Practice Profile
Charles joined 7KBW on successful completion of his pupillage in September 2023.
Charles is developing a busy practice across the breadth of commercial law, including insurance, general commercial disputes, international arbitration, shipping, commodities, and civil fraud. He accepts instructions as sole counsel and as junior counsel in all 7KBW’s specialist areas.
Before commencing pupillage, Charles worked as a legal researcher for counsel acting for Ukraine in ongoing litigation before the International Court of Justice. He maintains a keen interest in Public International Law.
Charles studied Modern and Medieval Languages at the University of Cambridge, where he achieved a Double First. After graduating, he was awarded the Paul Mellon Fellowship, a fully-funded scholarship for postgraduate study at Yale University. Upon completing his MA degree (which was focused principally on Russian foreign policy), Charles was awarded funding to spend a year as a Visiting Fellow at Yale’s MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies. Having taken the opportunity to explore the legal side of his research interests at Yale, he commenced his formal legal studies at City Law School on his return to the UK.
- Acting for All Risks insurers in multi-billion-dollar litigation arising from alleged losses of aircraft following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the imposition of western sanctions (in a team led by Jonathan Gaisman KC)
- Assisted in the preparation for a case management conference in London International Exhibition Centre Plc v Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Plc & Ors, a multi-million-pound COVID business interruption claim (as a pupil)
- Prepared a draft advice on whether the Financial Ombudsman Service had jurisdiction to consider a complaint made against an insurer with respect to an employee healthcare scheme (as a pupil)
- Assisted in the preparation of an advice addressing issues of allocation in respect of a professional indemnity policy (as a pupil)
- Conducted research on the operation of a force majeure clause in a GAFTA contract in the context of grain exports from Ukraine following the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022; assisted in the preparation of reply submissions in the same case (as a pupil)
- Assisted in the preparation for a five-day arbitration hearing regarding the sale of an insurance business, conducting research into various issues including the law of restitution on the grounds of mistake of fact and law (as a pupil)
- Assisted in the preparation for the cross-examination of a witness in an arbitration hearing (as a pupil)
- Drafted a letter replying to a response to a request for a stay of arbitration (as a pupil)
- Conducted research, in the context of arbitral proceedings, on the availability of contributory negligence as a defence to a claim under the Misrepresentation Act 1967 (as a pupil)
- Assisted in a fraud claim worth hundreds of millions of pounds, conducting research on issues relating to (a) the extent of conduct required of a co-conspirator to establish liability, and (b) the law on attribution and agency as it relates to an employer’s liability for the acts of an employee (as a pupil)
- Assisted in the preparation of an advice on the merits of a potential civil fraud claim arising out of a pledge of high-value metal as collateral for a debt in circumstances where the cargo in fact consisted of a much lower-value metal; prepared draft Particulars of Claim in the same case (as a pupil)
- Assisted in the preparation of an advice and the drafting of rejoinder submissions in a bill of lading dispute involving allegations of misdelivery of cargo, breach of contract, breach of duties in bailment and conversion (as a pupil)
- Conducted research into the nature of the legal relationship between a ship manager and its principal (as a pupil)
- Assisted in the preparation of an advice on the merits of a dispute arising out of a freight management agreement, involving complex issues of agency (as a pupil)
- Prepared a draft advice on the merits of a claim regarding damage caused to a superyacht by paint overspray, which involved assessing compliance with certain notice requirements and researching the principles governing claims for unrepaired damage (as a pupil)
- Conducted research on potential grounds for summary judgment to dismiss an unfair prejudice petition (s.994 Companies Act 2006) (as a pupil)
- Drafted major amendments to a Defence and Counterclaim in a dispute arising out of IT services that had allegedly been inadequately rendered (as a pupil)
- Assisted in the preparation of an advice on the proper construction of a contractual set-off provision and the question of whether an equitable set-off was available (as a pupil)
- Conducted research on whether the satisfaction of a judgment debt owed to a third party is permitted under the terms of a Commercial Court freezing injunction (as a pupil)
- Assisted in the preparation of a Part 8 claim regarding the referral of an energy pricing dispute to a referee (as a pupil)
- Assisted in the preparation for a hearing before the Court of Appeal in National Iranian Oil Company v Crescent Petroleum Company International Ltd & Anor, which involved issues concerning the correct approach courts should take when assessing expert evidence of foreign law, as well as addressing the operation and interaction of s.67 and s.73 of the Arbitration Act 1996 (as a pupil)
- Produced a draft skeleton argument for a case management conference in a case involving losses caused by delays to the commencement of a windfarm project as a result of challenges launched under Irish planning law (as a pupil)
Education
- BVS, Distinction – City Law School, London
- GDL, Distinction – City Law School, London
- MA European and Russian Studies (International Relations) – Yale University
- BA Modern and Medieval Languages (Russian and French), Double First – Clare College, University of Cambridge
Scholarships and awards
- Scholarship, Clare College (2012)
- Honorary Scholarship, Clare College (2015)
- Mallinson Prize for Modern Languages, Clare College (2015)
- JLSP Scholarship, Nihon University (2015)
- Paul Mellon Fellowship, Yale University (2016)
- BVS Scholarship, City Law School (2021)
Languages
Russian, French (advanced)
Spanish (basic)