Withers, led by partner Hussein Haeri, is advising the BVI Government alongside leading counsel professor Dan Sarooshi QC and BVI constitutional lawyer Gerard Farara QC.
The UK wants to introduce a public beneficial ownership of companies registered in British overseas territories (including the BVI) by 31 December 2020.
“We are confident that there are constitutional grounds for challenging the imposition on the BVI of a public register of the beneficial ownership of companies and human rights issues raised by public access to the register,” said Haeri, head of Withers’ public international law team.
“The BVI’s consistent position is that it will not introduce public registers unless and until they become a global standard.”
Withers partners representing the BVI Government are Haeri and Philip Munro in London and Niki Olympitis in the BVI.
British overseas territories have expressed dismay at the plans and the Cayman Islands has pledged to change their constitution to avoid the measures.
