Daniel Corteville
Call: 2016
‘A very competent young barrister already punching above his weight, and with a future as a star at the bar.’
Legal 500 2023
Practice Profile
Daniel is a barrister specialising in commercial litigation and arbitration. He has a broad commercial practice with experience in insurance and reinsurance; professional negligence; civil fraud; shipping and general commercial disputes.
Daniel has particular experience in insurance and reinsurance. He has been instructed on various disputes in this field (both led and as sole counsel), and spent eight months on secondment at the insurance and reinsurance team of a leading London firm. Daniel’s expertise has been recognised by the Legal 500, which ranks him as a leading junior in the field of insurance and reinsurance.
Much of Daniel’s work has an international dimension, and he has experience of jurisdiction and private international law issues. Daniel is also a fluent Spanish speaker.
Examples of Daniel’s recent work include:
- Yukos Finance BV & Others v Lynch & Others [2019] EWHC 2621: junior counsel in a dispute concerning an alleged conspiracy under Russian law to rig a bankruptcy auction. Resulted in a lengthy Commercial Court trial.
- Junior counsel in major reinsurance arbitrations concerning coverage for aggregated losses arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Sole counsel in a claim for Covid-19 Business Interruption losses in the County Court, applying the High Court and Supreme Court judgments in the FCA Test Case.
- Various applications in the Commercial Court, including an urgent interim application for the payment of a specified fund into court and an application for summary judgment on a defaulted loan.
Before commencing practice, Daniel spent five months working full-time as a Judicial Assistant in the Commercial Court, assisting Judges with a variety of trials and procedural hearings, including sitting as the judicial assistant to Bryan J in the trial of National Bank Trust v Yurov & Others [2020] EWHC 100 (Comm), a fraudulent misappropriation claim brought by a Russian bank against its former directors and shareholders.
- Acted for the claimant in a multi-million pound energy arbitration.
- Acted in a number of reinsurance arbitrations, including major reinsurance arbitrations concerning coverage for aggregated losses arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Assisted resisting an application to remove an arbitrator pursuant to Section 24 of the Arbitration Act 1996 (as a pupil).
- Assisted with an application for the urgent appointment of an arbitrator under LCIA rules (as a pupil).
- Instructions on various insurance and reinsurance disputes (both led and as sole counsel)
- Ranked as a “rising star” by the Legal 500 in this field.
- Spent eight months on secondment at the insurance and reinsurance team of a leading London firm, gaining exposure to a variety of insurance and reinsurance disputes.
- Experience in a wide range of insurance and reinsurance claims, including: professional indemnity, public liability, employment practices liability, business interruption, D&O, trade credit, marine, and aviation insurance.
- Experience dealing with coverage, aggregation, notification of claims, non-disclosure, “follow settlement” clauses and conflict of laws.
- Particular experience of Covid-19 claims (both insurance and reinsurance), including:
- Advising on coverage for business interruption losses arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic;
- Appearing as sole counsel in the county court in a claim for Covid-19 business interruption losses, applying the High Court and Supreme Court Judgments in the FCA Test Case.
- Acting as junior counsel in a major reinsurance arbitration concerning coverage for aggregated losses arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Experience advising on disputes between brokers and insurers under coverholder/binding authority agreements.
- Experience defending professional negligence claims against insurance brokers, including alleged failures to advise on coverage and alleged underinsurance.
- Assisted in a Commercial Court preliminary issues trial concerning claims under a professional indemnity policy. The dispute raised issues of notification, breach of condition precedent, estoppel, and the operation of the Third Parties (Rights Against Insurers) Act 1930 (as a pupil).
- Assisted with coverage advice on an aviation insurance policy following the compulsory grounding of a fleet of aircraft by aviation authorities (as a pupil).
- Assisted in a major reinsurance dispute concerning liabilities arising out of the 9/11 US Terrorist Attacks (as a pupil).
- Assisted with advice on the coverage of defence costs following the commencement of a disciplinary investigation by a regulatory body (as a pupil).
- Advised on various contractual issues in a grain cargo dispute.
- Assisted in a Commercial Court trial concerning the construction and validity of a settlement agreement between Owners and Charterers (as a pupil).
- Prior to commencing pupillage, worked as a paralegal at a boutique shipping firm, gaining exposure to a wide range of international shipping disputes.
- Advised and drafted a Defence in a professional negligence claim against insurance brokers for an alleged failure to advise on coverage.
- Advised and drafted a drafted a Defence in a claim against insurance brokers for alleged underinsurance (as a pupil).
- Advised and drafted a Defence in a complex professional negligence/conspiracy claim brought against auditors and a bank (as a pupil).
- Acted for the claimant in a successful Commercial Court application for summary judgment on a defaulted loan. The case involved various applications for alternative service out of the jurisdiction.
- Advised on an application to serve out of the jurisdiction in a commodities dispute.
- Acted for a respondent in resisting an urgent Commercial Court application for the payment of a “specified fund” into court.
- Assisted in a breach of confidence claim brought by an international bank, including resisting an application to strike out the claim (as a pupil).
- Assisted in giving advice on a number of conflict of laws issues, including choice of law in an insurance dispute and special jurisdiction under Article 7(2) of the Brussels Regulation (Recast).
- Yukos Finance BV & Others v Lynch & Others [2019] EWHC 2621: instructed as a junior in a dispute concerning an alleged fraudulent conspiracy to rig a bankruptcy auction in Russia. The case involved disputes as to the true meaning and effect of Russian law. It was featured by The Lawyer as one of its “Top 20 Cases of 2019”.
- As a Judicial Assistant Daniel worked on a number of civil fraud matters, including sitting as the assistant to Bryan J in the eight-week trial of National Bank Trust v Yurov & Others [2020] EWHC 100 (Comm).
- ‘Danny is exceptionally smart and a real problem solver. He is good at seeing things from different angles.’
Insurance and Reinsurance, Legal 500 2024
- ‘Very clever, hardworking and great to work with. Very on top of the detail and dogged in making sure that the end product is top quality.’ Legal 500 2023
- ‘A very competent young barrister already punching above his weight, and with a future as a star at the bar.’ Legal 500 2022
Other Interests
Prior to being called to the Bar, Daniel volunteered at the National Centre for Domestic Violence and the Observatorio de Derechos Humanos (a human rights observatory in the Dominican Republic). He is a fluent Spanish speaker.
2015-2016 BPTC City University, London. Graded as ‘Outstanding’. Placed 4th in year, out of 336 candidates.
2011-2015 BA Law Cambridge University (King’s College). First Class.
2013-2014 Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Erasmus Programme, studying Spanish Law.
2009-2011 Taunton’s College, Southampton
Awards and Prizes
Hogan Lovells Prize for performance in tripos exams (2012)
Winner of the Clyde and Co Colleges Moot, awarded by Lord Sumption (2012)
Denning Scholarship, Lincoln’s Inn (2015)
Hardwicke Entrance Award, Lincoln’s Inn (2015)
Buchanan Prize, Lincoln’s Inn (2016)
Barstow Scholarship, City University (2016)
Hubert Greenland Scholarship, Lincoln’s Inn (2017)
‘Danny is exceptionally smart and a real problem solver. He is good at seeing things from different angles.’
Legal 500 2024