International trade

Against the backdrop of often fractious relations between some of the largest economies and ongoing uncertainty about the UK’s trading partnerships in light of Brexit, international trade is currently one of the hottest issues for global businesses.

Our international trade and commodity finance team provides specialist trading and finance advice and assistance to global traders and banks involved in all types of commodities from oil and gas, chemicals, metals and mining to sugar, grain and timber.

Across our network of UK and international offices, including the key trading hubs of London, Paris, Madrid, Piraeus and Singapore, our multi-jurisdictional lawyers offer a reassuring combination of in-depth knowledge of both national and international law along with well-established relationships to support our clients.

We advise investment banks, financial institutions, trading houses, companies, and Maritime Law Associations (MLAs) on a wide range of financing, transactional, contentious and non-contentious matters. Our insightful and pragmatic advice on the advantages, challenges and pitfalls of different jurisdictions enables them to manage their risk more effectively and to achieve greater commercial success.

Our lawyers are highly skilled in structuring transactions that mitigate risk in today’s challenging market environment and are experienced in developing financing and security solutions tailored to our clients’ specific requirements.

The team has acted in many high profile, multi-jurisdictional trade disputes and commercial and shipping litigation using its considerable expertise of dispute resolution in the English courts, the international arbitration rules (including those of the ICC, UNCITRAL and the LCIA) and trade arbitration regulations (including those of FOSFA, GAFTA and SAL). It also handles marine and energy-related insurance disputes as well as non-contentious, regulatory and compliance issues.