Sir Nigel Teare

Sir Nigel Teare sat as a judge of the King’s Bench Division from 2006 until his retirement from the High Court bench on 30 September 2020. He now accepts appointments as arbitrator.

In 2011 he was nominated the Admiralty judge. He was appointed judge in charge of the Commercial Court from October 2017 until 2020. He decided many of the most high-profile cases across many different business sectors.

In his last year on the bench he decided which of two claimants to the Presidency of Venezuela was entitled to give instructions to the Bank of England regarding Venezuela’s gold reserves (Deutsche Bank and Bank of England v Central Bank of Venezuela [2020] EWHC 1721 (Comm), who was party to a shareholders’ agreement concerning a valuable site in central Moscow (Filatona and Deripaska v Navigator and Chernukhin [2019] EWHC 173 (Comm), whether a shipowner had scuttled his ship by arranging for it to be attacked by persons pretending to be pirates (Suez Fortune v Talbot Underwriting [2019] EWHC 259 (Comm), whether Liverpool Football Club was entitled to have Nike sponsor its football shirts (New Balance Athletics v Liverpool FC [2019] EWHC 2837 (Comm) and whether a defective passage plan rendered a vessel unseaworthy (Alise 1954 v Allianz [2019] EWHC 481 (Admlty).

In January 2026, he was appointed as an International Judge to the Supreme Court of Singapore. He will serve on the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) Bench for one year. The SICC is a division of the General Division of the Singapore High Court and part of the Supreme Court of Singapore.

e: nigel.teare@arb10fs.com

t: +44 (0)20 7583 4444

Recent Arbitration Appointments

Since 2020, he has been appointed arbitrator in over 125 disputes in the commercial, financial and maritime sectors and has produced over 25 Awards.
Sir Nigel has been appointed arbitrator (either as presiding arbitrator, co-arbitrator or sole arbitrator) in LCIA, DIFC, SIAC, SCMA, ICC and ad hoc arbitrations, involving disputes in many commercial sectors including the exploration of oil, the sale and purchase of alternative energy companies, aircraft conversion, aircraft leasing, financial management, the sale and purchase of oil, the storage of oil, joint venture partnerships, guarantees, the effect of sanctions in the banking, derivative trading and commodity sectors and the regulation of sport.
Sir Nigel has also been appointed arbitrator (again either as presiding arbitrator, co-arbitrator or sole arbitrator) in many LMAA arbitrations involving claims under bills of lading, charterparties, contracts for the sale and purchase of ships and shipbuilding contracts.

Experience

International Judge to the Supreme Court of Singapore 2026-2027

Serves on the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) Bench. The SICC is a division of the General Division of the Singapore High Court and part of the Supreme Court of Singapore.

High Court Judge 2006-2020

Judge of the Queen’s Bench Division sitting, primarily, in the Commercial and Admiralty Courts
Judge in charge of the Commercial Court 2018-2020
Presiding Judge on the Western Circuit 2013-2017
Admiralty Judge 2011-2020

Practice at the Bar 1975-2006 in Commercial and Admiralty matters

1989-1991 Treasury Junior in Admiralty
1991 Appointed Queen’s Counsel
1993-2006 Recorder of the Crown Court
1997-2006 Head of Chambers
2000-2006 Acting Deemster of the Isle of Man High Court
2000-2006 Appeal Arbitrator for Lloyd’s Salvage Disputes
2002-2006 Deputy High Court Judge

Selection of cases decided in the Commercial and Admiralty Courts

Contractual disputes between men of business:

Dhanani v Crasnianski [2011] EWHC 926 (Comm)
Grizzly Business v Stena Drilling [2014] EWHC 1920 (Comm)
BV Nederlandse v Rembrandt Enterprises [2018] EWHC 1857 (Comm)
Filatona v Navigator [2019] EWHC 173 (Comm)
Atlas Residential Solutions v Greengate [2020] EWHC 366 (Comm)

Investment Disputes:

WestLB v Nomura Bank [2010] EWHC 863 (Comm)
Zaki and others v Credit Suisse [2011] EWHC 2422 (Comm)
Gold Reserve Inc v Republic of Venezuela [2016] EWHC 153 (Comm)
Medsted v Cannacord Genuity Wealth [2017] EWHC 1815 (Comm)

