Nicholas has acted in a diverse range of matters over a 20-year career in corporate investigations.
He has exceptional experience in commercial and investor-state arbitration, collecting documentary evidence around the world for use in such proceedings, giving testimonial evidence, information gathering in jurisdictions with minimal disclosure requirements (particularly across the Middle East and Africa) and supporting the enforcement of judgements and arbitral awards.
Prior to co-founding Raedas, he spent six years in the Middle East developing a regional practice and working to integrate investigations into litigation strategy in matters heard before local courts and tribunals. Nicholas has participated in matters before DIFC, UAE, Lebanon, Singapore, UK, France, Cayman Islands, BVI, and US courts and arbitration centres, among others, as well as private disputes among Middle Eastern merchant families and royalty. He has acted for UHNW, corporate, sovereign and supranational clients, across an array of sectors including telecoms, technology, energy, and banking.
Nicholas has given evidence and been cross examined on his evidence in multiple arbitrations and US federal proceedings, most notably as a fact witness in ICC arbitration and related matters between Iraq Telecom (a joint venture between Agility and Orange Telecom) and a Middle East telecommunications company and its owners. His work was explicitly cited as instrumental in the success of the claimant’s primary claims and the resulting award of USD 1.65 billion.
Nicholas is a co-founder of FIND, a not-for-profit investigations consultancy supporting civil society groups seeking justice for victims of human rights abuses, war and environmental crime. To date FIND has helped 17 organisations pursue a range of accountability strategies involving 45 jurisdictions and is funded by Open Society Foundation and Oak Foundation, among others.
In parallel, Nicholas regularly supports civil society organisations pro bono, including the International Criminal Court where he evaluated the Court’s financial investigation practices and advised the Office of the Prosecutor on asset recovery in Africa. He has led training workshops for a group of African supreme court justices on the potency of public record financial investigations in combatting cross border corruption, fraud, money laundering, and other wrongdoing.
Nicholas was trained by a former Manhattan District Attorney’s Office trial prosecutor, providing investigative and analytical support in tobacco and pharmaceutical counterfeiting and smuggling investigations.