John Kimbell KC specialises in all aspects of aviation, shipping and insurance law. In addition to his work in the High Court, he represents a wide range of clients in commercial arbitration (LMAA, GMAA, ICC, LCIA and DIS). He also acts as a commercial arbitrator in London and Hamburg (LMAA, LCIA, ICC, GMAA) and as a commercial mediator. From 2018-2024, he sat as a Deputy High Court Judge in the High Court (Chancery, IPEC, LCCC and KBD) and was appointed a Crown Court Recorder in 2019.
In the aviation field he has handled a wide range of disputes arising from carriage by air, aircraft sale, aviation hull and indemnity insurance and leasing disputes (in the UK and abroad). He appeared for the lessors in Olympic Council of Asia v Novans Jets LLP [2023] EWHC 276 (Comm); [2021] EWHC 1063 (Comm) and Aviamport SA v. South American Aircraft Leasing SA (2021) Comm Ct. John specializes in advising clients in multi-jurisdictional disputes with foreign law aspects. He was retained in relation to the loss of Egyptair Flight 804 and Air France Flight 447 and the shooting down of Malaysian Air MH17. He has extensive experience in dealing with claims arising from helicopter and aircraft crashes (including military aircraft) and has recently advised a UK police force on the regulatory framework for the use of drones.. He appeared in Akulinina v IFly SA [2022] EWHC 166 (QB), concerning jurisdiction for successive carriage under the Montreal Convention and is representing a severely injured parachutist in a two week High Court trial due to take place in December 2025.
His shipping work encompasses both ‘wet’ collision and other Admiralty Court matters and ‘dry’ bill of lading, charterparty, shipbuilding and marine insurance (in particular war risks) disputes. He regularly appears in the Commercial and Admiralty Court as well as in maritime (LMAA) arbitrations. He is chair of the Admiralty Bar Group, the editor of Admiralty Jurisdiction & Practice (6th edition, 2025) and the co-editor of the Marsden on Collisions at Sea (15th edition, 2022). He is also the joint author of the shipping chapter in Palmer on Bailment (3rd edition, 2009) and Foreign Currency: Claims, Judgments and Damages (1st edition, 2016). He is currently instructed in a £25million Admiralty Court claim arising from damage to sub-sea electricity cables which led to a successful strike out of a maritime limitation defence: RTE v Costain [2025] EWHC 73 (Admlty). He also recently represented the Port of Sheerness in a trial in the Admiralty Court Port of Sheerness v Swire Shipping [2025] EWHC 7 (Admlty).
In relation to insurance disputes, he is currently representing the owners of an energy facility in the Ukraine in a EUR140 million dispute about war risks cover. He represented the carrier liability insurers in the Supreme Court case of JTI Polska v Mark-Trans-Sped (2021) UKSC 0144 and the indemnity insurers in the case of Woodford v AIG Europe Ltd [2018] EWHC 358 (QB)He has also been instructed as an independent expert by the marine insurers in the scuttling and anti-suit injunction case, The Alexandros T C-590/21, which is currently before the European Court and for the war risks insurers in the case of Norwegian Hull Club v Horizon in Hamburg. In 2024, he acted as an expert on English insurance law in proceedings in Germany arising out of collision at Berlin Airport.
John is fluent in German and accepts instructions in that language. Since 2001, he has been qualified to practice as a lawyer (‘Rechtsanwalt’) in Germany. He uses his knowledge of German law to provide a specialist service to German-speaking commercial clients involved in London court or London arbitration proceedings.
John is recommended in the current editions of The Legal 500 and Chambers UK as a leading silk in the fields of Aviation, Shipping and Travel