People and planning

TODAY, there is serious competition internationally for maritime legal services and expertise. Just as the shipping and offshore world doesn't stand still, so the legal world, a service industry to those who own, hire, finance, insure or have their goods transported by sea, is constantly evolving. Communications ensure that it is also a shrinking world, and one in which the ubiquitous mobile phone means that peace and quiet are rare commodities. (This reminds me of the presentation given in the Middle East to an Arab sheikh interrupted by a hysterical call from my wife reporting that our freezer was on fire).

So how to stay on top of the changes, keep the clients happy and plan for the future, all at once, especially when history has proved that failure to plan ahead has contributed to the demise of some well-known shipping firms. Let us use as a template a law firm headquartered in London, with offices in overseas locations.

While in the 1980s the Hong Kong offices, for example, boasted a dozen or more shipping lawyers, today the trend is for key personnel to be present, supported in much greater measure from head office

Planning in fact starts with recruitment. Catering for retirements, departures to pastures greener, and future expansion requires new graduates. This is a process that starts two years before the person joins the firm, and is currently the subject of intense competition. The most able graduates are attracted to firms that offer a choice of specialisations, the opportunity to travel or work abroad, and support and training, as well as a good benefits and financial package. But the firm must also demonstrate that it knows where it is going. In doing so, it helps to be able to point out, as lawyers like the idea of a precedent, where a firm was five or three years ago, and where it is today.

Next comes the nurturing and encouragement of trainee legal skills by experience, in-house training and open-door discussion. Tied in with this is the facility to move trainees around during their two years of apprenticeship to the foreign offices. With the trend now for long-term partner postings abroad, this ensures adhesion within a firm across jurisdictions. It also ensures an exchange of expertise and an understanding of the local marketplaces that are served.

Decentralisation of the P&I claims handling market has dictated that firms move litigation resources to where the action is. The growing dominance of large liner and bulk operations, as well as banks, also demands that people are on the spot to service legal needs internationally. Gone however, to an extent, are the days when large shipping teams were maintained abroad by London firms. While in the 1980s the Hong Kong offices, for example, boasted a dozen or more shipping lawyers, today the trend is for key personnel to be present, supported in much greater measure from head office in London.

The cost of maintaining a foreign presence is one factor, but another is email communications. This enables research to be done or documents to be drafted in London. It also enables support to be given or received out of hours, and if necessary away from the office, with a minimum of inconvenience. The client gets a better service and a faster turnaround, and the know-how pool is deepened. Details of sticky problems can also be circulated by email to a wider group of specialist lawyers across a firm's offices both in London and abroad - chances are, someone has relevant experience and can supply the answer. Larger firms will additionally employ know-how officers, usually qualified lawyers, whose job it is to collate knowledge and data and ensure it is readily accessible.

The ability to work remotely has also stimulated travel. Solicitors are now able to visit clients and client markets more frequently, knowing that they can work enroute and be in almost continual contact with the office. With the in-tray increasingly confined to periodicals and unsolicited mail, it is also possible to keep on top of the email postbox.

With so much depending on relatively small teams abroad, rigorous personnel selection is the key to ensuring the long-term success of those offices. They must possess a range and depth of competencies but also work and feel as part of a team. A client will soon recognise the telltale signs of an under-resourced office. Meanwhile, head office must be prepared to commit manpower as needed, with experienced staff being prepared to travel at short notice.

A good example of how this can meet the clients' demands is immediately following a major incident. Nowadays, owners in Piraeus, as elsewhere, expect a solicitor to be readily available, and sometimes this requires a lawyer camping in their office for a number of days until the crisis is under control. Meanwhile one or two staff can be sent from London to the scene to assist with the casualty response, protect the interests of the crew, take statements, secure the documentary evidence and deal with port or flag state investigators, surveyors and so on.

At the same time there is a need to co-ordinate, usually from London, the wider legal input, analysing and reporting on a range of issues. These may typically involve obligations under the charter party, bills of lading or a salvage contract, as well as consideration of insurance cover or finance terms. The potential for limitation of liability for property, personal injury or pollution damage must be assessed. Numerous questions can also arise as to applicable laws, jurisdiction and the need to give or obtain security. If there are forum shipping or foreign law issues, these need to be precisely identified, and foreign legal correspondents retained and instructed. Pulling together these various strings into a coherent strategy requires experience and a clear head.

Accurate and practical advice must be given, but all good shipping litigators act in the context of the wider commercial interests of clients. These concerns and the interests of insurers, who usually have to pay the bills, are of the utmost importance. A brilliant legal strategy is all very well, but will have limited potential if it does not carry the clients' support. P&I clubs, in particular, are most proactive in case-handling. Experienced claims and legal staff have been there before. The lawyers' support must be interwoven with - and responsive to - that. This can best be achieved by continual discussion, ideally supplemented by one or two strategic meetings, the first of which should take place as soon as the basic facts and main issues are identified. The extent to which the solicitors' continual involvement and resources are committed can also be discussed and agreed.

As a case progresses, one or other office is likely to assume control without the need for the other's day-to-day support, thus minimising the cost of running concurrent files. A local office, however, should have a continuing role in collecting together discovery and being on call to talk through problems that may arise. These cross-border exercises are a useful means of identifying whether the manning and structure, as well as the geography of foreign offices, are appropriate to the needs of the client market.

One question all international firms have to grapple with is the work profile of the foreign offices. There is much to be said for balancing a shipping presence with other legal services, because it spreads the overheads across a range of work and provides a buffer to any cyclical downturn in any one area of business. For example, it is likely that, in Hong Kong or Madrid, shipping will be only part of a broader-based practice, while in Piraeus and Singapore the London firms will probably have a majority of their lawyers involved in maritime work. More specifically, in Piraeus, for example, where the maritime market dominates, it makes sense to combine other maritime services such as ship and asset finance with a resident general shipping litigation partner while sourcing pure admiralty work from London as a collision or salvage may occur anywhere in the world, and London is ideally placed for international travel.

Maritime London, of course, will only remain pre-eminent in the new global economy, if it listens to what its customers want. And that applies equally to every other centre of maritime excellence in the world.