Banking Disputes

Berghoff Trading v Swinbrook Developments [2008] EWHC 1785 (Comm)
Enka v Banco Popolare [2009] EWHC 2410 (Comm)
Societe Generale v Saad Trading [2011] EWHC 2424 (Comm)
Deutsche Bank v Unitech Global [2013] EWHC 2793 (Comm)
National Bank of Kazakhstan v Bank of New York Mellon [2020] EWHC 916 (Comm)
Deutsche Bank and Bank of England v Central Bank of Venezuela [2020] EWHC 1721 (Comm)

Insurance Disputes

Aspen Insurance v Pectel [2008] EWHC 2804 (Comm)
Horwood and others v Land of Leather [2010] EWHC 546 (Comm)
All Leisure Holidays v Europaische Reiseversicherung AG [2011] EWHC 2629 (Comm)
The Seashell of Lisson Grove v Aviva [2011] EWHC 1761 (Comm)
PT Buana v Maritime Mutual Insurance [2011] EWHC 2413 (Comm)
San Evans Maritime v Aigaion Insurance [2014] EWHC 163 (Comm)

Fraud

In the insurance business, Markel v Surety Guarantee [2008] EWHC 1135 (Comm)
In the insurance of houses, Parker v NFU [2012] EWHC 2156 (Comm)
In the banking sector, JSC BTA Bank v Ablyazov and others [2013] EWHC 510 (Comm)
In the insurance of ships, Suez Fortune v Talbot Underwriting [2019] EWHC 259 (Comm)

Commodities

Vitoil v Conoil [2009] EWHC 1144 (Comm)
Vinergy International v Richmond Mercantile [2016] EWHC 525 (Comm)
Cargil International v Utam Galva Steels [2018] EWHC 2977 (Comm)
Septo v Tintrade [2020] EWHC 1795 (Comm)

Sporting merchandise

SDI Retail Services v Rangers FC [2018] EWHC 2772 (Comm)
New Balance Athletics v Liverpool FC [2019] EWHC 2837 (Comm)

Carriage by sea:

Pace Shipping v Churchgate Nigeria [2009] EWHC 1975 (Comm)
Great Elephant v Trafigura [2012] EWHC 1745 (Comm)
Standard Chartered Bank v Dorchester LNG [2013] EWHC 808 (Comm)
Ocean Victory [2013] EWHC 2199 (Comm)
Oldendorrf v Sea Powerful II [2016] EWHC 3212 (Comm)
Cape Bonny [2017] EWHC 3036 (Comm)
Classic Maritime v Limbungan [2018] EWHC 2389 (Comm)
Alise 1954 v Allianz [2019] EWHC 481 (Admlty)

Ship sale:

Inta Navigation v Ranch Investments [2009] EWHC 1216 (Comm)
Griffon Shipping v Firodi Shipping [2013] EWHC 593 (Comm)

Oil and Gas Exploration:

Seadrill Ghana Operations v Tullow Ghana [2018] EWHC 1640 (Comm)

Shipbuilding:

Korea Shipbuilding and others v Whale Corporation and others [2020] EWHC 631

Collisions at sea

MIOM1 v Sea Echo [2010] EWHC 3180 (Admlty)
Samco Europe and MSC Prestige [2011] EWHC 1580 (Admlty)
Nordlake v Sea Eagle [2015] EWHC 3605 (Admlty)
Nautical Challenge v Evergreen Marine [2017] EWHC 453 (Admlty)

Arbitration:

Michael Wilson and Partners v Emmot [2008] EWHC 2684 (Comm)
Sheffield United FC v West Ham United FC [2008] EWHC 2855 (Comm)
Broda Agro Trade v Alfred C. Toepfer [2009] EWHC 3318 (Comm)
ED and F Man Sugar v Belmont Shipping [2011] EWHC 2992 (Comm)
Transgrain Shipping v Deiulemar Shipping [2014] EWHC 4202 (Comm)
Tonicstar v Allianze [2017] EWHC 2753 (Comm)
UMS Holdings v Great Station Properties [2017] EWHC 2398 (Comm)
VTB Commodities v JSC Antipinsky [2019] EWHC 2392 (Comm)

Memberships

LCIA

LMAA (supporting member)

The Baltic Exchange