Tameka Davis is a Partner in the British Virgin Islands Litigation & Restructuring practice. Tameka was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2003 and joined Conyers in 2009. She started her professional career at the International Bar Association, then joined private practice in Jamaica before moving offshore to Anguilla in 2005. Tameka has over 19 years of experience in offshore commercial litigation.

Tameka’s practice includes international insolvency and restructuring and the bringing and defending of unfair prejudice, breach of contract, conspiracy and fraud, and asset tracing claims. She has a significant depth of experience in obtaining and resisting interim orders, including injunctions, receivership orders, and orders appointing provisional liquidators. She is exceptionally skilled at civil procedure and the reciprocal enforcement of foreign judgments and arbitral awards.

Tameka has acted for many notable entities, including Bacardi International Limited, JSC Kazatomprom, a state-owned uranium mining enterprise in Kazakhstan, JSC BTA Bank, a state-owned aluminum processing plant in Tajikistan, the owners of Cap Juluca, a luxury resort in Anguilla and the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office. She has advised several officeholders, including recently the liquidators in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad fraud. She represented the crypto firm Terraform, a financially distressed company under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and successfully obtained the recognition and orders in aid of those Chapter 11 proceedings in the BVI.

Recognised in Legal 500 Caribbean, Global Restructuring Review, Who’s Who Legal (asset recovery), and Chambers Global, Tameka is a sought-after speaker at conferences on fraud, asset recovery, insolvency, and restructuring. She is driven by a passion for solving complex problems and finding innovative solutions.

Tameka appears in the Commercial Division of the High Court of the Virgin Islands and the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, Court of Appeal.

Jurisdiction

Experience

  • Represented Bacardi International Limited in a case involving the ownership of shares in Caribbean Distillers Corporation the company which carries on the Patron Tequila business. Bacardi was successful in obtaining injunctive relief and challenging the appeal of same on procedural grounds. Bacardi was also successful in resisting attempts by the other side to dispute the jurisdiction of the Anguilla Court on forum conveniens grounds.
  • Represented Pacific China Holdings Limited in successfully appealing the order of the Commercial Court wherein it was held that the court did not have the jurisdiction to order a petitioning creditor to bear the liability of the remuneration incurred by liquidators, where their appointment was subsequently set aside. This was a groundbreaking case since prior to this decision, there were no reported cases in the jurisdiction or abroad which dealt comprehensively with the question of liability for liquidator’s remuneration in such circumstances.
  • Represented JSC BTA Bank in claims for assistance injunctive relief and disclosure. In relation to disclosure in particular the Bank was successful in obtaining Norwich Pharmacal relief against registered agents. A jurisdiction which hereintobefore had been uncertain. The decision that a registered agent can be “mixed up” in the alleged wrongdoing so as to engage the Norwich Pharmacal jurisdiction has revolutionized the practice of obtaining such orders in the BVI against registered agents.
  • Represented JSC BTA Bank during the enforcement stage of its claims. Successfully applied for and obtained the registration in the BVI of three English judgments with a total value of approximately US$3 billion. Successfully resisted attempts to have the registration of those English Judgments set aside.
  • Represented Talco Management Limited in a case involving an aluminum state-owned enterprise in Tajikistan and was successful in having the claim against it discontinued.
  • Represent JSC Kazatomprom a Kazakh state-owned uranium mining company in a claim against its former president and various BVI companies for compensation in the amount of US$540 million and/or the return of Kazatomprom’s valuable mining interests which were misappropriated from him.
  • Acted for the liquidator of British American Isle of Venice (BVI) Limited, following the collapse of the British American Insurance Company within the Eastern Caribbean.
  • Obtained freezing injunctive relief and ancillary disclosure orders in relation to a dispute which centered on bonds that were issued by the Moscow Region Investment Mortgage Company and the Moscow Region Mortgage Agency both companies affiliated with the Moscow Region. The ostensible purpose of the bond issues was the development of the Moscow Region but it was found that the funds raised through the issuance were being fraudulently misappropriated by Cyprus Defendants.
  • Represented Winnington Global Holdings Ltd in an application for assistance injunctive relief in a dispute involving the Republic of Djibouti.
  • Represented a BVI company in the successful common law enforcement in the BVI of a Russian Judgment debt in the sum of US$40 million and successfully obtained an order permitting the appointment of receivers post-judgment over the shares in a BVI company.
  • Represented Terraform limited in the recognition of a consolidated Chapter 11 proceedings in the BVI and the grant of orders in aid of those proceedings.
  • Represented Symphony Partners et al in the liquidation of Fullerton Bay Investments, a BVI company for the non-payment of arbitral awards totalling U$85 million. The ultimate dispute concerned disputed shareholding interest in the largest windfarm in Thailand.
  • Represented AMS trustee in a claim for the appraisal of shares under section 179 of the BVI Business Companies Act and in defence of an ancillary claim for unfairly prejudicial conduct.
  • Represented the BVI liquidators of the BVI companies implicated in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad Scandal fraud.
  • Represented Masirah Oil Limited a BVI company and Rex International Limited, a Singapore publicly listed company in defence of a claim or unfairly prejudicial conduct brought by Petroci Holding, a state own Côte d’Ivoire Oil company.
  • Represented Credorax Inc in a claim concerning the enforcement of a contract by a sanction entity.
  • Represented the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office in defence of a claim brought against it by certain individuals in connection with the collapse of the National Bank of Anguilla.
  • Represented KMG International in an application to wind up a Swiss incorporated company and the grant of letters rogatory seeking assistance from the English Court.
  • Acted for Eitan Erez in his capacity as trustee in bankruptcy of the estate of Mrs Sofer appointed by the Supreme Court in Israel. Sought and obtained the recognition of his appointment in the BVI and orders in aid of that appointment against Net International, a BVI incorporated company. 

