Ralph Morley

Sustained experience in international arbitration includes led and unled representative and advisory work across a range of arbitral rules and sectors, as well as relief in support of arbitration, including anti-suit injunctions, “Vasso” orders and jurisdiction challenges:

• Appearing for the successful claimants in a US$300m business interruption insurance arbitration (led by James Drake KC and Michael Holmes KC) concerning an offshore oil pipeline, involving detailed consideration of technical questions as to design and engineering of the pipeline and its control system, as well as questions of New York law.
• Instructed (as junior to Stephen Kenny KC) in a US$90m dollar claim under LCIA rules concerning warranties in a share purchase agreement.
• Appearing for claimants seeking anti-suit relief from an arbitral tribunal in respect of proceedings brought by counterparties to a joint venture in Saudi Arabia, led by Stephen Houseman KC and John Bignall.
• Obtaining (as sole counsel) ancillary relief including disclosure orders, enforcement by committal, and anti-suit injunctions.
• Preparing (as sole counsel) a section 44(2) application for a “Vasso” order to enable surveyors to inspect property (resulting in access being successfully granted by agreement).
• Section 67, section 68 and section 69 challenges to arbitration awards.
• Advice on emergency injunctive relief.
• Challenge (as sole counsel) to tribunal jurisdiction.
• Ralph is also the author of a series of practice notes on insurance arbitration for Lexis PSL.

Shipping is a core part of Ralph’s practice: he is ranked as a “Rising Star” in shipping by the Legal 500. Ralph regularly acts in both wet and dry shipping matters, including charterparty disputes, cargo claims, salvage, limitation and collision work. Ralph has acted (either on the record or providing advice) in respect of a number of high-profile casualties over recent years. Work highlights include:

• Currently instructed as sole counsel representing slot charter interests in limitation proceedings concerning the grounding of the container ship “EVER GIVEN” in the Suez Canal in March 2021.
• Currently instructed as sole counsel for charterers in another limitation dispute concerning a container ship casualty.
• Instructed (as junior to John Russell KC) in an LMAA arbitration concerning detention of a bulk carrier in Ukraine.
• Acting (as junior to Michael Holmes KC) in a charterparty dispute worth in excess of US$10m concerning a containership casualty arising out of dangerous cargo shipped aboard a container vessel.
• Acting (as junior to Robert Bright KC) in a multi-million-dollar arbitration concerning suspected bunker fraud.
• Advice, drafting and representation as sole counsel in a variety of charterparty disputes, including disputes concerning unsafe ports, the outbreak of war in Ukraine; laytime and demurrage; unseaworthiness (including fitness to receive cargo); hatch cover damage; damage to main engines; speed warranties and weather performance; failure to pay hire; wrongful early redelivery; performance and contract options; hold cleaning; and overloading.
• Advice (as sole counsel) concerning coverage under a fixed premium P&I policy in respect of liabilities arising from a high-profile fatal casualty.
• Advice and drafting (as sole counsel) on appeals from LMAA arbitrations, including simultaneous applications under sections 68 and 69 of the Arbitration Act to challenge the striking-out of an arbitration claim for inordinate delay; a section 67 challenge to an LMAA ruling on jurisdiction; and a section 68 challenge to an arbitrator’s decision on costs under the LMAA small claims procedure.
• Preparing (as sole counsel) a section 44(2) application for a “Vasso” order to enable surveyors to come on board a marine casualty (resulting in access being successfully granted by agreement).
• Advice and drafting (as sole counsel) for proceedings in the Admiralty Court against a fishing vessel which fouled and broke a subsea internet cable, including advice on jurisdiction and drafting arrest documentation.
• Advice to harbour commissioners on whether (and how) to arrest a vessel in the Admiralty Court.
• Advice on the interrelationship between insolvency proceedings against a shipowner in Germany and arrest in the Admiralty Court.
• Advice on the true construction of a jurisdiction agreement in a letter of undertaking for Pacific islanders seeking redress against a vessel which had collided with their coral atoll.
• Advice on the interrelationship of a contractual agreement to arbitrate with Admiralty limitation actions.
• An LMAA unsafe port charterparty dispute concerning safe working practices for operation of hatch covers on a general cargo vessel.
• Cargo claims, including questions of whether the Hague or Hague-Visby Rules apply, defences under Article IV of the rules and limitation of liability;
• Written submissions on behalf of sellers of two vessels under MOAs of which the buyers refused to take delivery on the ground of frustration.
• As a pupil, Ralph assisted Stephen Kenny KC and Richard Sarll with legal research into international approaches to crew expenses for general average for the successful appeal in The Longchamp [2017] UKSC 68.
• Ralph spent three years as a member of Cambridge University Royal Naval Unit, holding the honorary rank of Midshipman in the Royal Naval Reserve and gaining practical experience of navigation and seamanship (including passage planning, pilotage and ship handling).
• Ralph has been published in the Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly on the Collision Regulations and is editor of the English Admiralty and Merchant Shipping Law section of the International Maritime and Commercial Law Yearbook.

