Oliver Caplin KC > Twenty Essex > London, England > Barrister Profile
Twenty Essex Offices
20 ESSEX STREET
LONDON
WC2R 3AL
England
- Set Profile
- Go to...
Oliver Caplin KC
Work Department
Arbitration and mediation; Banking and finance; Civil fraud; Commercial law; Insurance and reinsurance; Private international law; Shipping
Position
Oliver has a broad commercial practice which particularly focuses on international trade, jurisdiction, IP/IT, and dry-shipping disputes (including ship construction). He is ranked as a leading junior in a number of practice areas by Chambers & Partners (UK Bar), The Legal 500 (UK Bar, Asia Pacific) and Who’s Who Legal. He was nominated for Shipping Junior of the Year in 2021 by Chambers & Partners and for Shipping and Commodities Junior of the Year by The Legal 500 in 2022.
His commercial work spans a number of different sectors, including up and downstream oil and gas, energy, pharmaceuticals, telecoms and IT, and sports. Many of his cases involve jurisdictional or other conflicts of laws issues. Oliver has developed particular experience in the area of anti-suit injunctive relief.
Oliver has a broad marine and non-marine insurance practice, including reinsurance. He is the co-author of Miller’s Marine War Risks (4th Ed, Informa).
He appears frequently in the Commercial Court, both as sole counsel and as a junior to a QC. Oliver has also appeared a number of times in the Court of Appeal. He regularly represents clients in arbitral proceedings (both in London and Singapore) before the LMAA, LCIA, ICC, SIAC, HKIAC, GAFTA and FOSFA, as well as related arbitration applications in the Commercial Court.
Before coming to the Bar, Oliver trained and practised as a medical doctor. As a result, he has a particular interest in commercial litigation falling within the life sciences and technology industries. His scientific training also assists more generally with technical disputes involving issues of (bio)chemistry, physics, and engineering.
https://www.twentyessex.com/people/oliver-caplin/
Languages
Italian (conversational)
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > Insurance and reinsurance
(2024 Silks)Ranked: Tier 1Oliver Caplin KC – Twenty Essex ‘Oliver is extremely calm and collected under pressure. His advice is always reasoned and sound. Overall, Oliver is incredibly reliable and makes every effort to accommodate any urgent needs the client may have.’
Twenty Essex is experienced across a whole spectrum of commercial insurance and reinsurance disputes, both in arbitration and in court. Members of the set have been involved in a range of cases stemming from global events, such as the Covid-19 pandemic in the case Greggs Plc v Zurich Insurance Plc in which Christopher Hancock KC acted for the bakery chain as to if it was able to recover £2.5m in total, or per store, for the business interruption cause by lockdowns. Philip Edey KC specialises in a range of insurance claims, while Charles Kimmins KC has appeared for various insurers and reinsurers in the Russian aviation claims. Oliver Caplin KC was appointed as a silk in 2024.
London Bar > Shipping
(2024 Silks)Ranked: Tier 1Oliver Caplin KC –Twenty Essex ‘Oliver is a superb advocate. He delivers the points that need to be made in a clear and measured way.’
Praised for its ‘extremely strong bench strength in the shipping space’, Twenty Essex‘s members are routinely instructed in complex shipping cases at all levels of the English court system as well as internationally. In UK P&I Club v Venezuela, the Court of Appeal in London blocked a claim by the Venezuelan regime, owing to state immunity, in a case after a collision between a navy patrol vessel and a cruise liner; David Lewis KC led Alexander Thompson for the shipowners. A number of the set’s barristers were involved in Frangou v Frangos, which dealt with a contractual dispute between members of a Greek shipping family concerning costs and losses arising out of the operation of a commercial vessel; Oliver Caplin KC led Patrick Dunn-Walsh on the defendant side, while Timothy Hill KC led Andrew Feld for the claimant. Elsewhere, the MSC Flaminia has continued to occupy courts, with Julian Kenny KC leading Michal Hain on behalf of MSC in limitation proceedings in the Court of Appeal, which upheld that charterers cannot limit an owner’s claim for its own losses.
London Bar > Commodities
(2024 Silks)Ranked: Tier 1Oliver Caplin KC – Twenty Essex ‘Oliver has a very measured approach to advocacy, and he is very adept at thinking quickly on his feet.’
Twenty Essex is ‘a go-to set for commodity disputes, demonstrating good bench strength‘, and houses a team of ‘skilled barristers with commodities expertise at all levels of seniority‘. The group has an excellent track record in advising on a wide spectrum of complex, high-value shipping and trade matters, often appearing before the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. In recent work for the team, Michael Ashcroft KC acted in a high-value contractual dispute under the rules of GAFTA, while Michael Collett KC represented Viterra in a damages claim arising from alleged breach of obligations under two contracts for the purchase of pulses. Among the juniors, Daniel Bovensiepen is well versed in advising on matters under ICC and LCIA rules. In a boost to chambers, Josephine Davies KC and Oliver Caplin KC were elevated to silk level in March 2024.
Regional International Arbitration – The Bar > Shipping and commodities
(2024 Silks)Ranked: Tier 1With an established presence in the Singaporean legal market, Twenty Essex has an excellent reputation for its strength in handling a broad spectrum of commodities matters, an area in which David Lewis KC excels. Shipping mandates form another key pillar of the set’s practice; Timothy Hill KC has been kept busy advising on disputes arising from the construction of ships. The ‘very clever‘ Timothy Young KC is ‘an exceptional advocate that even difficult tribunals listen to‘. Duncan Matthews KC stands out for his ‘strategic articulation of complex legal issues‘. Commodities disputes have been prominent in Susannah Jones‘ recent workload. Bolstering the team at the senior end, Oliver Caplin KC took silk in March 2024.