Richard has extensive expertise across the spectrum of commercial litigation, including regular involvement in arbitration and ADR, as well as advisory work. He has particular expertise in insurance and reinsurance and professional negligence matters. Richard’s practice entails handling a high-profile caseload of complex insurance and reinsurance disputes.
Richard has in excess of two decades of experience in advising on and arbitrating/litigating disputes in the insurance and reinsurance fields, including Bermuda Form arbitrations. Notable reported cases include Tesco Stores v D.A.Constable and Rathbone Brothers v Novae in the Court of Appeal and EL Trigger in the Supreme Court. He returned to the Supreme Court in Phoenix Engineering v UK Insurance [2019] UKSC 16. Richard acted for the Financial Conduct Authority in the High Court stage of the Covid-19 Business Interruption test case, leading the junior team of counsel. Brought against 8 leading insurers, the case is a contender for the most important piece of insurance litigation in over a decade - see news article.
Many higher profile cases are the subject of confidential arbitration, but include claims by numerous FTSE 100 companies, international airlines and global engineering companies and major loss events including the 9/11 Attacks, the Lehman Brothers Collapse, Californian Wildfires, Grenfell Tower, Not-Petya Global Cyber Attack, major Aircraft Grounding claims and the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Richard offers expertise in handling fraud in the context of insurance claims, including coverage issues arising from fraudulent activities and the effect of fraudulent conduct in course of pursuing insurance claims, and has extensive experience in mis-selling claims, particularly the mis-selling of investment products including CDO’s, gear-down accumulators and offshore trust related claims.
Richard is frequently involved in reviewing and drafting policy wording and endorsements, including bespoke coverages in the context of mergers and acquisitions.
Richard also acts an arbitrator in insurance and reinsurance disputes and is on the ARIAS panel of arbitrators.
Richard was named Insurance Junior of the Year at the prestigious 2019 Chambers Bar Awards, based on research for the Chambers UK 2020 edition, an award he has also held previously. The Awards are based upon independent research conducted by Chambers UK.
Richard regularly speaks at insurance industry events, with appearances at main-stage events at the annual AIRMIC and BIBA conferences, and has presented insurance and reinsurance seminars in London, Hong Kong and Bermuda.
A published Opinion provided by Richard and Colin Edelman KC was relied upon by an alliance of the UK insurance industry (consisting of Mactavish, Lloyd’s, the LMA, IUA, ABI, BIBA, LIIBA and AIRMIC, collectively representing insurers, brokers and policyholders), in the House of Lords debate on proposed amendments to the Insurance Act 2015. The amendments, including amendments proposed by Colin and Richard, became law with the passing of the Enterprise Act 2016.
Recent cases of note include:
Ranked as a Leading Junior - Insurance, Legal 500 2023.
Ranked as a Leading Junior - Professional Negligence, Legal 500 2023.
A senior junior whose practice encompasses significant international insurance and reinsurance disputes arising in all manner of industries. Harrison regularly handles complex arbitrations. "Richard is responsive and extremely knowledgeable on the topic." "He has a thorough grasp of the detail without losing the big picture." - Insurance, Chambers UK 2022.
"Richard is very familiar with his subject areas, thorough and into the detail, personable, and a pleasure to work with." - Insurance and Reinsurance, Legal 500 2022.
Ranked as a Leading Junior - Professional Negligence, Legal 500 2022.
"He's forensically excellent, lovely to deal with and knows his stuff." "Always willing to engage and dig into the detail." "He's particularly good at driving cases forward." Acted in the final Supreme Court appeal in the long-running dispute between UKI Insurance and R&S Pilling, trading as Phoenix Engineering. The appeal considered whether the UK's compulsory motor insurance regime applied to vehicles being repaired off-road and whether this was affected by EU law - Insurance, Chambers UK Bar 2021
‘Approachable and user-friendly, tailored advice, with impressive drafting skills.’ - Insurance and Reinsurance, Legal 500 2021
‘He is very knowledgeable and a skilled advocate.’ - Professional Negligence, Legal 500 2020
"He has tremendous legal common sense and a thorough grasp of the detail without losing the bigger picture." "An excellent advocate." Led by Colin Edelman QC in R&S Pilling (t/a Phoenix Engineering) v UK Insurance Limited, a Supreme Court appeal concerning what constitutes the 'use' of a motor vehicle for the purposes of determining the liability of motor insurers for damage to third-party property. - Insurance, Chambers UK Bar 2020
'Extremely solutions-focused, a creative thinker, and has in-depth knowledge of insurance.’ - Insurance and Reinsurance, Legal 500 2020
"A very smooth advocate. He's very good at dealing with clients." "He has tremendous legal common sense and a thorough grasp of the detail without losing the big picture." - Insurance, Chambers UK Bar 2019
‘Very user friendly.’ - Professional Negligence, Legal 500 2019
‘A highly regarded senior junior with a focus on insurance and reinsurance practice.’ - Insurance and Reinsurance, Legal 500 2019
"Has tremendous legal common sense and demonstrates a thorough grasp of the detail without losing sight of the big picture." "Richard Harrison has wide-ranging insurance knowledge and is hugely efficient." Defended Enterprise Insurance in a dispute involving the alleged repudiation of a claims management agreement. - Insurance & Reinsurance, Chambers UK 2018
"A practical, sensible and proactive junior with standing in the field." - Insurance and Reinsurance, Legal 500 2017
"Highly rated." - Professional Negligence, Legal 500 2017
