James Leabeater KC > 4 Pump Court (Sean Brannigan KC and Rachel Ansell KC) > London, England > Lawyer Profile

With a deep bench of practitioners, 4 Pump Court remains a go-to set for clients in the shipping sector and handles disputes in the Commercial and High Court as well as in arbitration. . James Leabeater KC and Rani Noakes acted on behalf of the appellant disponent owners and Alexander Wright KC, who took silk in 2022, was instructed by the respondent voyage charterers in The Tai Prize, where the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court decision that voyage charterers are not liable towards owners for losses caused by an inaccurate bill of lading. Whether a marina as a whole could be defined as a dock for the purposes of limitation was the central question in Holyhead Marina Ltd v Farrer and Others, in which James Watthey acted on behalf of insurers and owners of damaged vessels. Sean O’Sullivan KC continues his involvement in a number of high-profile cases, including CV Stealth about a vessel that was detained in Venezuela after an attempt to export oil from the country, which the government alleges was a breach of local law. Thomas Steward, whose practice encompasses international arbitration and commercial litigation in shipping and shipbuilding, joined the set from The 36 Group in 2022, while Neil Henderson left for an in-house position at Gard AS the same year.