Insurance & Reinsurance

7KBW has “an undisputed reputation as the leading insurance and reinsurance set, with a breadth and depth of bench that is unmatched by its peers”, according to Chambers & Partners (UK Bar 2025) which awarded it Insurance Set of the Year again for 2024 (an award it wins every year).

Members have extensive experience of both arbitration and litigation, in all major jurisdictions and significant arbitral centres. They routinely appear in the most significant cases and their work spans long-running, complex trials, and appeals with industry-wide significance, and advisory work, from coverage advice to advice on policy wordings.

Members act for all market participants, including policyholders, insurers, reinsureds and reinsurers, in both the Lloyds’ and companies’ markets, and worldwide. They are act for, and against, insurance brokers, agents, and their advisers.

Reinsurance expertise includes all types of facultative and treaty, proportional and excess of loss re-insurance.

Members have acted in many high-profile and very significant insurance and reinsurance disputes. These include disputes arising out of major events such as the  Russian / Ukraine conflict (including the Russian Aircraft dispute), the coronavirus pandemic (including the FCA Business Interruption Test Case), the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the global financial crisis, the 9/11 terrorist attacks and numerous catastrophic natural and environmental disasters. They also include claims arising from industry-wide developments such as warehouse frauds, data protection breaches and cyber-attacks.

Examples of recent leading cases in which members of 7KW have appeared include:

• AerCap Ireland Ltd v AIG Europe SA & Ors (Russian Aircraft Lessor Policy Claims) [2025] EWHC 1430 (Comm)
• Financial Conduct Authority v Arch Insurance (UK) Ltd [2021] UKSC 1
• Enka v Chubb [2020] UKSC 38
• The “Atlantik Confidence” [2020] UKSC 11
• The “Brillante Virtuoso” [2019] EWHC 2599 (Comm)
• The “B Atlantic” [2018] UKSC 26
• Equitas v MMI [2018] EWCA Civ 991
• AIG Europe Limited v Woodman [2017] UKSC 18
• The “Ocean Victory” [2017] UKSC 35
• The “Galatea” [2015] EWHC 2225 (Comm)