Ralph acts both led and unled across all areas of commercial law, including international arbitration, wet and dry shipping, insurance, aviation, professional negligence, commercial litigation, sale of goods, jurisdiction and civil procedure and enforcement and contempt proceedings.
High-profile recent work includes acting as sole counsel in limitation proceedings concerning the “EVER GIVEN” and the “X-PRESS PEARL” in the Admiralty Court; as part of the counsel team acting for AIG in insurance claims brought by lessors of airliners leased to Russian airlines; and acting (as junior to Michael Holmes KC) in a successful challenge to jurisdiction of claims brought by the Libyan Investment Authority (Libyan Investment Authority v Credit Suisse & others [2021] EWHC 2684 (Comm)).
Ralph has been instructed in several major professional services disputes. He was part of the 7KBW team representing KPMG in a variety of matters relating to the collapse of the construction and services firm Carillion, including in KPMG’s successful challenge to a pre-action disclosure application [2020] EWHC 1416 (Comm), in FRC v KPMG (one of The Lawyer’s top 20 cases of 2022), and in KPMG’s defence of a professional negligence claim of in excess of £1 billion.
He has a particular interest in Admiralty Court work, having gained practical experience of navigation and seamanship over three years as a member of Cambridge University Royal Naval Unit. He regularly acts in cases which depend on technical questions of expert evidence across a range of disciplines and tribunals, including the Commercial Court, the Technology and Construction Court and the Admiralty Court, as well as arbitrations under institutional rules including the LCIA, ICC and LMAA.
Ralph has been appointed to the Attorney-General’s London C Panel of junior counsel to the Crown and in that capacity provides advice and representation to HM Government in a range of commercial and public law matters.