Julianne Hughes-Jennett is a partner in Quinn Emanuel’s London office. Julianne is a solicitor advocate with full rights of audience for civil matters at all levels of the English Courts.
She is a versatile disputes lawyer with extensive experience of complex, high-value commercial disputes and investigations including in the financial services, natural resources, life sciences, and technology and telecommunications sectors. She is a specialist in group litigation and her practice also straddles ESG litigation, securities litigation, white collar crime, and investigations, including follow data breaches. She advises regularly on corporate liability under tort law, climate change litigation and liability for untrue or misleading statements or failures, including greenwashing. She also has significant experience in litigation funding. Julianne also advises on employment law matters, including whistleblowing and discrimination claims.
Julianne “has real arbitration experience and expertise” and is recognized as being “very smart and reliable” (Legal 500, 2019) and “very commercial and sharp” (Legal 500, 2022). A dynamic lawyer based in London, Julianne Hughes-Jennett comes recommended for her significant expertise in important litigation matters relating to human rights – “she is a great business and human rights litigation lawyer” (Chambers, 2023). She is perceived as "very versatile, able to go into detail and deal across civil and arbitration aspects together with criminal aspects that are also relevant for cases." Other sources describe her as "sharp and analytical," with a client adding: "She is extremely meticulous and hard-working." (Chambers, 2020). "Julianne is an excellent lawyer" (Chambers, 2023).
- Acting in a landmark prosecution of corporate executives accused of complicity in war crimes.
- Lead Counsel in a number of significant claims concerning the scope of a tortious duty of care for the acts of third parties.
- Advising on group claims under CPR 19.6 concerning civil bribery.
- Lead Counsel in landmark securities/ESG litigation against Glencore under s90/s90A of FSMA.
- Lead Counsel in diesel emissions litigation on behalf of a major manufacturer.
- Acting for administrators in connection with litigation in various jurisdictions, including interacting with regulators.
- Acting for bondholders in connection with potential claims in fraud.
- Acting for a number of clients in potential claims before the European Court of Human Rights concerning violations of Article 10, Article 8 and Article 1, Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights
- Acted for Churchill Mining Plc in the interim stages of an investment arbitration against the government of the Republic of Indonesia.
- Acted for a major energy company in relation to a group litigation action concerning oil spills in the Niger Delta.
- Member of the team that obtained summary judgment for Talisman Energy, a major energy company, sued in a class action on behalf of 300,000 southern Sudanese.
- Acted for the majority shareholders of Nemiroff Vodka in an LCIA arbitration commenced by the minority shareholders, together with advising on related proceedings in the BVI, Cyprus and Russia.
- Acted for clients in the natural resources sector with respect to claims arising under Joint Operating Agreements and related contracts.
- Acted for a multinational energy company in an arbitral claim concerning rights to an offshore oil block in Central America.
- Advised a multinational company in two arbitrations relating to ship building contracts.
- Advised a Latin America group in relation to a number of arbitrations following the global down turn.
- Transnational Litigation
- Energy Sector Disputes
- Lender Liability & Other Banking Financial Institution Litigation
- Bankruptcy & Restructuring
- Environmental, Social and Governance ("ESG") Practice
- Mergers & Acquisitions Litigation
- Class Action Litigation
- Middle East & North Africa Practice
- Crisis Law & Strategy Group
- Environmental Litigation
- Investigations, Government Enforcement & White Collar Criminal Defense Practice
- Litigation Representing Plaintiffs
- Russia Disputes Practice
- Queens University
(LL.M., Human Rights, 2014) - University of Oxford, Lady Margaret Hall
(B.A., Jurisprudence, 1998)
- Solicitor, England and Wales
- The Lawyer, Hot 100, Human Rights and ESG Litigation (2024)
- Chambers Crisis & Risk Management, Environmental, Social & Governance Risk, Band 3, 2024
- "We are very happy to work with Julianne Hughes-Jennett. We use her on litigation and human rights issues. She has very deep sectoral knowledge." "Julianne Hughes-Jennett is an excellent and approachable lawyer with deep expertise." "Julianne demonstrated very strong expertise and dedications in the work for the best interests of the client."
- Best Lawyers in the UK for Public International Law (2024-2025)
- Band 1. Chambers Global - Global Market Leaders - Business & Human Rights Law, 2024
- Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Litigators Guide for International Disputes (2023-2024)
- Legal 500, Listed individual - International Arbitration and Public International law (2019-2024)
- Chambers and Partners Global, Band 2 – Business & Human Rights Law (2020-2023)
- Chambers and Partners Global, Band 3 - Business & Human Rights Law (2019)
- Chambers Global, Business & Human Rights Law (Global-wide) (2018-2019)
- LexisNexis Legal Awards, Award for International Legal Services (2018)
- American Bar Association, International Pro Bono Rule of Law Award (2016-2017)
- 30 October 2023 – “Report on use of ESG contractual obligations and related disputes”, ESG Subcommittee of the IBA Arbitration Committee
- 26 October 2023 - “ESG claims against directors: contending with the changing climate”, Practical Law Global
- 21 August 2020 - “Kenyan Workers File Complaint Against Unilever with UN Human Rights Bodies”, Opinio Juris
- 30 July 2020 – “Corporate Human Rights Due Diligence in times of COVID-19”, EJIL:Talk!
- 26 June 2020 – “Resolving Supply Chain Disputes in Compliance With the UN Guiding Principles”, Oxford Business Law Blog
- 19 June 2020 - "Business Views on Mandatory Human Rights Due Diligence Regulation: A Comparative Analysis of Two Recent Studies", Business and Human Rights Journal, Cambridge University Press
- 24 March 2020 - Kalma v African Minerals: English Court of Appeal Judgment Cuts Against the Grain of Common Law Cases on the Responsibility of Businesses for Overseas Human Rights Impacts
- 13 February 2020 - Julianne Hughes-Jennett, quoted in London Times on Quinn Emanuel's landmark research: "A UK Failure to Prevent Mechanism for Corporate Human Rights Harms".
- February 2020 – "A UK Failure to Prevent Mechanism for Corporate Human Rights Harms", British Institute of International and Comparative Law.
- July 2019 – What Role for Human Rights in Business?, Political Quarterly, Volume 90, Issue 3, Pages 347-602.
- May 2019 – The Implication of the UK Supreme Court’s Decision in Vedanta for the Management of Human Rights Risk in Overseas Operations and Supply Chains, Oxford Business Law Blog.
- February 2019 – Modern Slavery Act – Stricter Reporting Requirements on the Horizon.
- December 2018 – Supply Chain Liability Under the Law of Negligence: What Does Jabir and Others v. Kik Textilien Mean for European Companies with Supply Chains in the Sub-Continent and Other Common Law Countries?
- December 2018 – The Australian Modern Slavery Bill: The Next Frontier Corporate Accountability for Adverse Human Rights Impacts.
- December 2017 – “Jurisdiction and Parent Company Liability: A Catch 22 for English Domiciled Companies”, Practical Law, Thomson Reuters, Vol. Xxviii, Number 11.
- Member of the Advisory Board for the British Institute of International and Comparative Law’s Human Rights Due Diligence Forum
- ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR as a member of the Task Force on Emergency Arbitrator Proceedings
- European Society of International Law
- Arbitral Women
- British Institute of International and Comparative Law
- Visiting Fellow at the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law
- ICC Consultative Task Force on the Revision of the ADR Rules, Expertise Rules and Dispute Board Rules