Jessica Sutherland

Practice Areas

Described as “a very impressive”, Jessica has a wide-ranging commercial practice including shipping, shipbuilding, international trade, insurance & reinsurance, professional negligence & regulatory work (auditors). She is regularly instructed in high-value disputes involving complex legal and factual issues, often with competing systems of law. She is consistently listed as a leading junior in the directories and has been featured by ‘The Lawyer’ as ‘Barrister of the Week’ due to the nature of her high-profile case load.

Recent work includes:

The Court of Appeal decision in National Iranian Oil Co v Crescent Petroleum Co International Ltd [2022] EWHC 2641 (Comm) (Butcher J) and [2023] EWCA Civ 826 (CA). The case concerned the interplay between s.67 & s.73 of the Arbitration Act 1996, including the scope of s.67(4) (that only the first instance judge can grant permission to appeal from a “decision under” s.67); acting as case leader in a coal commodities dispute ; acting as sole counsel in three high-value superyacht disputes and in a US$25m ship sale & purchase dispute.

She regularly appears in Court and in International Arbitration proceedings (ICC, LCIA, LMAA, ARIAS, SIAC, Bermuda Form and ad hoc arbitrations) & has been appointed as an arbitrator by the LCIA and in ad hoc arbitrations.