Insurance & Reinsurance
Pupillage seats spent with James Sharpe and David Myhill mean Hamish is comfortable with insurance and reinsurance related disputes in a diverse set of circumstances. His recent work includes:
- Representing a group of insurers who underwrote a buyer-side W&I Policy in respect of the acquisition of a company by a publicly listed company. The buyer claimed £4m under the policy alleging that the seller had breached a number of warranties under the share purchase agreement meaning the company was less valuable than it had understood (led by Daniel Shapiro KC).
- Representing a firm of insurance brokers in regard to a £4m claim by the insured company alleging it had suffered losses which were not covered by its insurance policy due to the defendant’s negligence in failing to arrange an appropriate scope of cover and/or failing to disclose material facts such that the insurer avoided the policy for non-disclosure and misrepresentation (led by Daniel Shapiro KC).
- Drafting particulars in relation to a coverage dispute after insurers declined to provide an indemnity for fire damage at a commercial premises due to breach of occupancy conditions.
- Defending an insurance company against a contractual claim from a policy holder alleging he should have been paid his vehicle’s salvage value.
- Successfully striking out a claim brought against an insurance company for a failure to provide cover to a taxi driver.
During pupillage, examples of Hamish’s work include:
- Drafting a skeleton argument and assisting preparations for the Court of Appeal proceedings in Spire Healthcare Ltd v Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Ltd [2022] EWCA Civ 17. The matter concerned the interpretation of aggregation clauses in insurance contracts and arose from multiple claims brought against a private hospital by patients injured by the disgraced breast surgeon, Ian Paterson.
- Advice on a circa £10m claim against an insurance broker alleging that insufficient cover was procured so as to indemnify an investment company in respect of a claim brought in the US for alleged breach of fiduciary duty and interference with contract.
- Drafting defence in an action concerning the tortious duties owed by a placing broker to a producing broker and to the insured.
- Prepared written points of claim on behalf of Lloyd’s syndicate for an arbitration against a managing agent for breach of the binding authority agreement.
- Preparing a defence and advice in relation to a coverage dispute after an insurer refused to indemnify a partnership for flooding damage caused by an automatic sprinkler system in a factory.
Selected Cases
View full profile »Awards
- Buchanan Prize for outstanding performance on the BPTC (Lincoln’s Inn, 2020)
- Advocacy Scholarship (BPP, 2019)
- Tancred Scholarship (Lincoln’s Inn, 2019)
- Winner, the Crowther Shield for public speaking (Lincoln’s Inn, 2019)
- Winner, the Crown Office Mooting Competition (2018)
- The Janet Quigley Prize for Middle English studies (Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, 2016)
Articles
News
Qualifications
- BPTC (Outstanding), BPP
- GDL (Distinction), City University
- English Language & Literature (First Class), University of Oxford
