John Lockey KC

With more than 30 years’ experience of advising and representing policyholders, brokers, insurers and reinsurers in some of the most complicated insurance and reinsurance disputes in the London and international insurance markets, John is now a popular choice as arbitrator. He has received more than 60 appointments (LCIA, ICC, ARIAS UK and ad hoc) as sole arbitrator, party appointed arbitrator and increasingly as third arbitrator/chair, in arbitrations seated in London, Bermuda, Cayman and elsewhere (including most recently Romania and Germany). He has written or co-written dozens of awards.

Recent experience as arbitrator includes a number of Bermuda Form disputes, COVID business interruption claims, allocation/attachment disputes including disputes between underwriting years, disputes between coverholders and insurers, disputes involving alternative risk transfer transactions, aggregation disputes, and marine and non-marine reinsurance/retrocession recovery actions.  He has also been appointed in a number of expert determinations involving issues of insurance or reinsurance law and has provided neutral written opinions (binding and non-binding) in coverage disputes between policyholders and insurers.

John has served as Chair of the British Insurance Law Association (2006-2008) and as a Committee Member of ARIAS (UK) and is co-editor (with Professor Merkin) of the Lloyd’s Insurance and Reinsurance Law Reports. John was Chambers & Partners’ Insurance Silk of the year in 2011 and again in 2021.

John has recently produced an Award (as sole arbitrator) in a dispute between a large group of policyholders and a leading insurer concerning UK COVID BI losses, chaired an arbitration concerning reinsurance claims following the insolvency of a leading European insurance company, is chair of a series of arbitrations under reinsurances in respect of significant offshore energy losses, and is chair or party appointed arbitrator in a number of Bermuda Form arbitration disputes (US pharmaceutical product liability and US medical liability claims).

Jeffrey Gruder KC

Jeffrey Gruder KC has a high-profile arbitration practice. He has vast experience of acting as Chairman, Sole and Party Appointed Arbitrator in a large variety of commercial arbitrations including LCIA, ICC, Swiss Chamber, UNCITRAL, SIAC, HKIAC, LMAA, DIAC and ad hoc arbitrations. He is sought after and well-regarded.

Jeffrey Gruder is consistently recommended as a leading arbitrator in both Legal 500 and Chambers Directories. Recent comments include:

Chambers UK Bar Guide

“Distinguished for his expertise in acting as an arbitrator in a number of high-value international disputes.”

Strengths: “Extremely impartial, efficient, on the ball and very well prepared.”

Leading observers hold Gruder’s talents in the highest esteem, praising his “astounding intellect and great mastery of technical matters.”

“… Extremely able and thorough … with an extraordinary knowledge of the law. “Very experienced and very bright.”

“”A very able and well-respected arbitrator who is very clever and hard-working.” “Very efficient at dealing with everything and a delight to work with.”

Legal 500

“First Class”

“Strong attention to detail; incredibly responsive; collegiate and very easy to deal with”

Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd

Lord (John) Thomas, who retired in 2017 as Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, is an international arbitrator and President of the Qatar International Court. He practiced for 24 years as a barrister at the Commercial Bar, 12 as a QC, and was a Judge of the Commercial Court from 1996-2003. He has given important appellate judgments in arbitration cases including the 2021 decision in Betamax v State Trading Corporation (public policy in the enforcement/setting aside of awards), Sucafina v Rottenberg (partial awards) and Emmott v Wilson (confidentiality).

Before joining the bench and during his 24 year career as a barrister his practice focused on international commercial disputes, finance, banking, insurance and reinsurance, shipping, shipbuilding, professional negligence and regulation.

Richard Siberry KC

Prior to becoming a full-time arbitrator Richard Siberry had a broad-based practice in commercial litigation and arbitration in line with Essex Court Chambers’ profile.  In particular: shipping and carriage of goods, international trade and finance, insurance and reinsurance, banking (letters of credit, swaps, derivatives) and financial services, commodities, oil and gas and other contractual disputes, international and domestic arbitration, Brussels Convention/Regulation and other jurisdictional disputes.  He appeared regularly as advocate in the Commercial and other Courts including the House of Lords and Privy Council, and has considerable experience of heavy commercial litigation, having been involved in a number of cases of eight weeks or more duration.  As an advocate he had an extensive international arbitration practice, involving shipping, oil and gas, insurance and reinsurance, commodity and other arbitrations before a variety of tribunals, including ICC, LCIA, LMAA tribunals, and an arbitration panel in Beijing.

He has over 25 years’ experience as an arbitrator, having sat as sole arbitrator and as a member of a tribunal of three (on many occasions as chairman or president), in ICC, LCIA, LMAA, UNCITRAL, and ad hoc arbitrations in the UK and abroad, and as chairman of a Lloyd’s Disciplinary Tribunal.  For examples of recent cases, see the attached arbitration CV.