Qualifications

Professional Background

  • Webster Dyrud Mitchell, The Valley, Anguilla
  • Garth E. Lyttle & Co., Attorneys-at-Law, Kingston, Jamaica
  • The International Bar Association, London, England

Education

  • INSOL Global Insolvency Practice Course – 2023 – INSOL Fellow
  • University of London, LLM (specialising in Company and Commercial Law)
  • Advanced Certificate in International Arbitration, 2013
  • Norman Manley School of Law, Legal Education Certificate (LEC), 2005
  • BPP School of Law, Bar Vocational Course (BVC), 2003
  • Holborn College, LL.B (Hons), Award for Best Average, 2002
  • Lincoln’s Inn Sir Thomas More Scholarship, 2002
  • University of the West Indies Faculty of Arts and Humanities Award for Outstanding Performance, 1999
  • United World College, Academic Scholarship

Bar Admissions

  • British Virgin Islands, Barrister, 2009
  • Anguilla, Barrister and Solicitor-at-Law, 2005
  • England & Wales, Barrister, 2003 (not currently practising)

Awards & Accolades

  • Recognised in the 2025 edition (and since 2012) of Legal 500 Caribbean (Leading Partner) (dispute resolution)
  • Recognised in the 2020 edition (and 2019) of Global Restructuring Review 100
  • Recognised in the 2018 edition (and 2017) of Who’s Who Legal (asset recovery)
  • Recognised in the 2018 edition of Chambers Global (dispute resolution – associate to watch)
  • Recognised in the 2017 edition of Who’s Who Legal (asset recovery)
  • Recognised by the Global Restructuring Review on the 40 Under 40 2016 list

Associations

  • Member, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
  • Member, BVI Bar Association
  • Member, INSOL International
  • Member, Recovery and Insolvency Specialists Association (BVI)
  • Member, ArbitralWomen
  • Member, IWIRC, International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation
  • Member, Women Offshore Network

Publications

State immunity and arbitration in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), LexisNexis PSL Arbitration Practice Notes

The Legal 500 Country Comparative Guide 2021 – British Virgin Islands – Litigation

Offshore Cases

New York Convention provisions on stay trump BVI Arbitration Act, LexisNexis PSL Arbitration (Module), 2016

The Enforcement of International Arbitral Awards in the British Virgin Islands, LexisNexis PSL Arbitration (Module), 2014

What Happens in the Meantime: Interim Measures Under the BVI Arbitration Act, 2013, BVI Finance Newsletter, September 2014

BVI Chapter of the European Lawyer Reference Series of International Civil Fraud Jurisdictional comparisons, December 2013

Professional Directors Duties in BVI Companies, INSOL World, Fourth Quarter 2013

Registered Agents: More than Mere Onlookers, The Lawyer, April 2011