Our People
Sarah Hunt
Partner
Geneva
Cours de Rive 13-15
6th Floor
1204 Geneva
Switzerland
Office Telephone: +41 (0)22 322 4800
Office Fax: +41 (0)22 322 4888
Direct Dial (Geneva): +41 (0)22 322 4816
Mobile: +41 (0)79 281 5875
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More about Sarah
Sarah acts for a range of trading companies, charterers and owners in shipping and international trade disputes. Her work involves petroleum products, gasoil, cement, coal, bitumen, steel and other metals, ethanol and soft commodities. She has particular experience in sale contracts, charterparties, bills of lading, LC / trade finance issues and has been successful in numerous claims involving arbitration or litigation. Her recent matters include the widely reported Taurus v SOMO, in which the Supreme Court overturned the Power Curber decision and held that there is no special rule relating to debts represented by LCs. Henceforth, an LC can be arrested where the debtor is, i.e. where the LC is opened; see: http://www.hfw.com/Supreme-Court-clarifies-situs-of-debts-represented-by-letters-of-credit.
Sarah frequently deals with trading cases involving banking or physical fraud. She arrests assets and bank accounts as part of multi-jurisdictional solutions using English, Swiss and other legal remedies to bring criminal and civil claims against defaulting and/or fraudulent counterparties misusing contracts, final and binding certificates or financial instruments.
She advises banks, shipping and trading companies on a range of complex compliance and export control issues focusing on US, EU and Swiss sanctions. She was part of the HFW team awarded the World ECR Sanction Law Firm of the Year (Europe) in 2017.
Sarah is regularly recognised by Legal 500 EMEA, with clients praising her and the team's "fast response", "very deep and sound expertise in commodities and shipping" and ability to "transmit complex matters in a comprehensive language which can be understood also by someone who is not a legal expert."
Sarah is qualified in New South Wales (Australia) and is registered with the Foreign Section of the Ordre des Avocats de Genève.
For our Common Issues in Oil Trading Articles, see:
Commodities: Common Issues in Oil Trading Contracts, Part 2: Time for Delivery & Laycan
Commodities: Common Issues in Oil Trading Contracts, Part 3: Demurrage in Sales Contracts
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