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Graham D. Harris
Consultant
Graham Harris’ practice focuses on maritime, international trade and insurance fields. He has extensive experience in international arbitration under many different regimes in London and regularly deals with international conflicts of law, worldwide asset attachment and enforcement.
His experience in the shipping industry ranges from handling issues arising under charterparties and bills of lading, to groundings, fires and cargo claims. He also advises on marine and non-marine insurance disputes, as well as ship sale and purchase, and building disputes. Graham has acted in many cases in the English courts, and has been heavily involved in leading cases in the US and South Africa. He is a recognised expert in his field and a regular lecturer on maritime issues.
Prior to joining the firm, Graham led the shipping practice of a major international firm specialising in maritime, trade and finance law.
He obtained a first class honours degree in Jurisprudence from Oxford University and qualified as a Solicitor of the Senior Court in 1981.
- Representing the owners in a leading case on withdrawal, waiver and charterers' liability for “blocking and trapping” insurance.
- Representing the owners in a leading case on owners' delivery obligations under a long-term time charter.
- Successfully defending, on behalf of the buyers, a claim for repudiation of a contract for the sale of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
- Representing the buyers in a case relating to quantification of a loss arising out of the shutdown of a petrochemical refinery, consequent upon the supply of contaminated cargo under a contract for the sale of LPG.
- Representing buyers, guarantors and shipyards in numerous shipbuilding cases dealing with technical disputes and with claims under both performance and refund guarantees.
- Acting both for and against P&I clubs on disputes relating to cover and the interpretation of club rules.
- Representing the owners on a tort claim by an onboard casino for loss of income, consequent to the notorious grounding of a well-known passenger.
- Representing owners and charterers in numerous unsafe port cases.
- Representing owners in a number of piracy cases relating to Somalia and Nigeria.
- Representing owners and cargo interests on cargo claims involving cargo fires, disputed general average, delay, damage or contamination, both against – but primarily on behalf of – owners.
- Representing owners on a number of claims relating to the quantification of losses on passenger ships due to the cancellation and delay of cruises.
- Negotiating a private finance initiative (PFI) project for the replacement by the British government of the supply vessel for the British Antarctic Survey.
- Representing the owners in leading cases in South Africa regarding sistership arrest and sovereign immunity, and in the US on the incorporation into a bill of lading of a London arbitration clause in a charterparty.
- Advising (jointly) on a joint venture between the Through Transport Mutual Insurance Company and the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) on the development of an electronic trading and private commercial Internet platform called Bolero.
- Advising a state shipping company in relation to abuse of court proceedings, in numerous jurisdictions, in pursuit of a fraudulent claim by cargo interests.
- Representing the owners claiming a constructive trust over funds advanced to an insolvent agent.
- Representing the owners in a case involving the total loss of a vessel off the Shetlands involving loss of life, cargo claims and limitation issues.
Education
- College of Law, London, J.D.
- University of Oxford, J.D., 1981
Admissions
- England and Wales, 1981
Memberships & Affiliations
- Member of the International Bar Association
- Supporting member of the London Maritime Arbitrators Association
- Steering Committee of the London Shipping Law Centre
- Recommended in Chambers UK 2023 for Shipping, UK-wide
- Recommended in The Legal 500 UK 2023 for Shipping
- Ranked in Expert Guide 2017 for International Trade & Shipping, a ranking of the world’s leading lawyers in the field
- Recognised as a leading individual by Chambers UK 2016
- Recognised as a leading individual by Chambers UK 2014
- Co-author, International Commercial Arbitration Practice: 21st Century Perspectives, LexisNexis, 2016