Mr Benjamin Coffer > Chambers of Poonam Melwani KC > London, England > Barrister Profile

Quadrant Chambers is ‘a first-rate, go-to set for shipping and commodities disputes with a large number of excellent and extremely capable barristers’. The large number of members skilled in shipping and trade matters frequently act for buyers, sellers and other interested parties in commodities disputes, whether in the courts of England and Wales or in international arbitration. Their work spans matters under the rules of many arbitral institutions, among them LCIA and ICC, as well as trade associations such as GAFTA, FOSFA and the RSA, acting also for large corporates, including many of the world’s leading commodity trading houses. Chirag Karia KC, who recently acted for the claimant in Sharp Corp Ltd v Viterra BV, a section 69 arbitration appeal from the decision of the GAFTA Board of Appeal. Among the juniors, Benjamin Coffer recently assisted the claimant in CM Biomass Partners v Stanley’s Biomass Limited, a dispute concerning failure to supply the contractual quantity of wood pellets.

Quadrant Chambers ‘offers a wealth of marine insurance specialists across all levels of the set‘ alongside non-marine insurance cases. Members of the set has been involved in insurance cases across a broad spectrum of issues affecting the globe, such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Covid-19 and trade insurance, with members such as Simon Rainey KC representing the IT company in Soteria Insurance Limited v IBM, appealing to the Supreme Court the Court of Appeal’s decision that an exclusion clause limited liability for loss of profit, revenue and savings did not exclude claims for wasted expenditure. Guy Blackwood KC has been active in insurance and reinsurance disputes, both in the English courts and in arbitration, while Benjamin Coffer  is noted for his specialism in reinsurance, having acted on a full range of marine and non-marine coverage disputes.