Charles Kimmins QC

He regularly appears in high value international commercial arbitrations, involving a great range of issues, and before a great variety of arbitral tribunals (in particular LCIA, ICC and LMAA).

As a junior he was twice nominated for Chambers International Arbitration junior of the year (2008 / 2009), and continues to be highly recommended in the same discipline as a silk in all the relevant directories.

He has lectured on the Arbitration Act 1996, in particular on appeals under s.68 and s.69. He has extensive experience of settling applications for permission to appeal, and has acted in many appeal under s.67, s.68 and s.69. Those appeals include:

Cameroon Airlines v Transnet [2004] EWHC 1829, Langley J.

Louis Dreyfus v Reliance Trading [2004] 2 Lloyd's Rep.243, Andrew Smith J.

Swissmarine Corp v Frontier Shipping [2004] 1 Lloyd's Rep. 390, Nigel Teare QC.

Continental Enterprises v Shandong Zhucheng, [2005] EWHC 92, Steel J.

Miranos International Trading v VOC Steel [2006], Cooke J.

Gulf Import & Export v Bunge [2008] 1 Lloyd's Rep 316, Flaux J.

Cobelfret v Smissmarine [2010] 1 Lloyd's Rep 317, Beatson J.

Louis Dreyfus v Carboex [2011] 2 Lloyd's Rep. 177, Field J.

Other reported cases on issues of arbitration law include Downing v Al Tameer [2002] 2 All ER (Comm) 545 (C/A), [2002] BLR 323 on the repudiation of arbitration agreements, and Evergos Naftiki v Cargill [1997] 1 Lloyd's Rep.35 on time limits for commencing arbitration, and London Arbitration 8/04 on the ability of the Tribunal to extend the scope of their jurisdiction under the LMAA rules (LMLN 0637: 14 April 2004).

Directories on International Arbitration

2011

He was one of 3 individuals recommended in the New Silks category in Chambers 2011 which states that he "impresses with his focused and clear advocacy". He was also one of a handful of silks recommended in the New Silks category in the Legal 500.

2010

He was again recommended in Chambers 2010 before he took silk, and was one of 3 in the top band. He was described as "very much up there with the most talented juniors in the market".

2009

He remained in Band 1 of the "Leading Juniors" in the 2009 Edition of Chambers. In the 2009 edition of The Legal 500 he was again recommended, and described as "excellent and very sharp" and a "very strong senior junior".

In 2009 he was again one of the three nominees for the Chambers "International Arbitration Junior Counsel of the year 2009", in which he was described as "an outstanding all-rounder in the field of international arbitration. He has a rare combination of excellent advocacy skills and powerful intellect, whilst remaining a delight to work with. These attributes have resulted in a string of successes in major international arbitrations. He remains perhaps the most popular junior in his field."

2008

He was ranked in Band 1 (alongside 2 others) of "Leading Juniors" in the field of International Arbitration, by Chambers 2008, which reported that "Charles Kimmins has been particularly active in the Far East of late, and is a hard working and interested junior who can turn around a case very quickly. He received plaudits for his easy-going style and integration with instructing teams". He was also ranked in Band 1 (alongside 3 others) of Leading Juniors in the same field by Chambers Asia 2008. He was also recommended in the field of Commercial Arbitration in The Legal 500, 2008, which reported that he is "very good at cross examination".

He was one of three nominees for the Chambers "International Arbitration Junior Counsel of the Year 2008".

He has acted in many arbitrations and court disputes involving commodities. Recently, he has acted in numerous disputes arising out of the collapse of the markets in late 2008, and many of the cases have involved issues relating to damages and hedging.

He has been involved in cases involving most commodities, but he has particular experience in cases involving petroleum products.

Reported cases include:

North Sea Energy Holdings v Petroleum Authority of Thailand [1997] 2 Lloyd's Rep.418, [1999] 1 Lloyd's Rep. 483 (C/A).

Louis Dreyfus v Reliance Trading [2004] 2 Lloyd's Rep.243, Andrew Smith J.

Continental Enterprises v Shandong Zhucheng [2005] EWHC 92, Steel J.

Directories on Commodities

2011

He was one of 5 individuals recommended in the New Silks category in the Legal 500.

2009

Chambers 2009 reported that "The simply brilliant Charles Kimmins never gives unnecessary advice and gets to the point quickly. He deals with a range of Shipping + Commodities issues and has a strong arbitration practice." He was recommended again in the 2009 edition of The Legal 500, and described as "clever and personable."

2008

Chambers 2008 reported that he was "one to watch for his wide-ranging shipping and commodities skills, especially on arbitrations", and that he was "well regarded by his peers". The 2008 edition reported that he was a "first port of call for certain solicitors in complex trade association arbitrations for commodity-trading houses".

2007

The Legal 500, 2007, reported that he was "very good on his feet".

He has acted for the insured or insurers in many insurance and reinsurance disputes, in particular the latter. Recently he has acted for reinsurers in the film finance litigation. He has extensive experience of cases arising out of facultative obligatory cover, and in particular cases involving allegations of non-disclosure (of claims history/moral hazard etc), affirmation/waiver and breaches of warranty. He has also acted in cases involving the practice of net underwriting, double insurance, and cases involving follow the leader and follow the settlements clauses. He has also been involved in a number of disputes involving brokers. Commercial Court trials include Brockbank v Reliance (Steel J.) raising questions of the legal nature of lineslips, and NIGC v Russell Tudor Price [1999] Lloyd's Rep. IR 249 involving allegations of negligent broking.

Other trials include American International Marine v Dandridge [2005] EWHC 829 (Comm) [2005] Lloyd's Rep I.R 643, and see Insurance Law Monthly, January 2006, Volume 18, involving the incorporation of terms into a reinsurance contract, and a six week trial between Axa v New Hampshire (Morison J.) involving numerous issues including the effect under a reinsurance contract of a foreign judgment on the liability of the original assured. He appeared in Talbot v NHM [2006] 2 Lloyd's Rep. 195, in which the Court of Appeal considered the question of who was covered under a BAR policy, and considered the question of whether an undisclosed principal could intervene in the contract.

He also appeared at 1st instance and in the Court of Appeal in Limit No.2 Limited v Axa Versicherung AG [2008] Lloyd's Rep IR 330, which involved allegations that the re-assured had misrepresented its intentions and current underwriting practice, and raised issues as to how risks were ceded to a fac/oblig treaty. 

In addition to advising upon the specialised areas of commercial law identified above, he has acted in many disputes involving general principles of commercial law. He is regularly recommended in Chambers Directory as a leading junior in this category.

For example, he represented the claimants in the Factortame litigation over the course of 2-3 years, appearing in R v Secretary of State for Transport ex parte Factortame [2001] 1 WLR 942 in which the Court considered the nature of a breach of EC law for the purposes of limitation, and in R v Secretary of State for Transport ex parte Factortame [2000] All ER (D) 1174 on the practice of making Part 36 offers. He has successfully defended a US$2.7 billion claim for breach of an alleged agreement to develop an innovative oil spill recovery technique, and acted for a major international airline in a case arising out of a substantial contract alleged to have been procured by bribery. Other examples include a claim for an indemnity under a "knock for knock" clause in an agreement for the supply of personnel for offshore platform work. He has also advised on a large pollution claim in the Ivory Coast and on issues arising out of the Stone + Rolls litigation. Recently he has been involved in a number of high value claims involving Nigerian offshore oil concessions.

He also has extensive experience of obtaining interim relief. In 2011, for example, he has obtained, in various cases, an anti-suit injunction, two freezing orders (for US$26 million and for US$215 million) and two interlocutory injunctions.