Barnaby Gowrie

Partner

Cayman Islands

T +1 345 914 6365

M +1 345 525 3385

E barnaby.gowrie@walkersglobal.com

Practice Areas

Barnaby Gowrie is a partner in the firm's Insolvency & Dispute Resolution Group and specialises in the complex international contentious and non-contentious restructuring of Cayman Islands companies and partnerships.

Given his onshore background in structured finance, Barnaby particularly specialises in restructuring distressed structured finance vehicles and has assisted a wide range of market participants (issuers, noteholders, managers and service providers) in providing value-added innovative solutions. In this respect, he is a key part of the Restructured Products Group at Walkers. He also regularly advises existing stakeholders and creditors, debtors, private equity and hedge funds, insolvency practitioners (including Court appointed liquidators) and other advisors with respect to insolvent or distressed situations.

Notably, in recent years, Barnaby has advised on a number of contentious insurance matters and advised regulator appointed clients with respect to the sale of Cayman based insurance assets. He has recently acted as Cayman Islands counsel to the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors on the US$2 billion cross border restructuring of Arcapita Bank.

Prior Employment Experience

Prior to joining Walkers, Barnaby worked in the Structured and Asset Finance Group at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in London where he advised major investment banks, corporates and trust corporations on RMBS, CMBS, CDO, derivative transactions and whole business securitisations. He also took on the role as the team Professional Support Lawyer for 10 months in 2006 creating precedents and assisting with developing firm know how.

Barnaby has extensive experience of multi-jurisdictional and cross-border transactions dealing with a number of different asset and security types.

Admitted in & Qualifications

Admitted In:
Cayman Islands
England and Wales (not practising)

Qualifications:
First Class Law Degree with Honours, Magdalene College, Cambridge University
Commendation in the Legal Practice Course, Nottingham Law School

Other Distinctions

2023 Chambers Global - Notable Practitioner - Dispute Resolution

2022 Who's Who Legal - Recommended - Asset Recovery

2022 Who's Who Legal - Recommended - Restructuring & Insolvency - "Barnaby Gowrie comes highly recommended by peers for his first-rate handling of contentious and non-contentious restructurings, at both an international and domestic level."

2022 Who's Who Legal - Thought Leader - Commercial Litigation

2022 Chambers Global - Notable Practitioner - Dispute Resolution - "He is an extremely commercial lawyer. He is someone who considers a position from the client's perspective and is very good at lateral thinking in terms of trying to bring a solution to any problem."

2021 Who's Who Legal - Recommended - Asset Recovery

2021 Who's Who Legal - Thought Leaders - Restructuring & Insolvency

2021 Who's Who Legal - Thought Leaders - Litigation

2021 Chambers Global Guide - Notable Practitioner - Dispute Resolution - Sources describe him as "a strong lawyer" who is "very adaptable."

2021 Who's Who Legal - Recommended - Restructuring & Insolvency

2021 Legal 500 - Recommended Lawyer - ‘One of the brightest minds in Cayman Islands’ law. Barnaby is generally the smartest person in the room but is very approachable and a first choice for liquidators in Cayman.’

2020 Who's Who Legal - Thought Leader - Restructuring & Insolvency

2020 Chambers Global Guide - Notable Practitioner - Offshore

2019 Who's Who Legal - Global Leader - Asset Recovery

2019 Who's Who Legal - Global Leader - Litigation

2019 Who's Who Legal - Global Leader - Restructuring

2019 Chambers Global Guide - Notable Practitioner - Dispute Resolution

2018 Who's Who Legal - Litigation

2018 Chambers Global Guide - Notable Practitioner - Dispute Resolution - "Various sources highlight Barnaby Gowrie as "an outstanding lawyer" and "one of the most user-friendly practitioners in Cayman."

2018 Legal 500 - Recommended Lawyer - Dispute Resolution - "Barnaby Gowrie ‘has an impressive practice’."

2018 Legal 500 - Recommended Lawyer - Insurance & Reinsurance

2017 Who's Who Legal - Litigation

2017 Who's Who Legal - Restructuring & Insolvency

2017 Chambers Global Guide - (Dispute Resolution) A Notable Practitioner - "Barnaby Gowrie is 'excellent in all respects – in terms of his written product, advice and analysis'. Interviewees describe him as 'a very clever guy' and note that his background as a structured finance lawyer often proves advantageous."

