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. 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 a number of appeals in the Commercial Court under s.67 (e.g. Continental Enterprises v Shandong Zhucheng, [2005] EWHC 92 (QB), LTL 9/2/2005, Lloyd's List, 16 February 2005, Steel J.), s.68 (e.g. Cameroon Airlines v Transnet [2004] EWHC 1829 (Comm) Langley J.) and s.69 (e.g. 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, and Miranos International Trading v. VOC Steel, Cooke J.).

More recently he has successfully resisted an appeal brought under s.67, s.68 and s.69 of the Act, which raised questions as to the construction of the FOSFA rules: Gulf Import & Export v Bunge [2008] 1 Lloyd's Rep 316 (Flaux J.). He also successfully defended an appeal under s.69 relating to the incorporation of terms into a charterparty recap: Cobelfret v Smissmarine: Beatson J.

Other cases 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

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".

2009

He remains in Band 1 of the "Leading Juniors" in the 2009 Edition of Chambers. In the 2009 edition of The Legal 500 he is 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."

2010

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

He has acted in many arbitrations and court disputes involving commodities. In 2004 he acted for buyers in Louis Dreyfus v Reliance Trading [2004] 2 Lloyd's Rep.243 which involved the much debated issue of the effect of sub-sales on damages, and for Chinese buyers in Continental Enterprises v Shandong Zhucheng [2005] EWHC 92 (QB), LTL 9/2/2005, Lloyd's List, 16 February 2005, (Steel J.). He has also had extensive experience in the assessment of damages in contracts involving futures and options. Other 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) on implied terms in contracts for the supply of oil, and on issues of causation and remoteness.

Directories

2007

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

2008

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

2009

Chambers 2009 reports 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 is recommended again in the 2009 edition of The Legal 500, and described as "clever and personable."

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. More recent 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. Recently he 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. More recently he has been involved in 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 recently advised on a large pollution claim in the Ivory Coast and on issues arising out of the Stone + Rolls litigation.