Ralph’s experience spans a wide range of physical damage, business interruption and liability insurance matters, including complex marine, aviation and engineering casualties. Highlights include:

• Acting for insurers AIG as part of the team led by Gavin Kealey KC and Andrew Wales KC in respect of insurance coverage disputes under lessor policies concerning aircraft leased to Russian operators.
• Acting for claimant insureds in a US$30m claim under a political risk insurance policy brought by owners of a factory complex occupied by rebels in the Syrian Civil War, led by James Brocklebank KC, which also raised questions of reinsurance coverage and broker negligence.
• Advising insureds under a fixed premium marine P&I policy in relation to coverage issues following a high-profile fatal collision.
• Acting (as junior to Michael Holmes KC) for successful insurers in a £3m dispute as to insurers on risk under different policy years for professional indemnity policies issued to a firm of solicitors.
• Advising a firm of accountants on claims for defence costs under a professional indemnity insurance policy.
• Advising insurers under a Bermuda Form policy as to assignment.
• Appearing (as junior to James Drake KC and Michael Holmes KC) for the successful claimants in a US$300m all risks physical damage and business interruption insurance arbitration concerning an oil pipeline, involving detailed consideration of technical questions as to design and engineering.
• Advice on directors’ and officers’ liability insurance policies.
• Advice on business interruption policies;
• Advice to insurers and prospective policyholders as to whether proposed insurance policies cover the risks intended to be insured.
• Ralph is also the author of a series of practice notes on insurance arbitration for Lexis PSL.

Ralph’s experience in a wide range of high-value and high-profile commercial litigation has seen him recognised as a “Rising Star” in commercial litigation by the Legal 500. Highlights include:

• Libyan Investment Authority v Credit Suisse & Others [2021] EWHC 2684 (Comm): acting for a defendant in a successful jurisdiction challenge to a multi-million-dollar claim alleging bribery, led by Michael Holmes KC.
• Carillion plc v KPMG: junior counsel representing KPMG in defence of anticipated claim arising from the insolvency and collapse of the Carillion Group, as well as in related matters. The dispute is currently at the pre-action stage but a large professional negligence claim is anticipated and Ralph is instructed, with other members of 7KBW, on behalf of KPMG to act in its defence. Ralph was part of the 7KBW team which successfully resisted an application for pre-action disclosure [2020] EWHC 1416 (Comm).
• Crumpler v Candey: an appeal concerning how services supplied by a firm of solicitors under a fixed fee agreement are to be valued under section 245 of the Insolvency Act 1986, led by Gavin Kealey KC.
• Cunningham v Ernst & Young & Others [2018] EWHC 3188 (Comm): Ralph represented Ernst & Young in its successful application to strike out a £39m claim alleging conspiracy to defraud and breach of fiduciary duty, led by James Brocklebank KC.
• Ralph has experience of a wide range of ancillary proceedings, having acted as sole counsel in applications including anti-suit injunctions, disclosure orders and contempt proceedings.
• Acting (as junior to James Brocklebank KC) for a Nigerian oil services company bringing multi-million dollar claims of breach of contract, breach of duty and dishonest assistance against its bankers.
• Advice to a telecoms network engineering company regarding its liability for claimed indirect losses of £48m to a mobile phone company whose network had suffered an outage.
• Advice on the true construction of standby letters of credit and the demands necessary to trigger them.
• Advice on whether a gambler is owed a duty of care by bookmakers.
• Advice on the true construction of commission agreements.

