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Ralph Morley

Year of Call:	2016
Email:	Rmorley@7kbw.co.uk

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Practice Profile

Ralph joined Chambers in September 2017 upon successful completion of his pupillage under Charles Holroyd, Benjamin Parker, Michael Holmes and Richard Sarll. As a pupil, he gained experience in all of Chambers’ practice areas, including international arbitration, shipping (including Admiralty Court work), insurance and reinsurance, professional negligence, sale of goods and general commercial work. In line with that experience, he is building a broad practice in all areas of commercial law.

Since joining Chambers, Ralph’s work has included multi-million-dollar international arbitrations regarding offshore engineering and the sale of iron ore, a £39m Commercial Court claim against a major auditor and appearances as sole counsel in the County Court, as well as a range of advisory and drafting work. Ralph has also spent time on secondment to the shipping department of a major City firm of solicitors.

Areas of Expertise

International Arbitration

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Ralph is currently instructed (as junior to James Drake QC) in an ICC arbitration (seated in Zurich) relating to the sale of railway wagons.
A US$350m business interruption insurance arbitration (as junior to James Drake QC and Michael Holmes) concerning an offshore oil pipeline, involving detailed consideration of technical questions as to design and engineering of the pipeline and its control system;
Simultaneous applications under sections 68 and 69 of the Arbitration Act to challenge the striking-out of an arbitration claim for inordinate delay;
A multi-million-dollar LCIA arbitration concerning the sale of a telecoms company in a CIS member state, which raised questions of privity of interest, assignment, jurisdiction and conflict of laws;
Questions of breach of arbitration confidentiality and as to the nature of agreed awards.

Shipping

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Ralph is currently instructed (as junior to James Drake QC) in concurrent LMAA arbitrations relating to the charter of bulk carriers in the context of a broader commercial relationship between the seller and buyer of iron ore.
Advice and drafting in a variety of charterparty disputes, including questions of the true construction of a cargo heating clause and of unseaworthiness; damage to perishable cargo owing to defective refrigeration systems; speed warranties and weather performance; and failure to pay hire;
Advice to shipowners as to the risk of frustration under long-term time charters;
Simultaneous applications under sections 68 and 69 of the Arbitration Act to challenge the striking-out of an arbitration claim for inordinate delay;
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 QC 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.
Proceedings in the Admiralty Court against a vessel whose anchor fouled and broke an undersea cable;
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).

Insurance & Reinsurance

Show Cases:

A US$300m business interruption insurance arbitration concerning an oil pipeline, involving detailed consideration of technical questions as to design and engineering;
A marine reinsurance arbitration which raised issues of proper law, material non-disclosure, unseaworthiness and claims control;
A political risk insurance arbitration involving a case of estoppel by convention;
Advice on directors’ and officers’ liability insurance policies;
Advice on the construction of an aggregation clause in a business interruption policy taken out on behalf of a retail chain.

Commercial Litigation

Show Cases:

Acting (as junior to James Brocklebank QC) for a major auditor defending a £39m claim for conspiracy to defraud the shareholders of an engineering company;
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.

Jurisdiction/Conflict of Laws

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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.

Sale of Goods

Show Cases:

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.

Public and Administrative Law

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Advising a political consultancy on the registration requirements of the European Commission’s Transparency Register;
Advising (via the Bar Pro Bono Unit) on the duties owed to leisure users of a reservoir by the water company statutorily responsible for it under the Water Industry Act 1991.

Memberships

Assistant Editor, Journal of International Comparative Law (published by Sweet & Maxwell)
Member, Young International Arbitration Group
Member, Admiralty Bar Group
Panel Member, Bar Pro Bono Unit
Ralph gained practical experience of navigation and seamanship over three years as a member of Cambridge University Royal Naval Unit, in which he held the honorary rank of Midshipman in the Royal Naval Reserve.

Education

2015-16: Bar Professional Training Course at City University, London (Outstanding, ranked sixth out of over three hundred candidates)

2014-15: Graduate Diploma in Law at City University, London (Distinction)

2011-2014: BA in Classics, Trinity College, Cambridge (double First)

While at Cambridge, Ralph was captain of the Trinity College team which won the 2014 series of the BBC television quiz programme University Challenge.

Scholarships and Awards

Queen Mother Scholarship for both the GDL and the BPTC (awarded by Middle Temple)
Baron Dr Ver Heyden de Lancey Prize for best performance on BPTC course by a member of Middle Temple
Templeman-Singhvi Scholarship to lecture at National Law University, Jodhpur, India and observe proceedings in the Supreme Court of India (Middle Temple)
Everard Ver Heyden Foundation Prize (City University)
Certificate of Honour (Middle Temple)
Harmsworth Exhibition (Middle Temple)
University Classical Scholarship (University of Cambridge)
Senior Scholarship (Trinity College, one of six awarded to first-year students from a cohort of 240);
Hallam Prize and Henry Arthur Thomas Prize (University of Cambridge)
Cooke-Hurle Studentship; Perring Scholarship; Eric Evans Spicer Prize; Gregg Bury Prize (all awarded by Trinity College)

Reported Cases

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Reported Cases

Early strike out of £39 million fraud and conspiracy claim achieved for Ernst & Young

Cunningham v Ellis & Others [2018] EWHC 3188 (Comm) James Brocklebank QC and Ralph Morley have successfully secured the dismissal of a £39m Commercial Court fraud and conspiracy claim against their client, Ernst & Young (EY). The claim was struck out and summary judgment was given in favour of EY. The claimant had been majority […]

December 3, 2018

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Email: clerks@7kbw.co.uk
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Out of hours: +44 (0)7831 394225

Latest News

Early strike out of £39 million fraud and conspiracy claim achieved for Ernst & Young

December 3, 2018

New tenants

7KBW are delighted to announce that Ralph Morley and Henry Moore have accepted invitations to join Chambers on completion of their pupillages. To view more information regarding our new members and existing members, please visit our website here.

October 4, 2017

7KBW on Twitter

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7KBW will be sponsoring the 3rd MLAS Maritime Mooting Competition held in Singapore. bit.ly/2zRTSCK

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Latest 7KBW judgment from Robert Bright QC and Charles Holroyd - Can claimants who arrest vessels be required to give cross-undertakings in damages? Not at present, but the Court of Appeal says the position may be open to reconsideration bit.ly/2Bcec1k

Ralph Morley

Practice Profile

Areas of Expertise

Memberships