Twenty Essex

Arbitration and mediation; Civil fraud and asset tracing; Commodities and international trade; Company law; Energy and infrastructure; EU & competition; Intellectual property; Jurisdiction, conflicts and enforcement; Public and administrative law; Public international law; Shipping; Technology, media and telecoms

Alex has developed a broad practice, extending across all of Chambers’ core practice areas, including shipping, commercial law, international arbitration and public international law. He has appeared in the Commercial Court and is often instructed in complex, multi-jurisdictional litigation. Alex enjoys working as sole counsel or as part of a team.

Recent examples of Alex’s work include:

• Acting for All Risks and War Risks reinsurers in the Russian Aircraft Litigation (listed as one of the Lawyer’s Top 20 cases for 2024);
• Acting for the successful claimant/applicant in the Renaissance v Chlodwig litigation, where the Commercial Court granted anti-suit and anti-anti-suit injunctions restraining foreign proceedings, commenced under Article 248 of the Russian Commercial Procedure Code, in which the respondents had made claims worth USD 130 million.

He is regularly instructed in a range of shipping cases and recently undertook a secondment at a City solicitors’ firm, specialising in contentious shipping work, where he advised on claims arising under time charterparties, voyage charterparties and bills of lading.

Alex has a particular interest in private international law and routinely advises on jurisdiction and applicable law. To complement his international practice, Alex is also qualified as an advocate in Cyprus.

Before joining Chambers, Alex completed a Blue Book traineeship at the Contract Law Unit of the DG for Justice and Consumers (European Commission), where he contributed to the development of policies to remove private law obstacles for the use of smart contracts. He has also interned at the DG for Human Rights (Council of Europe).

Alex studied Law at the University of Cambridge and has obtained an LLM specialising in Competition, Innovation and Trade law from the LSE. He completed his two-year military service in the Cypriot National Guard as a cadet officer and was promoted to second lieutenant by the end of his service.

https://www.twentyessex.com/people/alexandros-demetriades/

Greek (fluent)