2017 Legal 500 - Recommended Lawyer (Dispute Resolution) - "Barnaby Gowrie is a 'very good operator'."

2016 Chambers Global Guide – (Dispute Resolution) A Notable Practitioner

2016 Legal 500 - Recommended Lawyer (Dispute Resolution) - "The ‘highly experienced and user-friendly’ Barnaby Gowrie specialises in complex international restructurings of Cayman Islands companies and partnerships,"

2015 Chambers Global Guide – (Dispute Resolution) A Notable Practitioner - 'Barnaby Gowrie is establishing a robust reputation for his focus on insolvency and restructuring litigation. "Barnaby is able to find commercial solutions for niche and complicated structured finance product matters and is also an extremely astute insolvency attorney," said one source.'

2014 Legal 500 - Recommended Lawyer (Dispute Resolution)

Boards & Associations

Barnaby is a member of the Law Society of England and Wales and the Cayman Islands Law Society.

News, Matters and Publications

ADVISORY

Limited partners' statutory right to information concerning a Cayman Islands exempted limited partnership remains wide and unqualified - In the matter of Neoma Manager (Mauritius) Limited et al (Cause Nos. FSD 322 of 2020; FSD 141 of 202...
Cayman Inspectorship Under the Microscope - In the matter of Avivo Group (Cause No. FSD 145 of 2022 (RPJ)), Walkers, instructing Ms Clare Stanle...
Introduction of the New Cayman Islands Restructuring Officer Regime - The much-anticipated and welcome reforms to the Cayman Islands restructuring and insolvency legislat...
Grand Court warns investment managers that indemnity costs will loom large should they contest the identity of official liquidators in solvent liquidations - OverviewIn a recent decision of the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands (the "Court") concerning a sup...
Skye Assets Fund Spc – Pressing The Pause Button On A Voluntary Liquidation - Where a shareholder has redeemed his shareholding following a failed investment without objection so...

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ARTICLES

Taking a Closer Look at the Law Relating to the Appointment of Inspectors - This article first appeared in Volume 20, Issue 1 of International Corporate Rescue and is reprinted...
Chambers Insurance & Reinsurance Guide 2022: Cayman Islands - Partners Philip Paschalides, Tony De Quintal and Barnaby Gowrie, along with senior counsel Juliana T...
Chambers Insurance & Reinsurance Guide 2021: Cayman Islands - Partners Philip Paschalides, Lucy Frew and Barnaby Gowrie, along with senior counsel Tony De Quintal...
Chambers Insurance & Re-insurance Guide 2020: Cayman Islands - Partners Barnaby Gowrie and Lucy Frew, along with senior counsel Tony De Quintal and associate Colm ...
Walkers Special Issue 2019 – International Corporate Rescue - We are delighted to share with you this special publication containing offshore insolvency and restr...

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EVENTS

Partner Barnaby Gowrie to speak at the Nexia TRI Conference in Dubai - Cayman Islands partner Barnaby Gowrie is due to speak at the Nexia TRI Conference in Dubai, 25-...
JVCapital and CARAIA Webinar: Insolvency Legislation - Join Walkers' partner, Barnaby Gowrie, alongside co-panellists Howard Mitchell (PSOJ), Hilary Reid (...
Walkers Webinar: Insolvency & Dispute Resolution Spring 2020 - Session 3 - Join us for the third session of the Cayman Islands Insolvency & Dispute Resolution Webinar Series.S...
Fraud and Financial Crime – Risk and Regulation Conference 2019 - A changing world means that risk and regulation aren't just for compliance teams - these issues are ...
Robert Foote to Chair INSOL Offshore Ancillary Meeting in Singapore - Walkers partner Robert Foote will chair the INSOL Singapore, Ancillary Offshore Program at INSOL Sin...