Conor Fenton-Garvey
Conor Fenton-Garvey
Called: 2023

Conor Fenton-Garvey

Academic
2022 – Bar Course, City Law School – Distinction.
2021 – GDL, City Law School – Distinction.
2019 – MPhil Modern British History, Jesus College, Cambridge – Distinction (Final mark: 80%; Part I: 73%; Part II: 83%).
2017 – BA History, University of Bristol – First-Class Honours.
Awards
Bar Course:
- The City Law School BVS Scholarship (2021).
- The Steen Scholarship, Gray’s Inn (2021).

GDL:
- The City Law School Academic Excellence Scholarship (2020).
- The David Karmel Scholarship, Gray’s Inn (2020) (Gray’s Inn’s top GDL Scholarship).
- Ranked 7th in year in contract law (marked at 80%).

Cambridge:
- Jesus College Scholar for academic achievement (2019).
- Nominated by the Cambridge History Faculty for the Members’ Trust Fund Prize (2019), which is awarded to the best thesis across all eight history MPhil courses.
- MPhil thesis deposited in Cambridge’s Seeley Historical Library by the Faculty for its contribution to the field of Anglo-Jewish history (2019).
Appointments
Research Assistant to a barrister at Serle Court (2022)
- Conducted research on (i) cases involving nation states attempting to recover losses arising from bribery and the misappropriation of state assets and (ii) the extent to which a bank’s breach of anti-money laundering best practices would increase the likelihood that it would be found liable for breaching its Quincecare duty.

Research Assistant to a barrister at Twenty Essex (2021)
- Conducted research on (i) the operation of constructive trusts in fraudulent misrepresentation claims for a skeleton argument used in a USD 250 million metals fraud dispute in the Commercial Court and (ii) the extent to which a claimant could rely on past, but as yet unproven, examples of the defendant’s fraud as evidence of the defendant’s propensity to commit fraud in the present claim.
Presentations
Delivered (with Chris Smith KC) a seminar on the relationship between confidentiality and litigation privilege (October 2024).

Delivered (with Emily Saunderson) a seminar on the recent case law on freezing injunctions (December 2024).

Conor joined Quadrant Chambers in October 2024, following the successful completion of his pupillage. He accepts instructions across Chambers’ core areas, including commercial litigation, civil fraud, shipping, insurance, banking and commodities.

Before pupillage, Conor was a paralegal at Floyd Zadkovich, an international commercial law firm specialising in arbitration, shipping and commodities.

Conor graduated with a first-class undergraduate degree in history from Bristol University and a distinction (ranked top two) in the MPhil in Modern British History from Jesus College, Cambridge, where he was elected a Jesus College Scholar. He then obtained distinctions in the GDL and the Bar Course at City Law School, where he was a David Karmel Scholar and Lord Steen Scholar.

 

International Arbitration
  • Drafting and advising on an application and submissions under s.68 and s.57 of the Arbitration Act 1996 relating to two LMAA awards concerning off-hire (led by Gemma Morgan).
  • Drafting an application for a Partial Final Award on a Kostas Melas basis in respect of unpaid hire (led by Gemma Morgan).
  • Assisting Gemma Morgan (as a pupil) with drafting a skeleton argument to dismiss an application for permission to appeal under s.69 of the Arbitration Act 1996.
  • Assisting Henry Ellis (as a pupil) with drafting an advice on the circumstances in which costs in one arbitration can be recovered as damages in another arbitration.
  • Assisting Saira Paruk (as a pupil) with drafting a skeleton argument and an advice concerning whether seven different supply contracts had validly incorporated an arbitration agreement contained in a set of general terms and conditions concluded previously between the parties.
  • Assisting Saira Paruk (as a pupil) with drafting an application for an anti-suit injunction in the Commercial Court against cargo interests in China.
Shipping
  • Drafting claim submissions on behalf of cargo interests in respect of a cargo of sugar that was damaged and short-delivered. 
  • Drafting claim submissions on behalf of ship owners in respect of unpaid hire. 
  • Drafting claim submissions in respect of a claim for wrongful termination of a contract of affreightment that concerned the application of the EU’s Russian sanctions regime (led by Henry Ellis).
  • Drafting pleadings and advice in relation to a limitation claim in the Admiralty Court concerning a multi-million dollar cargo claim following a fire on a vessel (led by William Mitchell).
  • Assisting with an advice concerning, inter alia, whether cargo interests’ participation in a limitation claim would cause the English court, under Article 13(1) of the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims 1976, to restrain cargo interests from enforcing a Letter of Undertaking in another jurisdiction (led by Natalie Moore and John Russell KC). 
  • Assisting Max Davidson (as a pupil) with drafting a skeleton argument for a preliminary issues hearing regarding the proper construction of the Worldwide Yachting Association (MYBA) Sale Form in respect of an allegedly defective super yacht.
  • Assisting Max Davidson (as a pupil) with an advice on the merits of a shipowner’s claim under the Inter-Club New York Produce Exchange Agreement 1996 following a container collapse during a storm.
     
Commodities & International Trade
  • Assisting Peter Stevenson (as a pupil) with drafting opening submissions for a 4-day arbitration concerning non-payment for allegedly off-specification bunkers.
  • Assisting Henry Ellis (as a pupil) with drafting a mediation position paper in respect of whether, on its true construction, a contract for the sale of oil contained a warranty as to the quality of the oil.