The Australian firm has since October 2008 represented investors in 10 CDO Series, which had been issued under the $2 billion plus Lehman sponsored Dante Notes Programme.

The firm has now welcomed the English Court of Appeal decision upholding an English High Court, in which investors’ rights to recover securities and cash funded by their investments ahead of Lehman Special Financing Inc (LBSF) claims.

The Court of Appeal dismissed LBSF’s appeal, and held that its claim to strike from the product documents that the subordination provisions was not sustainable because there was no infringement of the “anti-deprivation principle” underlying English insolvency legislation.

Johnson Winter & Slattery (JWS) partner Jim Hunwick said this was “a significant win” for clients, who are “determined to prevail against the aggressive steps Lehman entities in New York are taking to frustrate the orderly unwinding of CDOs”.

In preparing the case, Hunwick brought experience in the structuring of CDOs in Australia and overseas, assisted by partners Paul Reidy and Shelley Hemmings.

JWS worked alongside English law firm Lawrence Graham’s banking and finance litigation expert Jean-Pierre Douglas-Henry to achieve the outcome, the firm said today.

Richard Salter QC and Jonathan Davies-Jones, from 3 Verulam Buildings, appeared as counsel.

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The New York Bankruptcy Court will consider similar proceedings later this month. But JWS said today the case is likely to continue to make new laws in relation to widely used financing structures and cross border insolvencies.

Meanwhile, financial markets, rating agencies and the investment community on both sides of the Atlantic are now monitoring the proceedings.