"Simply superb. He gives clear, focused advice and is a pleasure to work with." "Extremely sensible, very commercial, very measured and easy to deal with, he knows his insurance and reinsurance inside and out." Defended Enterprise Insurance against allegations of repudiation of a claims management agreement concerning 12,000 third-party insurance claims. - Insurance, Chambers UK 2016
"Immersed in (re)insurance jurisprudence and market practice - at the top of his game" - Insurance, Legal 500 2016
"He provides a deep level of knowledge" - Professional Negligence, Legal 500 2016
Has an almost wholly insurance and reinsurance-centred practice and handles cases with significant multi-jurisdictional aspects. He has received instructions from Hong Kong, Germany and Iceland amongst other places. "Incredibly bright, hard-working, thoughtful and reliable." Acted in the Rathbone Brothers case, which concerned over £100 million in liability coverage disputes. - Insurance, Chambers UK 2016
"He is brilliant, thorough, incisive and strategic – you want him on your team." - Insurance and Reinsurance, Legal 500 2015
"Exceptional." - Professional Negligence, Legal 500 2015
Maintains a highly focused insurance and reinsurance practice, and is adept at handling the more technical cases. His work is increasingly international in scope, and he receives instructions directly from Hong Kong, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, among a number of countries and territories. "He's an exceptionally charming individual. He backs that up with also having a really impressive grasp of the issues and the ability to think laterally about the problems one encounters." Represents an insured professional trustee who is facing a claim in excess of £100 million brought by a number of beneficiaries of the Jack Walker Trust who allege mismanagement of the trust's assets. - Insurance, Chambers UK 2015
"Exceptionally capable and very impressive." - Insurance and Reinsurance, Legal 500 2014
"Very experienced and focussed." - Professional Negligence, Legal 500 2014
Praised for his ability to handle an extensive range of insurance and reinsurance matters. "He has an incisive mind and often manages to bring a different view to issues he is asked to advise on". "Very intelligent, and has a wealth of knowledge on insurance-related matters. He is very approachable, which makes for excellent collaboration". - Chambers UK 2014
"Is the kind of barrister who is always willing to go the extra mile. As well as being technically superb, he is approachable and pleasant to work with." He has experience as both counsel and arbitrator in a wide variety of insurance and reinsurance disputes. - Chambers UK 2013
"Combines technical capability with being very user-friendly; a modern-day senior junior" - Insurance and Reinsurance, Legal 500
"Provides clear, concise and practical advice" and "gets top marks for judgement, balance and application" - Insurance and Reinsurance, Legal 500
"Expresses sound and reliable opinions and brings bright and innovative ideas to a case" - Insurance and Reinsurance, Chambers UK
"Very succinctly sums up matters in a fair way to the court" - Insurance and Reinsurance, Legal 500
Richard is ranked as a leading junior for Insurance and Reinsurance in both Chambers UK ("He has tremendous legal common sense and a thorough grasp of the detail without losing the bigger picture." "An excellent advocate.") and Legal 500 ('Extremely solutions-focused, a creative thinker, and has in-depth knowledge of insurance).” Richard was named Insurance Junior of the Year at the prestigious 2019 Chambers Bar Awards, based on research for the Chambers UK 2020 edition, an award he has also held previously.
Richard has over two decades of experience in advising on and arbitrating/litigating disputes in the insurance and reinsurance fields (including Bermuda Form).
Richard’s experience covers all aspects of insurance and reinsurance, including notification, aggregation, avoidance and fraud, advising re FCA regulation, wordings, TOBAs, binding authorities and claims management contracts, compliance and strategic advice concerning the Insurance Act 2015. He has acted in many high-profile claims, including claims arising from the 9/11 Attacks, the Lehman Brothers Collapse, Californian Wildfires, Grenfell Tower, Not-Petya Global Cyber Attack, major Aircraft Grounding claims and the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Richard regularly vets insurance portfolios and wordings for blue-chip clients, including many FTSE100 and FTSE250 companies.
Richard’s notable reported cases include Tesco Stores v D.A. Constable and Rathbone Brothers v Novae in the Court of Appeal and EL Trigger in the Supreme Court. He returned to the Supreme Court in Phoenix Engineering v UK Insurance [2019] UKSC 16. He is currently leading the junior team of counsel acting for the Financial Conduct Authority in the Covid-19 test claim brought against 8 leading insurers, which is a contender for the most important piece of insurance litigation in over a decade – see news article.
Richard also acts an arbitrator in insurance and reinsurance disputes and is on the ARIAS panel of arbitrators.
Recent work includes:
Notable cases include:
Involvement in many aspects of commercial litigation and advisory work including arbitration and ADR.
Recent cases include:
Richard has been ranked as leading junior by The Legal 500 for several years in professional negligence, where he is described as being ‘very knowledgeable and a skilled advocate.’
Experienced in professional negligence claims involving the insurance sector, legal services, the financial sector, the construction industry, valuers (commercial and residential), accountants and auditors.
Recent cases include (see above for insurance related claims):
Richard Harrison offers expertise in handling fraud in the context of insurance claims, including coverage issues arising from fraudulent activities and the effect of fraudulent conduct in course of pursuing insurance claims.
COMBAR
BILA
LCCBA
ARIAS (UK) Panel Arbitrator
Chancery Bar Association
Insurance Junior of the Year - 2019 Chambers Bar Awards
Squire University Law Scholarship
College Scholarship and Prize
Hardwick Scholarship
Lincoln's Inn Sunley Scholarship - 1990
Lincoln's Inn Hubert-Greenland Scholarship (Major Award)
University of Cambridge, Robinson College M.A (Law Tripos)