Commodities disputes

Alex is a partner specialising in shipping and international trade litigation, including arbitration and alternative dispute resolution.  He has acted for ship owners, charterers, cargo interests, P&I Clubs and commodity traders across a wide variety of matters, with expertise in both wet and dry disputes and a particular focus on charterparties, bills of lading, international sale of goods contracts and other commodity related issues.

Peter specialises in international litigation and arbitration as well as commercial contracts focusing on the energy, commodity and international trade sectors. He is recognised as a leading individual in his area and is the partner advising the international commodity trading group Mercuria in the Qingdao metals fraud case of Mercuria Energy Trading Pte v. Citibank N.A. Peter's clients include trading groups, power utilities, mining and industrial groups, captive insurers, oil and gas companies and banks. He has advised on many different legal issues arising from those clients' operations in many different jurisdictions. Peter has represented clients in arbitrations in London and internationally under ICSID, ICC, UNCITRAL, LCIA, SCC, DIAC, SIAC, HKIAC, LME, CIETAC, FOSFA and GAFTA; undertaken litigation at all levels in England as well as international jurisdictions and advised on regulatory issues and OFGEM investigations. Peter is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. His clients value both his years of litigation experience and his skill and expertise in drafting and negotiating financial and physical trading and supply agreements used in the energy, commodity, and metals industries. These have covered LNG, LPG, gas, coal, oil and petroleum products, biomass, minerals, steel, and precious metals.

Andrew has experience in a broad range of commercial and financial disputes including international arbitrations, bilateral investment treaty disputes and general litigation matters with a strong focus on the shipping, aviation, mining and commodities, oil & gas and other energy sectors. His shipping expertise encompasses shipbuilding, ship repair, MoA, charterparty, cargo, enforcement and other dry shipping disputes including in specialised sectors such as LNG and cruise. In the aviation sector, he advises on repossessions, lease redelivery, airframe and engine damage, base maintenance and insurance disputes. Andrew’s natural resources expertise extends to commodities trading, trade finance and mining investment disputes, while his experience in the offshore oil & gas and energy sectors covers construction, drilling and service agreement disputes, as well as wider industry disputes such as judicial reviews. He is recommended by Legal 500 UK, who described him in 2021 as “being attentive to concerns and concerned with the clients’ objectives – he is pragmatic, very combative, persevering and successful”.

George is a partner in the international trade and commodities group in the London office. He is an expert in the resolution of disputes within the commodities sector relating to oil and gas, metals and mining, soft commodities and trade finance. His expertise extends to the resolution of disputes in the English courts and under international arbitration rules – including those of the ICC, UNCITRAL and the LCIA – and trade arbitration rules – including those of FOSFA, GAFTA, the RSA and SAL. He also advises clients on non-contentious, regulatory and compliance issues. George has advised national oil companies, international trading companies and other clients across the supply chain on disputes arising from drilling rig and FPSO contracts, sale and purchase agreements, and commercial and agency contracts. He frequently deals with non-payment, breach of warranty claims, quality and condition issues and many other contentious matters. George spent six months seconded to the in-house legal department of Shell International in London. He regularly presents internationally at industry events on commodities, the law of the sea, oil and gas, and arbitration generally. He has served on numerous occasions as an honorary legal adviser at the Royal Courts of Justice CAB on a pro bono basis.

Mark has a broad practice in shipping, commodity and commercial litigation. He has conducted arbitrations in London, Singapore, China, Hong Kong and Stockholm either as counsel or lead partner. He also has considerable wet shipping experience having handled all types of casualties. He has litigated shipbuilding, construction and mining disputes. A fluent Mandarin Chinese speaker, Mark studied in China and is adept at working with Chinese evidence, both oral and written. He was one of the first foreign maritime lawyers to work in China in the late 1980s.  In London arbitration he was the lead partner in a significant arbitration arising out of a cancellation dispute involving the vessel Atalanta. This has generated consequential High Court litigation in Westwood Shipping Lines and Weyerhaeuser NR Company v Universal Schifffahrtsgesellschaft mbH [2012].

