Capital gains?

IT'S got a wheel. It's even got a dome, albeit an empty one. The face of London is constantly changing as new modern attractions dot the landscape alongside the city's oldest landmarks. London's maritime law scene tells a similar story. For decades it has been dominated by a handful of the world's leading firms. The 1980s and 90s, however, marked the arrival of a number of new maritime law firms setting up shop alongside London's legal giants. So who's who in London's maritime law scene today?

The majority of London's maritime law firms offer advice and expertise in all three maritime disciplines - dry, wet and finance. In the dry sector, Clyde & Co, Holman Fenwick & Willan, and Ince & Co dominate. Clyde & Co's dry department, in particular, headed up by Derek Hodgson and Anthony Thomas, is a formidable force in maritime circles, most recently acting on behalf of the cargo insurers in the Ever Decent/Norwegian Dream collision case. Holman Fenwick & Willan's shipping department has built up significant expertise in the industry, with 50 per cent of the firm's current work being shipping-related, while Ince & Co's dry team, today led by Bob Deering, has had a presence on the London maritime scene for over 100 years.

Despite the prominence of the top three, there is plenty of dry work to go around. Among those competing for a share of the market are Norton Rose, Richards Butler and Lawrence Graham. Richards Butler has a particularly active dry department, with shipping, commodities and insurance work accounting for 29 per cent of the firm's activities. In fact, Richards Butler's litigation team was recently singled out as Litigation Team of the Year at the 2001 Lawyer Awards. The litigation team was highly commended by a panel of peers for demonstrating 'impressive and surefooted lawyering' in a number of complex and high-profile cases. Mike Lax's team at Lawrence Graham is also worthy of a mention, with a client list including shipowners, operators, charterers, brokers, insurers, P&I clubs, banks, shipyards and traders.

Not surprisingly, Clyde & Co, Holman Fenwick & Willan, and Ince & Co claim the top spots in the wet sector too, with Clyde's involvement in the Ever Decent/Norwegian Dream and the Giovanna case helping secure its strong reputation for handling collisions and casualties. With one of the world's largest admiralty practices, Holman Fenwick & Willan is home to some of the leading individuals in the wet sector including Archie Bishop (now retired but still an active consultant) and James Gosling. Ince & Co also boasts some of the most popular wet lawyers in the industry, including Richard Sayer. As far as experience goes, Ince's case list says it all - Exxon Valdez, Braer, Sea Empress, Herald of Free Enterprise, Marchioness, and the Ever Decent/Norwegian Dream.

While the top three claim a significant chunk of the high-profile admiralty cases, firms such as Hill Taylor Dickinson, Norton Rose, Stephenson Harwood, Clifford Chance and Constant & Constant are among those vying for business in this sector. Hill Taylor Dickinson has been operating in the shipping industry for over 190 years. Its shipping team acts on behalf of shipowners, P&I clubs, insurers and oil companies, with shipping accounting for more than half the firm's work.

Stephenson Harwood has also been around since the 1800s. Although only 20 per cent of its work is shipping-related, it is a truly international team, with lawyers fluent in almost ten different languages, including Russian, Croatian and Greek. Constant & Constant is another strong player in this sector. Its wet team, including John Rudd, Richard Olsen, Andrew Fisher and consultant Anthony Miller, is regularly involved in salvage, collision and pollution work, as well as drafting documentation concerning wet shipping and casualty response.

Ship finance, however, is a different ball game, with Norton Rose and Watson Farley & Williams topping the chart in this sector. Norton Rose's increased focus on structured transactions and tax-based leasing deals has been rewarded in the last year with the firm scooping a number of ship finance awards. Watson Farley & Williams has also become increasingly involved in structured finance work, advising on several shipping-related securitisations over recent years. Able to advise on English, French, Russian, New York and US federal law, the firm has built up a strong reputation in aviation and shipping finance in particular.

