Julia Schaefer

Senior Associate

Julia is a senior associate in the dispute resolution and litigation team in Guernsey, where she specialises in complex trust and litigation matters. She has acted in some of Guernsey's most high-value multi-jurisdictional litigation, including the Tchenguiz Discretionary Trust litigation. Julia also has extensive experience in cross-border contractual disputes, including civil fraud actions, freezing orders and asset tracing. Julia is ranked by Legal 500 UK in 2020 and 2021 as a "Rising Star" for Dispute Resolution in Guernsey, notably for providing an 'excellent and responsive service'.

Most recently, Julia's work has included:

• Acting for the successful claimant mother in A and C v PQ, RS and T Trustees Limited ([2019]GRC013) in an application for the variation of an international footballer's Guernsey pension scheme in support of an English High Court child maintenance order, a case which is believed to be the first of its kind in Guernsey.
• Advising the Trustees in the landmark decision of the Court of Appeal in M v St Anne's Trustees (Guernsey Judgment 21/2018), providing welcome clarification on the application of the application of the so-called rule in Hastings Bass in Guernsey law.
• Representing the successful claimant in a high-value multi-jurisdictional debt enforcement action, which had been commenced in Guernsey outside of the prescription period.  The claim succeeded on the evidence of demonstrating that there had been an oral variation of the contract, and the Guernsey-specific (and rarely litigated) principle of empêchement d'agir (Garfield v Glass-Garfield (Guernsey Judgment 40/2018)).
• On the criminal and regulatory side Julia has long-standing involvement in advising Guernsey corporate and director clients against criminal charges in a foreign tax authority investigation.  She was part of the small team defending an MLRO client facing unprecedented charges under anti-money laundering legislation, in a high-profile case which concluded with the Prosecution dropping all charges against the MLRO.

Julia is a member of INSOL and the Guernsey International Legal Association (GILA). She is also the Director and Commodore of the Royal Channel Islands Yacht Club (Guernsey).

Career

Julia is a bilingual German speaker and also fluent in French. She has practised in Guernsey since 2014, after training and practising in the City of London, where she qualified as a solicitor of England & Wales in 2010. Julia joined Carey Olsen from another offshore litigation practice in 2017.

Julia has strong interests in European matters, having worked at the European Parliament, and she is a director and flag officer of the Royal Channel Islands Yacht Club (Guernsey) LBG. Julia was admitted as an Advocate of the Royal Court of Guernsey in November 2019.