David Railton KC

As 'a top class chambers in commercial litigation', Fountain Court Chambers continues to impress with its routine involvement in prominent commercial disputes. The team regularly appears before the Commercial Court, the Chancery Division, and in international commercial arbitration cases. Notably, multiple members of the set represented various parties in the longrunning Russian Aircraft litigation, regarding whether aircraft expropriated by the Russian Federation, following its invasion of Ukraine and subsequent imposition of sanctions on the country, are considered permanently lost, and whether the loss is attributable to a war risk or an all-risk insured policy. The case included David Railton KC, Simon Atrill KC, Adam Sher, Ian Bergson and others appeared for Lloyds Insurance Company, and Akhil Shah KC leading the advice to Tokio Marine and HDI. The Commercial Court ruled that the aircraft were lost on 10 March 2022, and the proximate cause of the loss was Russian Government Resolution 311, which banned the return from Russia of leased aircraft and engines to Western lessors. The ban qualified as 'restraint' and/or 'detention' within the meaning of war risks perils, meaning the loss is covered under the war risk insurance and excluded under the all-risk insurance. In March 2025, Alex Barden KC and Rupert Allen KC were appointed to silk.