Other firms that have made their mark in ship finance include Sinclair Roche & Temperley, Clifford Chance, and Stephenson Harwood. Ship project and asset finance work accounts for 25 per cent of Sinclair Roche & Temperley's work, with the firm becoming involved in more complex and sophisticated ship finance structures over recent years. Clifford Chance, following its merger with Rogers & Wells, and Pünder Volhard Weber and Axster on January 1, 2000, has become the first integrated law firm covering the world's major financial markets. Stephenson Harwood's finance department has a total of 28 lawyers specialising in all aspects of oil rig sale and purchase, registration and leasing, shipbuilding contracts and other commercial shipping agreements.

The majority of law firms leading the way in the dry, wet and finance sectors are long-established practices, many with over 100 years' experience in London's shipping market. The last few decades, however, have seen a number of new names set up shop. Curtis Davis Garrard, for example, was established in 1996 and is already making a name for itself in ship finance in particular. Based at London's Heathrow airport, its activities include financing of new tonnage, collision and salvage, general average, and financing and disposal of secondhand tonnage.

Allen & Overy is another relative newcomer to the finance sector. With its excellent capital market and banking expertise it has already been singled out by a number of market observers as a firm to watch in the future. Rodgers & Co is one of the most recent arrivals. Set up in February last year, it is run by Paul Rodgers, formerly of Watson Farley & Williams and Clyde & Co.

The more established Holmes Hardingham, founded in 1989, has expanded rapidly to more than double its size. Specialising in shipping-related litigation and arbitration, its London office has been involved in a number of high profile casualties, including the Sea Empress and the Erika.

Waterson Hicks, described by Legal 500 1999 as 'small but successful', is already making its mark in the wet, dry and finance sectors, representing shipowners, oil companies, oil and other commodity traders, clubs and insurers. John Hicks, one of the firm's co-founders, has been singled out by Legal 500 for his work on behalf of Greek shipowners and P&I clubs. Founded in 1990, maritime and commercial litigation and arbitration today accounts for 75 per cent of the firm's workload.

DLA's shipping department, led by Hugh Dalzell, handles a variety of shipping and marine insurance work including arrest, arbitration, marine insurance claims, collision, salvage and ship sale and purchase. With three offices in the UK and two in the Far East, DLA is already making its presence known, representing the cargo owners in the Ever Decent/Norwegian Dream case.

A number of UK maritime law firms are to be found outside London. Newcastle-based Rayfield Mills is one of the largest shipping law firms in the North East. Just down the road, Hull-based Andrew M Jackson & Co, established over 100 years ago, has also made a name for itself in shipping circles. Staying in the north, Edinburgh-based Henderson Boyd Jackson is the most prominent name in shipping law in Scotland, boasting over 200 years' experience.

Liverpool, on the North West coast, has a maritime heritage as long and as established as London's. Hill Dickinson and DLA are two London firms which have opened offices in Liverpool, Hill Dickinson being the larger of the two, with six partners acting on behalf of P&I clubs. Staying in the North, Davies Arnold Copper (DAC), along with its two London offices, has also set up shop in Manchester and Newcastle. Established in 1927, DAC acts as legal adviser to more than 12 container conferences and counts A P Moller, Hapag-Lloyd, Standard P&I Club and P&O Nedlloyd among its clients.

Meanwhile, in the South, two of the busiest pockets of maritime activity outside London are Ipswich and Plymouth. In Ipswich, one of the leading firms is Birketts, which has acted on behalf of Hutchinson Ports (UK) Ltd, Fred Olsen Agencies and Ipswich Port Ltd. In Plymouth, Davies Johnson & Co is one of the best-known specialist maritime law firms.

While London remains at the heart at the UK's maritime law community, modern communications are lowering the barriers to entry to this sector countrywide. Small and medium-sized firms are taking advantage of this to claim their stake of the UK maritime law workload.

In the next issue of The Maritime Advocate, we ask if London's days as a leading centre of maritime law are numbered.