Simmons & Simmons' David Sandy resurfaces

Although Simmons' Interbrew team has been led by litigation partner Philip Vaughan, it was Sandy who led the attempt to retrieve physically the documents regarding Interbrew's possible bid for South African Breweries. On Friday (12 July), he arrived at the offices of the Financial Times, The Times and The Independent, but was rebuffed by the editors.
Sandy returned to the law nine months ago after a hiatus of a year and a half. He had been part of the Simmons team advising the Abu Dhabi government over BCCI and later underwent two trials in the US, charged by the District Attorney of New York with erasing information in connection with the case. In the first trial, the jury failed to return a verdict; in the second, the charges were dropped and Sandy agreed not to practise law for 18 months. Simmons - which has consistently declined to comment on the matter - has always stood by Sandy, who remained a partner at the firm throughout that period.
Because of the indictment, in 1995 Simmons was obliged to step down from acting for the Abu Dhabi government concerning BCCI. Macfarlanes took over the mandate.