Georgina Noakes meets Bill Dorsey, newly elected president of the USMLA
BILL Dorsey is, as I expected, on time. The first things I see as he meets me in the hall of the Army & Navy Club in Pall Mall, London, are his perfectly polished brogues. My mother always said you could tell a lot about a man from his shoes.
"My father was in the US army during the Second World War,...
Alison Shaw-Lloyd tells Chris Hewer why she decided to go it alone
GO placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly. And listen to others, even the dull and ignorant. They too have their story.
Not a bad life plan, that. It is to be...
Tim Taylor talks to Georgina Noakes at The City House, 86 Bishopsgate, London
IT is another wet day in London when I arrive at the offices of Hill Taylor Dickinson. I am met by an array of umbrellas, which I step between to take a peek at Tim Taylor's corner office. It is covered in the usual mess of paperwork that lawyers so love to accumulate. No tidy desk-empty mind policy...
Morten Lund Mathisen, the partner in charge of Wikborg, Rein & Co’s London office, at the bar with John Guy
LA Grande Marque, on London’s Ludgate Circus or Hill, is a rather pretentious winebar only a few steps from Morten Lund Mathisen’s offices near St Pauls Cathedral. But there is nothing pretentious about Morten. He is straightforward Norwegian, slightly modified by...
"THANK you Mr Hewer", says the winsome waitress as she takes my order in the Marriott's Desert Springs Resort and Spa in Palm Desert. It is true I was here earlier in the week, but I have obviously underestimated the extent of my charisma. Then I remember. I am wearing a name tag on my shirt, in common with most other delegates to the US Maritime Law Association fall meeting,...
Stuart Hetherington, a partner in Withnell Hetherington, Sydney, shares an al fresco bottle with Roger Overall
THE English and the Australians share a common understanding. They don't like each other. Why else would they choose to live on opposite sides of the planet? Having owned the place, the English find it hard to swallow that they failed to make Australia a success while...
Jose Maria Alcantara shares a good lunch in madrid with John Guy
Las Pocholas, Fortuny 47, Madrid.
Tel:91 308 01 07
JOSE Maria Alcantara is a courteous host. Which is just as well because, as the ubiquitous face of Spanish maritime law, he hosts conventions, meetings and gatherings of all things legal and all things Hispanic wherever he goes. On this forty degree-plus summer...
Celma Moncada cools down over drinks with Trevor McGrath at the Hotel Radisson, World Trade Centre, Panama City
THE problems begin when I ask the taxi driver for the Radisson Hotel. 'No problem,' he says. But he drives past the same building four times, and I know he's lost. I get out when we pass Moncada & Moncada's offices for the second time, and get the address details...
Nick Healy talks to Chris Hewer about a life in maritime law in New York
INDIA House has always been a favourite of mine. I like the location, too - Hanover Square, Manhattan. Inside the old building, not too much has changed since my last visit two years ago.
I am having lunch with Nick Healy, truly the grand old man of maritime law in New York. It is hard to believe that,...
Mahin Faghfouri takes a light lunch with John Guy at the Palais de Nations, Geneva
UNTIL recently, Mahin Faghfouri was - despite her exotic name - one of the most influential people in international maritime law that no-one had ever heard of. Why? Because she has built a career at UNCTAD, and many people in shipping think UNCTAD an expensive irrelevance.
"Rubbish," says this...
Uría & Menéndez
LEADING independent Spanish law firm Uría & Menéndez will incorporate leading maritime law, transport and logistics firm Figaredo & Asociados from 1st January 2000.
This will result in a firm with approximately 220 lawyers and a turnover exceeding $47m, with an extensive network of offices in Spain, Europe and Latin America.
Lawrence Graham
LEADING...
HAVING beaten my way through the Dublin traffic, and allaying the nightmare of parking in the city centre, I arrive early in Fitzwilliam Square for my meeting with Barry MacCarthy, a shipping solicitor at McKeever Rowan. He is much younger than I expect.
We go to Pier 32, a restaurant just around the corner from Barry's offices. It is 1330hrs, and the restaurant doesn't appear...
Wikborg, Rein & Co
WIKBORG, Rein & Co, the Norwegian international law firm headquartered in Oslo, has strengthened its team following the decision by three partners and other staff of Oslo law firm Gundersen & Co to join the firm. Senior partner Jon R Gundersen, partners Sven Eriksrud and Gunmar Meyer, and three associates and other staff will join Wikborg Rein...
Georgina Noakes travels to York to meet Sir David Steel, Admiralty Judge in London
THE last public platform upon which many shipping people saw Sir David Steel was at the Bar Association of New York during the USMLA's centenary celebrations last May. There, he represented the Admiralty Court in London with authority, a sense of history and a strong dose of charm and wit. He...
I SHOULD be talking to a salesman on his yacht. After all, in his youth, Chris Potts was told he was perfect material for a career as a technical salesman. And he originally offered to meet on his 34ft motor yacht for a cruise around Hong Kong Island as we ate and spoke. But life rarely pans out as expected. Chris ignored the counsel to become a sales rep. Instead he became a...