• Libyan Investment Authority v Credit Suisse & Others [2021] EWHC 2684 (Comm): acting for a defendant in a successful jurisdiction challenge to a multi-million-dollar claim alleging bribery, led by Michael Holmes KC.
• Advising on whether the Admiralty Court has jurisdiction in respect of salvage outside UK territorial waters.
• Appearing for claimants seeking anti-suit relief from an arbitral tribunal in respect of proceedings brought by counterparties to a joint venture in Saudi Arabia, led by Stephen Houseman KC and John Bignall.
• Obtaining (as sole counsel) anti-suit injunctive relief on both an interim and a final basis.
• Advice on whether the English Admiralty Court has jurisdiction in respect of damage done by a vessel to a subsea cable located outside British territorial waters but within the United Kingdom’s Exclusive Economic Zone.
• Advice as to whether service of a claim form aboard an aircraft registered in a foreign jurisdiction about to take off from an English airport was service within the jurisdiction.
• Advice on the proper law governing questions of agency.
• Advice on the scope of a letter of undertaking conferring exclusive jurisdiction in respect of a collision claim on a foreign court.
• Advice on whether English or Egyptian law governed an insurance contract.
• Advice on the proper law of a contract for sale of fruit from Egypt for delivery in Rotterdam and Tilbury.

• Acting for insurers AIG as part of the team led by Gavin Kealey KC and Andrew Wales KC in respect of insurance coverage disputes under lessor policies concerning aircraft leased to Russian operators.
• Acting (as sole counsel, against a KC) in a multi-million-pound aircraft damage case in the Technology and Construction Court concerning the total loss of a helicopter
• Acting as sole counsel in an aircraft damage claim brought against ground handlers.
• Flight delay claims under Regulation 261/04.
• Advice as to whether service of a claim form aboard an aircraft registered in a foreign jurisdiction about to take off from an English airport was service within the jurisdiction.
• Advising sub-lessee of a pair of Airbus airliners as to whether it could obtain emergency injunctive relief from an LCIA arbitral tribunal preventing the head lessor from placing the aircraft under arrest.

• Acting (as sole counsel) for a manufacturer of garments in a dispute with a major fashion brand purchaser.
• Obtaining (as sole counsel) asset disclosure orders against purchasers of commodities in the High Court following default on an arbitration award.
• Advice and drafting in a wide range of sale of goods matters, including steel, oil, coal, fruit, grain and feed, spanning several sets of institutional rules, including via the Bar Pro Bono Unit (now Advocate).
• As pupil to Richard Sarll, Ralph assisted with the successful defence of claims for losses incurred on a hedge taken out against the physical sale of biofuel in Vitol SA v Beta Renowable SA [2017] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 238.

Ralph has been appointed to the Attorney-General’s C Panel and has provided advice across private and public law areas, including contract, maritime law, the international law of the sea, and public law issues in judicial review.

• Advising an oil exploration company on whether its activities constitute “dealing in land” for the purpose of Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme relief.
• Advising a political consultancy on the registration requirements of the European Commission’s Transparency Register.
• Advising (via the Bar Pro Bono Unit, now Advocate) on the duties owed to leisure users of a reservoir by the water company statutorily responsible for it under the Water Industry Act 1991.

Ralph has acted in a number of complex and high-profile professional negligence cases, including:

• Carillion plc v KPMG: junior counsel representing KPMG in defence of anticipated claim arising from the insolvency and collapse of the Carillion Group, as well as in related matters. Ralph was instructed, with other members of 7KBW, on behalf of KPMG to act in its defence of this claim, which was successfully settled. Ralph was also part of the 7KBW team which successfully resisted an application for pre-action disclosure [2020] EWHC 1416 (Comm).
• Cunningham v Ernst & Young & Others [2018] EWHC 3188 (Comm): Ralph represented Ernst & Young in its successful application to strike out a £39m claim alleging conspiracy to defraud and breach of fiduciary duty, led by James Brocklebank KC.
• Acting (as junior to James Brocklebank KC) for a major auditor in its defence of a £40m claim brought by liquidators of the audited insurance company.