David Bailey KC

Practice Areas

David has a broad commercial practice and is regularly sought after for his expertise in shipping, insurance and arbitration. David has been described in the directories as “a genius” and “a thorough and engaging advocate”. His experience extends to shipbuilding, aviation, energy, charterparties, the carriage of goods, banking, sale and distribution contracts, professional negligence and reinsurance. He has particular expertise in relation to jurisdictional disputes and private international law. High profile cases include leading in Enka v Chubb and The Alexandros T in the Supreme Court and appearing in the West Tankers litigation. He also acted for Lloyds Bank in relation to PPI and for insurers in the £1 billion SBM/MPOUstor dispute.

Recent instructions include a substantial energy related dispute, various claims following the COVID-19 pandemic, a long running arbitration concerning a €100 million build project for a superyacht (warranty and damages claims) and a $150,000,000 ($150m) marine insurance dispute following the alleged detention of three vessels in Venezuela. In a recent arbitration David acted for the successful owners in a $200,000,000 dispute relating to a fatal explosion on board a vessel, which killed three people and forced the crew to abandon ship in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.