Richard Gimblett
Consultant
About Richard
Richard is a dispute resolution lawyer with particular expertise in aviation, insurance and commercial litigation. Richard also regularly advises airlines and other aviation industry entities and trade bodies on complex commercial disputes.
A past in-house legal adviser at the UK CAA, Richard’s practice includes both aviation liability and regulatory issues. Richard’s experience includes acting as lead partner in a number of high-profile aviation claims in the Middle East and the wider region, including the Turkish Airlines losses at Van (1994) and Diyarkabir (2003) and the Flash Airlines loss at Sharm el Sheikh (2004). He is currently acting for Mozambique Airlines and its insurers in relation to the loss of flight TM 470 on 29 November 2013 and for flydubai and its insurers in relation to the loss of flight FZ 981 on 19 March 2016. He regularly advises carriers (both regional and international) on the development and application of aviation regulatory and consumer law in the MENA region.
Richard also works closely with other members of HFW’s jets and helicopters team, providing market-leading advice across jets, helicopters and general business aviation in financing, sale and purchase, leasing, regulation, insurance, contingency planning, emergency response and dispute resolution.
Richard is qualified in England and Wales.
What the market says about Richard
Richard is ranked as a ‘Spotlight’ lawyer in UAE Transportation: Aviation by Chambers Global 2025.
Richard is also listed as a Global Elite Thought Leader in Aviation Contentious and Aviation Regulatory in the Lexology Index 2025.
Richard is recognised as a Key Lawyer by Legal 500 EMEA 2023 who say he has “significant experience of aviation, insurance, and commercial litigation” and praise him as “highly experienced in aviation insurance”.
Richard has been listed as one of the top 10 aviation contentious lawyers in the world by the International Who’s Who of Aviation Lawyers in both 2019 and 2020 and was ranked as one of the top 5 aviation regulatory lawyers globally by Who’s Who Legal Transport 2016, which described him as “world-class”.