Chums on seats - Clyde & Co Latin America

Clyde & Co Latin America

CLYDE & Co's Latin America team has recruited international trade lawyer Elizabeth Leonhardt and admiralty/P&I practitioner Don Soutar.

Leonhardt practised as a lawyer for seven years in Brazil before joining Clyde & Co. She expects to qualify as an English lawyer this year and is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish and English.

Soutar has joined from a P&I correspondent organisation in Florida and the Caribbean, which he ran for ten years. His experience includes a broad spectrum of marine work, ranging from salvage and collision to P&I and defence work.

  • Among nine new partners appointed from within the firm in May, three specialise in shipping and the offshore industry. Irvine Marr specialises in shipping litigation, Hatty Sumption handles shipping and general international trade work, and David Bennett specialises in energy, commodity trading and large-scale commercial disputes.

SMA

THE new president of the Society of Maritime Arbitrators in New York is David Martowski, chairman of Thomas Miller (Americas) Inc, who started his two-year term on May 8. Maritime consultant Donald Szostak will serve as his vice-president.

Klaus Mordhorst was named by outgoing SMA president Lucienne Bulow as the new chair of the ICMA arrangements committee, following the recent resignation from that post of Henry Engelbrecht.

Watson, Farley & Williams

MICHAEL Greville will become managing partner of Watson, Farley & Williams in London on July 1, 2001. Greville, who currently heads up the firm's litigation group, will take over from David Warder, who will return full-time to client business in the finance group. Greville joined Watson, Farley & Williams in 1988 and became a partner in 1993. In order to devote the time required to his new position, he will stand down as head of the litigation group and cease to have direct participation in the firm's litigation practice.

Richards Butler

CHARLIE Weller is returning to Richards Butler as a partner in the firm's shipping group. Weller trained and qualified at Richards Butler, working in both the London and Abu Dhabi offices, before moving to Jackson Parton, in 1994. He is a litigator specialising in the full range of dry cargo and tanker work as well as oil and gas trading disputes. He is particularly experienced in Greek and North America work.

  • Richards Butler has appointed three new partners to its shipping teams in London and Paris. In London, Richard Gunn and Nicholas Woo handle admiralty and dry shipping litigation respectively. In Paris, Christophe Hunkeler specialises in French maritime law.

Ignacio de Ros

BARCELONA-based maritime lawyer Ignacio de Ros has expanded his office by employing a German and an Irish lawyer, Carl Lubach and Philip Carney respectively. Lubach studied law at the universities of Berlin, Hanover and Madrid. He has previous experience in Germany and with another Spanish law firm, and speaks German, Spanish and English. Carney graduated in history from Ballilol College, Oxford, before studying law at The College of Law in London. He completed his training at Ince & Co in London and has experience in a wide range of maritime matters, particularly charter party and bill of lading disputes.

Holmes Hardingham

LONDON-based Holmes Hardingham Walser Johnston Winter has made two new appointments. Michael Ellis has joined the firm as an admiralty partner. And Andrew Goldsworthy has been appointed as a consultant on yachting, shipping and marine insurance.

Lex Mundi

LEX Mundi has welcomed five new law firms. The newly elected firms are Maclay, Murray & Spens in Scotland, Cerha, Hempel & Spiegelfeld in Austria, Cains in the Isle of Man, White, Pierce, Mailman and Nutting in the Northern Mariana Islands (Saipan), and The Law Associates in Bangladesh.

Patrick Martin

PAT Martin's new contact details are Patrick V Martin, Attorney at Law, 943 Lamberts Mill Road, Westfield, New Jersey 07090, USA. Tel: 1 908 233 7167. Fax: 1 908 233 7420. email: patv...@aol.com

Rodgers & Co

LONDON-based Rodgers & Co has welcomed Stephen Ballantine as a senior solicitor specialising in charter party disputes and cargo claims. Ballantine has over ten years experience as a shipping litigator acting for local and international shipowners and managers, charterers, traders, P&I clubs, salvors and cargo underwriters.

Healy & Baillie

NEW YORK-based Healy & Baillie has appointed Peter G Drakos as a partner. Drakos has practiced maritime law in New York for seventeen years, particularly on disputes involving charter parties, bills of lading and other maritime contracts. Active in the Connecticut Maritime Association, he will be based at the Stamford, Connecticut office, where he will join resident partner Matthew Marion.

Holman Fenwick & Willan

HOLMAN Fenwick & Willan has appointed five new partners, including Richard Mabane and John Champion. Mabane joined the firm in 1996 and has a wide practice area, including marine and commodity trading litigation. Champion is based at the Singapore office and handles shipping, trade, reinsurance and project litigation, arbitration and mediation.