Adam Fenton KC

Nature of practice

Adam Fenton KC acts as an advocate in Court and Arbitration work in the following core areas of practice: Insurance (non-marine and marine), Reinsurance, Professional Negligence, Shipping and Sale of Goods. Adam has been involved in Lloyd’s Disciplinary and FRC tribunals as Counsel, and has sat as a Chairman and Tribunal member of various arbitral tribunals.

Recent directory recommendations

Adam is recommended in the current main directories. Under Insurance and Reinsurance in Chambers and Partners he is known for his “enormous attention to detail”, “is an excellent lawyer, who is very thoughtful and able to assist with the early resolution of matters”, “a very practical person and commercially minded” and “assured and user-friendly particularly on difficult insurance disputes”, and in the same category in the Legal 500 “A very strong insurance barrister with good expertise in professional negligence”.

Recent practice

In the past four to five years, the focus of his work has remained his ongoing insurance and reinsurance practice and his prominence in that field is reflected in his involvement in the major cases of the last three or four years. He appeared in the COVID-19 test case FCA v Arch Insurance, which was heard in the Divisional Court [2020] EWHC Comm 2448 and then the Supreme Court [2021] UKSC 1 on an expedited basis. He acted for Hiscox, instructed by A&O Sherman. He then appeared in a further COVID-19 test case Stonegate v MS Amlin [2022] EWHC 2549 acting for insurers, instructed by DACB. He is currently acting for All Risk Insurers in the Russian Aircraft litigation, concerning insurance claims for western leased aircraft remaining in Russia, due to be heard as a 12-week trial in the Commercial Court in October 2024.

Other recent cases include acting for Enterprise cars in a Commercial Court insurance claim which settled close to trial in 2021, acting in a large professional negligence matter in relation to shipbuilding in the Commercial Court which settled in 2022, various aggregation matters including in relation to COVID-19 and the collapse of a large listed entity, a number of large commercial property insurance claims, a large liability insurance arbitration involving a major listed company, liability/CAR insurance disputes in relation to a major building project, liability insurance issues in relation to OFCOM, OAR insurance in relation to OFGEM rulings, products liability and cargo insurance in relation to a large damage to goods claim, and D&O claims and insurance issues arising out of the Madoff claims.

In addition to acting in and advising in relation to disputed matters, he is involved from time-to-time in advising on the contents and drafting of insurance policies and has acted for a number of both insurers and blue chip companies in this respect in recent years. As regards blue chip assureds he was instructed (with a junior) in an across-the-board review (property, motor, D&O, products liability, crime, media amongst others) of a FTSE 100 company’s insurance coverage.

In addition to insurance and reinsurance he deals with other matters. He has been involved in a series of major shipbuilding arbitrations and in the Cattles case, the biggest claim ever to be brought against an accountant, which settled shortly after the start of trial in the Commercial Court in October 2015.

Arbitration and mediation

Adam also sits as an arbitrator in his core areas of practice and is a CEDR accredited mediator. Current arbitration cases include maritime and international sale of goods and shipbuilding cases, as well as insurance matters. Adam has recently mediated sale of goods, maritime and insurance matters.