Meet Our Team
Quentin Bargate
Founder, Chief Executive Officer
Tel: +44 (0) 207 375 1393
Email: quentin@bargatemurray.com
Quentin Bargate qualified as a solicitor in 1981 and has since spent his entire career in top City of London law firms, including running his own highly regarded firm, Bargate Murray, where he is head of the firm’s Superyacht and Dispute Resolution Groups as well as being the firm’s CEO. Client sources comment on the “huge amount of litigation experience” that Quentin has, adding that he is “very well connected” and “knows his stuff.” A satisfied client appreciates that “Quentin is extremely professional, experienced and knowledgeable in addition to being very approachable.”
Source: Chambers HNW Guide 2023).
Quentin says: “In 2004, I fulfilled a lifetime ambition when I set up my own law firm, Quentin Bargate & Co. (renamed Bargate Murray in 2006). We incorporated in 2013. I had been a partner in Simmons & Simmons and Head of its International Trade and Shipping Group and a member of the Litigation Department and Arbitration Groups where I developed specialist skills in superyacht contracts and disputes as well as commercial shipping and trade. Bargate Murray was a new challenge – to take all that knowledge I had gained over 14 years from a big City of London international practice, and offer it to clients who wanted a nimbler, more responsive service from a specialist firm.”
Bargate Murray is highly ranked in the Chambers HNW 2019 Guide for ‘Yachts & Superyachts’, and the Guide recognises Quentin as a Leading Individual for his expertise in this practice.
Quentin is an advocate for alternative dispute resolution (ADR), but he also deals with cases in court when required. He occasionally sits as an arbitrator.
Quentin is a member of the Baltic Exchange, the Maritime Authority of the Cayman Islands yacht committee. He holds a Master’s degree in Marine law, is a member of the LMAA, a Member of the Nautical Institute, a member of the IOD, a member of the Royal Thames Yacht Club, and a Freeman of the City of London.
His other interests include photography (Elsevier has published a technical book on stock photography “Microstock Photography” written by Quentin under his pen name Douglas Freer), music and his family.
Many large cases dealt with by Quentin and his team are arbitrations and thus confidential, so the following matters are merely some examples of the breadth of work as litigators that we handle:
- Goodwood Investments Holdings Inc. v Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions AG [2018] EWHC 1056 (Comm). This was a large and complex arbitration that briefly went to court and has now settled (2019).
- A substantial cross border ad hoc international arbitration in which the client defeated a $30m counterclaim and settled its own claim for Euro 6 million for Euro 5 million, a near complete success (2019).
- Consolidated Contractors (Oil and Gas) Company SAL (acting by Mr. Lee Manning as receiver) v Canadian Nexen Petroleum Yemen & Others [2011] EWHC 837 (QB).Cross border receivership litigation involving Yemeni, Lebanese and English law (amongst others), concerning the unprecedented attempt by an English court-appointed receiver to gain control of foreign assets located in the Middle East. The case eventually settled.
- Gamit Ltd v Saudi Arabian Airlines Corp & Anor [2011] EWHC 989. Successfully defending the maintenance division of a jet engine manufacturer in a dispute over title to replacement jet engine parts.
- Madoff Securities International Ltd (In liquidation) v Raven & Ors [2013] EWHC 3147. Defending a director allegedly involved in a global Ponzi scheme in litigation brought by the liquidator of an English Company.
- Street v Larkins [2013] EWHC 1408 (Ch). Representing the Defendants in their successful defence of an interim application for a freezing injunction and the Defendants successful application for wasted costs. The Defendants were awarded their wasted costs on the basis of the Claimants’ unreasonable refusal to consent to an adjournment of the trial date. Claimants’ application for freezing injunction was dismissed on the grounds of failing to establish a “good arguable” case during the trial window.
- Charterparty dispute advice.
- Successfully litigating and eventually settling on favourable terms a highly complex and fractious corporate dispute between shareholders, where the majority shareholders sought to exclude our clients from their share of the profits in a real estate investment vehicle by devising elaborate commercial structures across a number of European jurisdictions. The settlement included payment to our clients of a substantial cash payment and the agreement on the part of the Defendants to pay our client’s costs on an indemnity basis.
- Successfully settling a professional negligence action brought by a high net worth individual with considerable real estate investments which were exposed by the repeated failures of a renowned top 20 law firm.
Some of Quentin’s recent transactions include:
- $200m new build contract advice for an award-winning superyacht.
- Advice on Seafarer Employment Agreements, including in regard to the first yacht successfully to pass an MLC audit for the Cayman flag.
- Advice in importation of several yachts in to the European Union for VAT purposes, and on Temporary Admission matters.
- Sale of a 61m superyacht to a Russian buyer.
- Purchase of a 48m Superyacht and its commercial registration and use.
- Yacht management agreements for leading yacht managers.
- Aviation and maritime advice in regard to a UHNW individual.
- Acting for a yacht builder in regard to construction agreements.
For more information, or to get in touch with Quentin, please email quentin@bargatemurray.com