Emma is an experienced litigator and specialises in resolving complex disputes for clients across the international trade, shipping and natural resources sectors. She advises trading houses, oil companies, producers, shipowners, charterers, and insurers on the full range of their contractual and often multi-jurisdictional disputes, in both arbitration and High Court litigation. Emma is an international disputes and arbitration specialist with a particular focus on commodities and shipping issues. She regularly acts for the major players in the soft commodities industries (including grains, oilseeds, sugar and cocoa) and has extensive experience representing clients in London arbitrations (including GAFTA, FOSFA, SAL, LMAA, ICC, LCIA), the English High Court, and mediation. Her practice also includes hard commodities and oil & gas disputes, where she has acted for state-owned companies in complex, multi-jurisdictional arbitrations. In the shipping sector, Emma advises charterers, shipowners, insurers, and cargo interests on all types of charterparty issues including ship arrests, security, freight, and hire, and has acted on a number of reported shipping cases, including representing the successful charterers in the Commercial Court decision "The Eleni P" (2019) relating to a dispute over hire during a period of detention by Somali pirates in the Arabian Sea. Emma presents globally on legal topics relating to the international sale of goods. She also has in-house experience, both at a global shipping company and a large steel producer, which has given her a deep insight into the needs of her clients and their industries.

Jonathan is an energy and natural resources lawyer, specialising in all aspects of the supply, carriage, storage and financing of commodities. He advises mining groups, oil companies, trading houses, banks, energy utilities, industrial consumers and shipping clients on their international contracts and disputes. Jonathan handles a wide range of commercial disputes but has particular expertise in matters relating to the sale of goods, trade and asset finance, storage and warehousing contracts, contracts of affreightment, charterparties and bills of lading. He was the lead associate on the team that acted for Mercuria in their successful defence of a headline-making US$270 million claim, relating to “repo” deals affected by a major metals warehousing fraud in China. He also has extensive experience of contentious ship finance matters, having worked on some of the most significant cases of recent years including the Omega Navigation Chapter 11 bankruptcy. On the non-contentious side, Jonathan’s practice includes advising on and drafting off-take, supply and master trading agreements, inventory financing agreements, pre-payment financing structures, warehousing and storage agreements, contracts of affreightment and charterparties.

Partner

Haris heads the firm's commodities practice and over a period of 30 years has dealt with all aspects of shipping and international maritime trade. He has acted for clients ranging from mining companies and oil majors to shipowners and their insurers, state-owned oil companies, independent trading houses, chemical companies, banks and refineries from around the world. He is also a leading expert in the contractual aspects of maritime decarbonisation, acting for NGOs, organisations and companies from across the spectrum of the maritime supply chain. Haris started his career in the City of London in 1994. Dispute resolution represents a large part of his practice and he has acted in hundreds of arbitrations, High Court, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and multi-jurisdictional cases ranging from modest demurrage claims to mine off-take and oil and gas disputes worth hundreds of millions. His reported Court cases include the Johnny K, Trafigura v Kookmin Bank, the Sabrewing, the Northgate, the Port Russel, U&M v Konkola Copper Mines, CH Offshore v PDVSA Petroleo and Petrosaudi Oil Services v Novo Banco et al. While he has been described as a "solid and tenacious litigator" (Chambers UK 2007) and “a supreme tactician” (Chambers UK 2020), he is also involved in non-contentious work, structuring transactions, drafting terms and advising clients on decarbonisation strategy. He is member of the editorial board of Shipping and Transport Law Journal, member of the Institute of maritime law of the University of Southampton and has served on the Council of the London Shipping Law Centre. He is chair of the International Working Group on maritime decarbonisation of Comite Maritime International. He has published and lectured extensively worldwide, including at COP, for BIMCO and the IMO. Haris heads the firm's commodities practice, which has repeatedly been recognised as a First Tier team by The Legal 500. The same directory described him as "leading a true team, perfectly organised, providing excellent legal and commercial advice". He has also been inducted to the 2018 Legal 500 Hall of fame as a result of his continued recognition by the directory.

Specialist Counsel