Clementine Makower
Call 2020
Instruct Clementine
To instruct Clementine please contact our clerks on +44 (0)20 7842 5555 or email [email protected].
Clementine Makower has experience in a broad range of commercial disputes in litigation and arbitration.
Clementine is regularly instructed in matters spanning Chambers’ practice areas including shipping and shipbuilding, construction, insurance, professional negligence and banking, both in her own right and as a junior. Clementine has been instructed in several substantial international arbitration hearings, led by silks in Chambers. In August 2023 Clementine completed a secondment at Nordisk, a leading defence club based in Oslo.
Clementine is part of the Attorney General’s Junior Juniors Scheme and is currently instructed on a high-value and complex government case.
Before coming to the Bar, Clementine studied Geography at the University of Cambridge and graduated with the highest mark in her year. She then studied Chinese at Tianjin Foreign Studies University for four months and completed an internship at a Chinese law firm specialising in shipping and insurance law. While studying the BPTC she taught undergraduate law at City University as a visiting lecturer.
Clementine’s recent experience includes:
- Commercial disputes and arbitration
- Shipping and shipbuilding
- Construction
- Insurance
- Technology & Telecoms
- Banking
- Professional Negligence
Shipping, shipbuilding and international trade
Clementine has particular interest and experience in shipping law. She is regularly instructed in LMAA and other arbitrations on her own and as a junior. Clementine has experience in charterparty disputes, cargo claims, shipbuilding and jurisdictional issues. She is a member of the YMP (Young Maritime Professionals) Committee and has given talks on related topics, including speaking at an oil operations and demurrage conference in May 2022.
Featured Shipping, shipbuilding and international trade cases
In August 2023 Clementine spent five weeks on secondment at Nordisk, a leading defence club based in Oslo, where she gained experience in a wide range of charterparty issues.
Acted with Christopher Hancock KC and Alexander Wright KC in a technically and legally complex three-week shipping arbitration.
Acted with Sean O’Sullivan KC in a multi-million dollar unsafe port dispute, culminating in a two-week Hong-Kong seated arbitration.
Acted with Alexander Wright KC in a four-day arbitration in a shipbuilding dispute about the sale and purchase of offshore equipment.
Instructed with Alexander Wright KC in a charterparty dispute involving the imposition of sanctions.
Instructed with Sean O’Sullivan KC in a section 69 appeal on a point of law from an arbitration award involving novel issues about the arrest of a vessel and the application of the Supreme Court decision in The Global Santosh [2016] UKSC 20.
Instructed as junior to Sean O’Sullivan KC in an LMAA arbitration in a shipbuilding dispute, successfully obtaining an award for specific performance of the obligation to deliver the vessel.
Advised (with Alexander Wright KC) on issues of jurisdiction and enforcement arising out of a charterparty dispute.
Frequently instructed in time and voyage charterparty disputes. Recent experience includes claims relating to freight, hire and off-hire, laytime and demurrage, detention and the exercise of a lien.
Instructed as sole counsel in a charterparty dispute which turned on the interpretation and application of the BIMCO Infectious or Contagious Diseases Clause in relation to delays due to Covid-19 testing and quarantine, and secured a successful outcome.
Frequently instructed in marine insurance claims. Previous experience includes advising on frustration in relation to a fire on a yacht, shipbuilding/defects disputes and professional negligence.
Assisted with Argos Pereira Espana SL & anor v Athenian Marine Ltd (mv “Frio Dolphin”), including on the novel issue of whether the doctrine of transferred loss applies to equitable compensation claims.
Construction
Clementine has been instructed in a range of construction disputes (litigation and adjudication) involving contractual issues and professional negligence.
Featured Construction cases
Instructed as a junior to draft Particulars of Claim in a multi-million pound construction dispute involving cladding, fire safety issues and compliance with the Building Regulations 2010.
Instructed as a junior in an adjudication involving defective works.
Assisted in an expert determination regarding a local authority recycling agreement, which concerned various contractual issues and the effect of a duty to act in good faith.
Assisted in advising a building contractor on whether it was entitled to an extension of time and/or prolongation costs in relation to delays to construction projects caused by Covid-19 and associated lockdowns.
Assisted in drafting position statements for two mediations involving claims against building contractors.
Assisted with trial preparation on a multi-million pound construction dispute involving alleged fraudulent misrepresentations about the methodology a contractor would employ throughout a building project.
Insurance
Featured Insurance cases
Frequently instructed in subrogated claims, particularly involving P&I clubs in relation to charterparty disputes. Recently acted in an arbitration involving issues about the impact of a P&I club’s subrogation on the recoverability of loss claimed.
Frequently instructed in maritime insurance claims.
Instructed to advise on a coverage dispute involving the interpretation of various exclusion clauses.
Instructed as sole counsel to defend a health insurance claim involving alleged fraudulent representations.
Other commercial litigation
Featured Other commercial litigation cases
Instructed as a junior in a multi-million pound lending dispute to research a novel issue of mitigation of loss by a special purpose vehicle established for a specific transaction.
Instructed to advise on whether brokers retaining commission amounts to a conflict of interest and/or breach of fiduciary duties.
Instructed in various disputes involving gambling and betting.
Instructed as sole counsel to defend a claim for management time brought by an independent financial adviser against a pension provider.
Frequently instructed by banks in relation to PPI disputes.
Assisted with submissions to the Court of Appeal in a fraud case, in relation to whether an innocent party that receives cash from a fraudster should have to give credit for the “time value” of that cash as a “benefit received” from the transaction: Tuke v Hood [2022] EWCA 23.
Assisted with and observed a summary judgment hearing in relation to a gambling case, on the issue of whether a gambling company should pay “winnings” won by a player due to a software glitch in an online game.
IT
Featured IT cases
Worked on a claim brought by a software development company against a large retailer for money due in relation to the building of a website. The dispute concerned the scope of the contractor’s obligations to service and upgrade the website and the extent to which problems were caused by customisations demanded by the retailer.
Worked on a case involving intellectual property licenses for hydrogen fuel cell technology, including drafting an advice on whether the license was terminable on reasonable notice.
BPP virtual Pupillage Fair 2023
On 15 November, Clementine Makower, Jacob Haddad and Caroline Jackson will be attending the virtual BPP Pupillage...
Tenke Fungurume Mining S.A. v Katanga Contracting Services S.A.S. [2021] EWHC 3301 (Comm): High Court upholds award of third-party funding costs-...
The recent decision of Mrs Justice Moulder DBE in a challenge to an arbitration award brought under section 68 of the...
Galtrade Ltd v BP Oil International Limited [2021] EWHC 1796 (Comm)
The recent decision of Adrian Beltrami KC (sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court) provides useful guidance on the...
Instruct Clementine
To instruct Clementine please contact our clerks on +44 (0)20 7842 5555 or email [email protected].
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