Jeremy Russell QC

Jeremy has acted as counsel in various aviation disputes involving carriage of goods by air, engine damage, fuel contamination, damage to aircraft on the ground resulting from collision, the correct interpretation of aircraft operating manuals, sale and lease-back dipsutes and airframe and engine maintenance issues. He has also acted as ICC arbitrator in several disputes involving passenger jet fleet maintenance contracts.

Sabena v European Aviation Ltd (Commercial Court, 2000) – disputes arising out of sale and lease-back of a fleet of Boeing 737s.

Airbus Industrie v Patel  [1998] 2 WLR 686 (HL) – issue relating to jurisdiction to grant an anti-suit injunction to restrain claimants from proceeding with an action against the appellant aircraft manufacturer in Texas in respect of a crash in India.

He has recently acted for an air carrier in a lengthy arbitration chaired by Lord Hoffman arising out of a mid-air collision.

Dry shipping and commodities work comprises a significant part of Jeremy’s practice and he has for some years been recommended in Shipping by Chambers and Partners and the Legal 500.  He is frequently instructed in charterparty, bill of lading and ship-sale disputes of all types, involving cargo damage, unseaworthiness, due diligence, ISM, off-hire, withdrawal, alleged unsafe ports, bunker contamination, demurrage and detention, cancellation, faulty repair, title, risk, rejection– and the many and varied issues (relating to matters such as jurisdiction, security and proper law) which may arise in connection with them. 

He is particularly adept at difficult issues of contractual construction; technical disputes requiring an ability to master engineering and scientific expert evidence; and cases requiring a good knowledge and understanding of ships and seamanship.

Recently he has acted: for a charterer who alleged frustration of the charter by government action; for owners alleging breach of charter following an explosion and fire in the cargo; for owners alleged to be in breach of charter for failing to load a cargo of copra expellers which the master claimed was too hot load safely; for owners, in respect of letters of indemnity; for charterers, in respect of an allegedly unsafe port.

He is presently acting in several large unsafe port cases (one on behalf of owners and another on behalf of charterers).

Reported cases in this area include:

• Western Bulk Carriers v. Li Hai Maritime [2005] 2 Lloyd’s Rep. 389 – the first reported trial following a withdrawal from a time charter for non-payment of hire since The Lutetian [1982] 2 Lloyd’s Rep. 140, and the only reported case to reconsider the approach taken to anti-technicality notices by Gatehouse J. in The Pamela [1995] 2 Lloyd’s Rep. 249 in the light of the House of Lords’ decision in Mannai [1997] AC 749. 
• Compania Sud Americana Vapores v MS ER Hamburg Schiffartsgesellschaft mbH & Co KG [2006] 2 Lloyd’s 66 – concerned the liability for bad stowage under a NY produce exchange form of time charter where (i) the Hague rules were incorporated and (ii) the stowage was so bad as to render the vessel unseaworthy and also whether the heating of bunkers in a tank abutting a cargo hold was an act in the navigation or management of the vessel or an act relating to the care of cargo.
• The Borvigilant [2003] 2 Lloyd’s Rep. 520 – involved questions of agency law and in particular whether the Court should take a new approach to ratification.
• The Torepo [2002] 2 Lloyd’s Rep. 535 – an unseaworthiness action involving (among other things) consideration of various aspects of the ISM Code.

Jeremy has wide experience in shipbuilding disputes, having acted for both yards and buyers.  On the offshore side, he has experience of rig construction, operation and repair. 

The Shipbuilding matters on which Jeremy has acted and advised have included issues of –

• Delay – damages at large and liquidated damages; rescission and repudiation.
• Construction faults.
• Classification issues.
• Coating failures.
• Defective propulsion units.
• Speed and performance issues.
• Third-party execution of warranty repairs.

Claims for consequential loss.

In addition to his shipping and aviation work, Jeremy is also instructed in other substantial commercial disputes, one of the most interesting being to advise a formula 1 racing team as to the proper construction of the F1 Concord Agreement and in respect of disputed television rights.

Arbitration is the chosen forum in the majority of the matters on which Jeremy acts or advises. Many of those disputes come before LOF and LMAA panels, but Jeremy also has considerable experience of other arbitral procedures, including the ICC and the LCIA. In 2008 he was instructed in matters due to go to arbitration in Singapore. In addition, he is regularly appointed arbitrator – primarily in shipping and aviation disputes – and has been appointed in both LCIA and ICC references, as well as on an ad hoc basis.

Jeremy was accredited as a mediator by CEDR in 2002 and has been appointed and acted as a mediator in various shipping matters.

Jeremy is one of the most experienced Admiralty silks currently in practice and is described by Chambers & Partners as a go-to silk for any wet shipping dispute. He is frequently instructed in and has wide experience of:

• Salvage: usually LOF, but also private / ASG references and in the Admiralty Court – as in The “Tramp” [2007] 2 Lloyd's Rep. 363; The “Key Singapore” [2005] 1 Lloyd’s Rep. 91.  He is instructed in the majority of the major cases. By way of example, he was instructed for owners in a  salvage case involving the largest salved fund presently on record (in excess of US$1 billion) and is also acted for owners in a substantial SCOPIC claim, in which the counterclaim was for loss of a nearly-new capesize bulk carrier.
• Collision, as in The “Topaz” v The “Irapua” [2003] 2 Lloyd's Rep 19;  The "Sea Express 1" v The "Alaska Rainbow" [2010] EWHC 3180; The "Samco Europe" v The "MSC Prestige" [2011] EWHC 1580.  
• Wreck removal, as in The “Green Opal” [2003] 1 Lloyd's Rep. 523.
• Admiralty practice, as in The “Herceg Novi” [1998] 2 Lloyd's Rep. 454.

Limitation, as in The “River Gurara” [1996] 2 Lloyd’s Rep. 53

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