At the Bar - Organising finance deals on ships

BRAD Berman is the lawyer that got away. After twenty years working on ship finance deals with New York law firms, winding up at Healy and Baillie, he is now president of the Liberian International Ship Registry (LISCR). “I am effectively doing now the same job that I did as a lawyer,” he says “organising finance deals on ships, but from the other side of the fence.”

I have to bend close to listen, because even on a wet Tuesday evening in February, La Pirata is packed to the seams. Just as well I booked, I think, but the waiter seems to know Brad already. Which is odd, as he only flew in from Connecticut yesterday. “I was here yesterday evening with a party of clients,” he explains. “My CEO complains that I make him go here every time we’re in London.”

And that is quite often, it seems. As the president of LISCR, Brad spends much of his time visiting clients and speaking at conferences all over the world. “I commute to Europe every week,” he jokes, but from the sound of his timetable, he means it. The introduction of the ISPS code has heralded a particularly busy period, explaining the legal, financial and operational consequences to owners around the world.

All this travelling does give Brad a chance to indulge one of his passions, collecting wine. “They call me the wine sherpa in the office,” he says, “I always come back with several bottles. I am not a wine snob, though.” The wine we’re drinking now is not wildly expensive – though it’s not the house bottle either – and it is good. So is the food. We have gone for a selection of tapas, which saves wading through a menu several pages long, plus an extra plate of Brad’s favourite boquerones – tiny fish fillets marinated in olive oil. It’s just as well I don’t have to go back to the office afterwards, as the amount of garlic would probably render any unsuspecting colleagues unconscious.

Whatever it was that made Brad decide to cross the divide between law and ship registry, it certainly wasn’t the desire to escape the punishing hours. Since we sat down at the table just over an hour ago, he’s received seventeen emails on his Blackberry. “All work-related,” he says, flipping down the in-box, “unless you count the one from my wife as spam. I wasn’t this bad as a lawyer. But I do like to keep busy.”

This is something of an understatement. In addition to his day to day work, Brad has spent four years as president of the CMA (Connecticut Maritime Association), is chairman of the Admiralty Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and has just been elected as an associate member of Intertanko.

I feel quite exhausted even trying to write down this list of activities, and lose count of the number of plates of tiny steaks, prawns, lamb chops and stuffed vegetables which have been delivered to our table. Food is another of Brad’s passions, as I should have guessed by now. Even he can’t manage dessert, though I can, when I see there is lemon brulee on the menu.

One reason Brad likes tapas is the huge variety of things you can eat in a single meal. And ultimately, it was looking for variety which led him into working for LISCR. “I’d been a lawyer for some time,” says Brad “ and the job came along at the right moment. It felt like time for a change.” But with all his outside commitments, and an “if this is Tuesday it must be Athens” timetable, does Brad ever long for the restful days of company law? “If I did want to go back into law, I would actually be talking to all the right people to do so,” he says. “I spend quite a lot of time effectively giving legal advice for free, and I’m happy to do that, as it means clients are able to work with us better. But I don’t see myself going back into law at the moment.” On the other hand, “Life is what happens while we’re planning other things,” he says. One thing’s for certain. Whatever Brad does next, he won’t be bored.