John Goddard is a litigator with years of experience in the banking and commercial fields. In the early 1990s Goddard scored successes for his clients in the Manchester Airport dispute (over loans paid by local councils to the airport) and the BSB Holdings case.

But the bulk of Goddard’s time during the past two decades has been spent acting for key client the Bank of England on a variety of litigation and inquiries, most notably over the collapse of BCCI. And in that case, this year proved to be extraordinary. After 12 long years of litigation, in October the liquidators of BCCI dropped the claim entirely, surprising and delighting Goddard and his client with the result. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer promptly claimed indemnity costs. It is the sort of victory every litigator wants, but few get, and it is testament to Goddard’s years of effort.