Christophe Hunkeler
Partner
Christophe is a partner in the marine, trade and aviation team and leads the firm’s two French offices Paris and Antibes. He and his team practise French law and have rights of audience throughout France, including overseas territories.
Christophe has many years’ experience handling claims before French courts and arbitration tribunals. His practice focuses on commercial litigation, where he and his team provide comprehensive legal services to clients with claims in France.
I am committed to providing our clients with prompt, pragmatic, and cost effective solutions. I work collaboratively with them, building relationships based on trust, loyalty, and transparency. Proximity to our clients is central to how we operate and the opening of our Antibes’s hub is a clear reflection of that approach.
The team’s expertise is particularly strong in the specialist areas of logistics and yachting. In 2024 Penningtons Manches Cooper opened a dedicated hub in Antibes to serve the firm’s yachting clients, reflecting Christophe’s longstanding experience in complex cross-border litigation. He and his team regularly handle claims involving Eastern European jurisdictions as well as in North and West Africa.
Christophe acts for a wide range of clients, including French and international underwriters, insurance brokers, P&I Clubs, freight forwarders and logistics companies, shipowners, shipbrokers, shipyards, and naval architects.
He is a member of the French Association pour le Management des Risques et des Assurances (AMRAE) and the Antibes Yacht Club (AYC). He has also been a visiting lecturer in shipping law at the University of Law in Rouen for several years.
Christophe is regularly recognised in French legal rankings, including Decideurs Magazine Leaders League. In 2024, he was cited as “Excellent” in both shipping and logistics and his practice was described as “highly regarded” in commercial litigation and insurance. He is now co-heads the firm’s logistics group with Madrid partner, Victor Mata, with whom he handles a significant volume of Franco-Spanish cargo claims for clients in the international road haulage sector.
Recent work highlights
Luxury cargo claim
Marine collision claim
Shipbuilding claim
What people are saying
They have an excellent team, from trainees and associates up to partners. They are extremely knowledgeable both about the law and about the industry.
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