Sarah Hunt
Partner
About Sarah
Sarah acts for a range of trading companies, charterers and owners in shipping and international trade disputes. Her work involves petroleum products, crude, gasoil, cement, coal, bitumen, steel and ferrous as well as non-ferrous metals, ethanol and soft commodities including grains, soyabeans, oils and seeds, sugar, coffee and cocoa. Her most high-profile matter was Taurus v SOMO, in which the Supreme Court overturned the Power Curber decision and held that there is no special rule of jurisdiction relating to debts represented by LCs. She has successfully litigated or settled in favour of or to client satisfaction, all Commercial Court claims. Her litigation profile includes freezing orders arising out of various frauds, hedging losses, defaults on sale contracts (failure to perform), off-specification cargo quantum disputes and non-delivery disputes. Impressively, she has also recovered judgment sums awarded against recalcitrant defendants including a significant proportion of costs.
Her arbitration record is similarly impressive. In 2022 she succeeded in two LCIA arbitrations. One involved issues of availability of contractual product, which required technical expert evidence on the distinction between different product grades; the obligations of a seller in the timing of its performance under a delivery window and estoppel. The other required collating extensive expert evidence as to market value and quantum and witness evidence as to whether a deal was cancelled or could be rectified.
She regularly deals with smaller shipping and trading issues ranging from technical demurrage arguments, to disputes under guarantees or other financial instruments, to advice on when it is possible to terminate under a term contract without repudiatory breach, to urgent injunctive relief and complex multi-jurisdictional queries requiring creative solutions for enforcement.
As regards the issue of sanctions, Sarah heads a team of lawyers in Geneva which has advised HFW’s industry clients on shipping, trading, insurance and complex trade finance matters involving multi-jurisdictional sanctions against Russia for its invasion of the Ukraine, spearheading HFW’s pro-active Geneva sanctions team in providing pragmatic, commercial advice with fast turn-around.
She teaches sale contracts at the Universities of Geneva and Fribourg on their master’s degrees in international trade, where HFW’s use of case studies is famous for its practical teaching approach for tomorrow’s industry leaders.
Sarah is regularly recognized 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. She largely practices English law and is recognized as a lead practitioner in commodities and shipping by clients and legal directories, through consistently excellent results.
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