7 King’s Bench Walk is 'highly regarded and well respected for its experience and strength in commercial litigation'. Demonstrating the set's prowess in insurance law, multiple members of the set appeared for various parties in the longrunning Russian Aircraft litigation, including Gavin Kealey KC and Ralph Morley representing AIG; Richard Waller KC and Michael Ryan acting for Lloyds Insurance Co; and Jonathan Gaisman KC, Siobán Healy KC, Keir Howie, and others representing Global Aerospace. 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. As the ban qualified as 'restraint' and/or 'detention' within the meaning of war risks perils, the loss was ruled to be covered under the war risk insurance and excluded under the all-risk insurance. Jason Robinson KC was elevated to silk in March 2025.
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Profile
Position
Ralph practises in all areas of commercial law, including international arbitration, general commercial litigation, wet and dry shipping, insurance, aviation, professional negligence, sale of goods, jurisdiction and civil procedure.
He has a particular interest in Admiralty Court work, having appeared as sole counsel in high-profile limitation proceedings concerning the "EVER GIVEN" and the "X-PRESS PEARL", and across a wide range of charterparty, cargo, salvage and other maritime disputes. His writing on admiralty law was recently cited with approval in the Supreme Court in The MSC Flaminia [2025] UKSC 14.
His insurance work spans both casualty (including marine, aviation and offshore risks) and liability work, particularly Bermuda Form. Recent commercial disputes experience includes several multi-million-dollar international arbitrations concerning SPAs and shareholder agreements, as well as jurisdiction challenges, enforcement and contempt.
Ralph was part of the 7KBW team representing KPMG in matters relating to the collapse of Carillion, including FRC v KPMG (a top 20 case in The Lawyer), and KPMG’s defence of a professional negligence claim of in excess of £1 billion.
Ralph regularly acts in cases which depend on technical questions of expert evidence across a range of disciplines and tribunals.
Ralph has been appointed to the Attorney-General’s London C Panel of junior counsel to the Crown, acting for HM Government in commercial and public law matters.
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