Areas of expertise

International & Travel

The International & Travel practice group brings together barristers who specialise in cases with an international dimension. We act in international disputes in all of our areas of expertise, including personal injury, employment, product liability, professional negligence and insurance. We regularly act for and against tour operators, travel agents, airlines, ship-owners, P&I clubs, global corporations, and insurers.

We are instructed in international personal injury claims in the context of road traffic, sea, aviation, and sporting accidents, food poisoning and infections, assaults, occupational disease, negligent medical or cosmetic treatment, human rights, torture, and sexual abuse. We are expert in dealing with claims brought under the Package Travel Regulations 1992 and the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018, including the recovery disputes that often follow. Recent high-profile cases include X v Kuoni (CA) and Clay v TUI (CA).

The group has specialist experience in large group actions, and has been instructed in some of the most high-profile litigation in this field, including the Kenyan Emergency Group Litigation and the Iraqi Civilian Litigation. We were instructed in the Bomu-Bonny Oil Pipeline Litigation, believed to be the UK’s largest environmental action.

Our barristers are expert in dealing with jurisdictional issues, in relation to claims under the Judgments Regulation Recast concerning European-domiciled Defendants; service out of the jurisdiction under CPR part 6; and in relation to intra-UK claims. Notable cases include: Owusu v Jackson (ECJ); Cook v Virgin Media (CA); Hoteles Pinero Canarias v Keefe (SC) and Noble Caledonia Limited v Air Niugini Limited (QB). 12KBW barristers have also advised on jurisdiction post-Brexit.

Members regularly advise on choice of law under the Rome II and Rome I Regulations, and on the application of foreign law including limitation and the assessment and quantification of loss according to foreign law. 12KBW barristers work with a network of foreign lawyers and recommend experts to advise on foreign law claims.

We are increasingly recognised in aviation litigation. Click here to read more about our work in this area.

The team has represented clients in claims brought in England and Wales from Europe, Australia, Africa, North and South America, the Middle and Far-East, as well as appearing in claims outside England and Wales, including the British Overseas Territories and the Channel Islands. We recently appeared in the Courts of Appeal in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands in cases involving the appropriate discount rate to be applied when assessing damages.

Our barristers are fluent in a range of languages including French, German, Spanish, Italian, Gujarati, Hindi and Farsi.

A team of barristers from our International & Travel team author the Accidents Abroad section of Butterworths Personal Injury Litigation Service.

VIEW BARRISTERS SPECIALISING IN THIS AREA