect discrimination claim there is a need to establish why a provision, criterion or practice causes individuals with a protected characteristic particular disadvantage (as a judicial assistant). He is also a member of the EHRC’s B Panel of Counsel.

Daniel recently appeared in the Supreme Court in the leading case on the approach under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 to claims where the underlying cause of action accrued prior to Brexit: Lipton v BA Cityflyer Ltd [2024] UKSC 24.

He acted for the successful defendants in R (EU Lotto Ltd and others) v Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport [2019] 1 CMLR 41, an EU law challenge to the ban on betting on non-UK Euromillions lotteries; and R (MP) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care [2018] EWHC [3392] (Admin), consultation- and PSED-based challenges to reforms to the regime for charging ‘overseas visitors’ for NHS services.

With his background at the Ministry of Defence, Daniel has particular experience and expertise in defence and national security matters. He was the Deputy Executive Editor (Print) of the Harvard National Security Journal and has acted as a researcher for the then-Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, David Anderson KC.  In the national security field, Daniel acted for the Government in Bank Mellat v HM Treasury concerning the bank’s original damages claim, as well as its challenge to subsequent sanctions orders.  He also acted for the successful defendant in R (Schofield) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWHC 902 (Admin), a challenge under Article 2 to the UK’s ban on the admissibility of ‘intercept evidence’, arising out of the high-profile collapse of the prosecution of the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, following the findings public inquiry into the shooting of Anthony Grainger. He has been involved in Belhaj v Straw [2017] UKSC 3, regarding the application of the ‘foreign act of state’ doctrine (as a judicial assistant). Daniel has also advised clients on matters concerning RIPA and online monitoring, as well as the National Security and Investment Act 2021.  He also acts before the Employment Tribunal in national security proceedings under Rule 93.

During his time as a judicial assistant, Daniel worked on the leading constitutional cases before the Supreme Court, including R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union [2017] UKSC 5, regarding the Government’s ability to notify the EU of the UK’s withdrawal under Article 50 TFEU without Parliamentary approval.

Daniel is experienced in a wide range of complex issues of public international law, with a particular expertise and interest in questions of immunities and privileges (especially under the VCDR). He is regularly instructed as sole counsel on behalf of foreign states in relation to issues of state immunity.

He has been involved in a number of the leading recent cases on questions of immunity, including:

Daniel has worked on further PIL matters, including Al-Waheed v Ministry of Defence [2017] UKSC 2 on the power under international law to detain in a non-international armed conflict (as a judicial assistant); as well as during his time as a ‘Foreign Law Clerk’ at the Supreme Court of Israel.

He has also been instructed in proceedings before the Supreme Court of the British Indian Ocean Territory (Diego Garcia).

Daniel also has a significant data protection practice, focusing in particular on ‘data breach’ claims, involving the compromise of the personal data of a large number of data subjects, whether inadvertent or by cyber-criminals.

He acted for the defendant in the British Airways Group Litigation arising out of the cyber-attack on BA’s systems in autumn 2018 – the first mass piece of group litigation under the GDPR. He is also acting in a number of other data breach claims, each with potentially significant numbers of claimants.

In addition to a number of ongoing large-scale data breach instructions.

Daniel also regularly acts for the Information Commissioner and public authorities in FOIA appeals.