Twenty Essex

Arbitration and mediation; Banking and finance; Commercial law; Commodities and international trade; Insurance and reinsurance; Shipping; Technology, media and telecoms

Mark is a former Mercantile Judge on the Western Circuit, and judge in charge of the Bristol Technology and Construction Court (TCC), having retired in May 2017. As a Mercantile and TCC judge his work covered a wide commercial field, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, banking, financial services, insurance, professional negligence, and a wide variety of disputes arising out of construction contracts and procurement.

Since his retirement from the Bench, Mark has accepted appointments under LCIA, LMAA, QICCA and DIFC rules, including as chair and sole arbitrator. In 2019, Mark joined the Market Supervision and Review Committee at Lloyd’s of London. He took over as Chair in 2022.

Before becoming a judge in 2001, Mark practised as a barrister in Chambers for 25 years specialising in all aspects of international trade, in particular in cases involving carriage by sea and by road, shipbuilding, the international sale of goods, commodity trading, the Lloyd’s of London insurance market, and arbitration law and practice.

Mark appeared frequently in maritime arbitrations and in arbitrations before the London commodity trade associations, such as GAFTA, FOSFA and the Refined Sugar Association. Mark also sat as an arbitrator in LMAA arbitrations and at Lloyd’s of London, and he chaired the LMAA Supporting Members’ Liaison Committee at the time of the passing of the Arbitration Act 1996. As counsel, Mark appeared in the Commercial Court, Admiralty Court, TCC,Court of Appeal and House of Lords.

Mark sat as a Recorder in the Crown Court between 1994 and 2001. He has been a Bencher of Inner Temple since 1995.