Sir Bernard Rix > Twenty Essex > London, England > Barrister Profile
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20 ESSEX STREET
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Sir Bernard Rix
Work Department
Arbitration and mediation; Banking and finance; Civil fraud and asset tracing; Commercial Law; Energy and natural resources; EU and competition law; Insurance and reinsurance; Private international law; Public international law; Shipping; Sport
Position
Sir Bernard retired in 2013 as a Lord Justice of Appeal with 20 years’ experience in the Commercial Court and the Court of Appeal. Since 2013 he has accepted appointments as an arbitrator and mediator in a wide variety of settings, including oil and gas, shipping, insurance, sale of goods, and share purchase transactions. He has acted as an expert witness, mock arbitrator and special master in the US federal courts.
He has experience of arbitrations under the rules of, amongst others, the LCIA, ICC, SIAC, HKIAC, JCAA and LMAA as well as ad-hoc. Sir Bernard has conducted virtual arbitration hearings including taking witness and expert evidence remotely.
He is an International Judge of the Singapore International Commercial Court and a member of the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal. He is also Professor of International Commercial Law at The Centre of Commercial Law Studies at Queen Mary, University of London.
As a barrister, Sir Bernard practised in commercial chambers at 3 Essex Court (now Twenty Essex). He specialised in international commercial and arbitral disputes (as both barrister and arbitrator) and also appeared in the courts of Singapore and Hong Kong. He was Chairman of the Commercial Bar Association in 1992–1993.
In 1993 Sir Bernard was appointed to the High Court and sat predominantly in the Commercial Court, of which he was judge in charge from 1998 to 1999. In that period, he was responsible for introducing to the Commercial Court the Woolf Reforms to civil procedure law (the Civil Procedure Rules) and redrafting the Commercial Court’s Guide and Practice Directions.
In 2000 Sir Bernard was appointed to the Court of Appeal where he delivered a wide range of judgments on arbitration, aviation, banking, insurance and reinsurance, private and public international law, oil and gas, sale of goods and shipping disputes.
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > International arbitration: arbitrators
(Leading arbitrators)Ranked: Tier 1Bernard Rix – Twenty Essex ‘Bernard is a highly experienced and skilled lawyer, judge and arbitrator. He has a penetrating intellect, while at the same time always being prepared to listen with great courtesy. He is undoubtedly a doyen among commercial arbitrators, with a world-wide practice, and as a result naturally very much in demand.’
Twenty Essex is widely regarded as ‘one of the pre-eminent international arbitration sets’ which houses an ‘excellent set of arbitrators’. Members of the set sit as arbitrators in disputes spanning banking, oil and gas, shipping and trade, construction and share purchase. Michael Tselentis KC is often appointed on disputes in Asia or Africa, while Michael Lee is particularly active on Asia and Europe-based disputes, and members of the set have an excellent reputation for their expertise in arbitrations in various seats across the globe adhering to the full spectrum of arbitration rules. Bernard Rix continues to be a pre-eminent name in the space, and Clare Ambrose is noted for her expertise in shipping and commercial arbitration; both are among the set’s full-time arbitrators. Audley Sheppard KC – former co-head of international arbitration at Clifford Chance LLP and a solicitor-advocate KC – joined the set in June 2024.