Stephenson Harwood

Peter Bennett

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.

Emma Skakle

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 Spearing

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.

Haris Zografakis

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.