Duncan Batchelor

Practice Areas

Duncan Batchelor is an asset finance lawyer based in London. He is the global co-head of transport and the global head of the firm's aviation group. He has particular experience of aircraft finance, ship finance and cross-border leasing and structured finance transactions.

Duncan has acted for airlines, banks, export-credit agencies, arrangers, lessors and investors on a range of matters, including: syndicated loans; pre-delivery financings; the sale and purchase of aircraft; cross-border and domestic aircraft leases; leases of vessels and rolling stock; tax-enhanced structures; aviation funds; portfolio transactions; insurance structures; Islamic finance; airline take-overs; insurance; European investment bank financings; and the granting and enforcement of security.

Duncan is featured regularly in The International Who's Who of Aviation Lawyers, where he is identified as one of the practitioners who stands out worldwide; he has been described as a "leading light" who impresses clients with his "professional, personable and smart" approach to aircraft financing.

He is also listed in both Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners, which rank our London aviation team Tier 1 for both aviation and aviation finance. Chambers UK describes Duncan as having "unprecedented technical knowledge and always able to come up with a solution to problems". Legal 500 describes Duncan as "responsive, tactful and experienced" providing "balanced advice in complex situations".

Duncan is regularly named in the Guide to the World's Leading Aviation Lawyers as one of the outstanding practitioners in the field.

A native English speaker, Duncan is fluent in French, German, Russian, and can speak conversational Dutch.

He has worked in our Moscow office and spent five years in our Munich office, working for German banks.

Duncan studied at the University of Cambridge and then in London. He trained with the firm and became a partner in 2008.