Rebecca Armstrong

Full Profile

Rebecca has extensive experience of dispute resolution in oil & gas, international trading, shipping and general commercial litigation.  Her clients include oil & gas companies, rig, FPSO and vessel owners, and oil, gas, chemicals and soft commodity traders.

She has conducted numerous disputes in the High Court in London, and in Arbitration under LMAA, LCIA, ICC UNCITRAL, FOSFA and GAFTA rules.  She has also represented clients in a number of successful mediations.  Her experience extends to assisting clients with day to day legal issues, including strategic and operational issues, such as the drafting of trading contracts and charterparties, and advising on general terms and conditions.

Rebecca also has experience of obtaining freezing injunctions in support of arbitration, enforcing Awards, expedition (in both the Courts and arbitration) and obtaining security.

Rebecca represents clients from various jurisdictions handling disputes in accordance with English Law, and her practice has a particular focus on clients located in South America and Asia, which accounts for a large proportion of her work.

Experience

Oil & Gas

• Multi-jurisdictional proceedings, including obtaining six Partial Awards and 61 interlocutory orders in Paris-seated UNCITRAL arbitration, French commercial court injunction overturned, English High Court and Court of Appeal judgments (PetroSaudi Oil Services (Venezuela) Ltd 25/01/2017).  The Court of Appeal proceedings were expedited so as to be brought on and decided within four months of the first instance judgment, and serve as authority for letter of credit issues.
• Acting in major LCIA arbitration (set down for six weeks) involving a rig supplied with significant defects in virtually every system, in which the drilling contract was terminated, and where we successfully obtained an offer of settlement at several times the contractual limit.

Trading

• Advising clients on a range of international trade issues including their FOB/CIF/DES (including hybrid) terms and conditions for sales of commodities, petrochemicals, crude oil and products.
• Handling day to day trading issues and disputes, including recently advising on termination, non-payment, right to reject, late and short delivery, quality disputes, force majeure and certificate final clauses.
• Recent experience in several FOSFA arbitrations including advising clients in relation to claims against them under a purchase contract and their indemnity claim under a sale contract in relation to a string sale.
• Advising clients in relation to disputes involving non-payment under physical and paper trading contracts.
• Advising a client on trading and shipping issues including successfully recovering a sizeable relief cargo held ransom on an arrested ship in Istanbul.

Shipping

• Advising clients on voyage and time charter disputes, including exercise of lien over cargo or freight, claims for loss or damage to cargo, authority of brokers, accuracy in Q88's, unsafe ports, vessel arrest, freight payable as overage, unseaworthiness, misdelivery of cargoes, vetting issues, letters of indemnity, the re-delivery of vessels on time charterparties, off-hire provisions and demurrage disputes.
• An arbitration relating to the failure of a VLCC to commence the approach voyage on time and meet the ETA and laycan in a voyage charterparty.
• Drafting clauses in both spot and time charters.

Security/Enforcement

• Advising clients on measures to secure their claims and to enforce arbitration awards and Court judgments in multiple jurisdictions (ship arrest, freezing orders, etc).