Swansea’s Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law held its annual Colloquium, focusing on ‘Commercial Insurance Law - Contemporary and Emerging Trends’.
The event attracted one of our largest crowds in recent years. Delegates from the UK, Europe, North America and Asia enjoyed presentations from the top academics and practitioners in the field.
There followed serious discussion (and some heated debate) on a wide collection of aspects of insurance law. Examples included war risks, cyber risks, direct action statutes, decentralised insurance, the new phenomenon of Insurtech, and D & O insurance. More generally, attendees also talked at length about key doctrines in insurance law such as the pre-contractual duty of good faith, warranties, fraud, assignment, and subrogation.
The IISTL is grateful to its chairs, namely:
- Paul Dean (Global Head of Shipping, HFW),
- Professor James Devenney (Head of Law, University of Reading),
- Professor Francis Rose (Senior Research Fellow, University of Oxford),
- Jonathan Webb (Partner, Floyd Zadkovich) and
- Professors Simon Baughen and D. Rhidian Thomas (IISTL)
Each and every chair made a huge contribution by sharing their experience and guiding the discussions.
In addition to Professors Baughen, Leloudas, Soyer and Tettenborn and Dr Wang and Ms Nicholas from the IISTL itself, papers came from a large number of distinguished commentators, including:
- Neil Handerson (Senior Executive, Gard),
- Michael Biltoo (Partner, Kennedys),
- Peter McDonald Eggers QC (7 King’s Bench Walk),
- Professor Oliver Brand (University of Mannheim),
- Richard Eveleigh (Chair of BILA),
- Celso De Azevedo (Enterprise Chambers),
- Professor Michael Sturley (University of Texas at Austin),
- Associate Professor Rui Zheng (Shanghai Maritime University),
- Associate Professor Jinlei Zhang (Dalian Maritime University),
- Richard Sarll (7 King’s Bench Walk),
- Nichola Warrender KC (Quadrant Chambers) and
- Professor Ozlem Gurses (King’s College London).
Jonathan Webb (Chair) running one of the sessions with Nichola Warrender KC, Peter MacDonald-Eggers KC and Richard Sarll.
On a sombre note, Professor Malcolm Clarke of the University of Cambridge, an unrivaled scholar of insurance law and a keen and faithful supporter of the IISTL, sadly died this year. All at the IISTL thought it right that this Colloquium should be dedicated to his memory.
The event was again very kindly sponsored by Informa Law of Routledge. The IISTL’s long-standing association with the firm of Routledge is a tribute to IISTL’s continuing faith in it, and its faith in the IISTL: it is a support of which all at the IISTL are very proud.
After the conference, Professor Soyer, Director of the IISTL, commented:
“We in the IISTL have always led the academic research pack in commercial and shipping law. I certainly hope this event has been useful to all who participated. I am enormously grateful to the delegates and speakers, most of whom travelled a long distance to be with us at Swansea. Thanks are also due to our research assistants and members for the work they put in to make this year’s event the great success it was. We are already thinking of next year’s event! Keep your diaries free.”