Chums on Seats - 50 years and counting ...

50 years and counting ...

WELL-known New York lawyer M E De Orchis recently reached a half-century practising maritime law. Listed in every issue of "Best Lawyers in America" since the publication began, De Orchis said, "The fact is I enjoy it more every day. It has been fun, from the Andrea Doria in my early days to the Sea Witch collision in New York harbour." De Orchis is still grateful for his start at Haight Gardner, "which introduced me to this exciting and challenging field. Now I'm probably the only proctor on Wall Street not on any medication", he quips.

New firm in Finland

ATTORNEY Jan Aminoff has started a new firm, operating under his own name, in Helsinki. Assisting him is Mrs Ulla von Weissenberg, and the office is located in Helsinki city centre at Aleksanterinkatu 44A. For the past fourteen years, Jan was head of the maritime, transport and insurance practice at Roschier-Holmberg & Waselius.

Swedish Club US appointment

THE Swedish Club has appointed Norman Schmidt as its North American representative. Based in Connecticut, Schmidt will take up the newly created post this April and will be responsible for marketing the club's total package marine insurance services in the USA and Canada. Norman has more than twenty years' experience of working in the marine industries.

New judge in Dubai

KHALAF Fath Al Bab Metwali has been appointed a judge at the Dubai Court of Cassation.

Linguists at Lawrence Graham

LAWRENCE Graham has expanded its shipping team by appointing three assistant solicitors. Alex Wilbraham is fluent in Russian, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. Prior to becoming a lawyer, Alex trained in drama and worked with the National Theatre in London. Lynda Conroy joined Lawrence Graham after completing articles at Shaw & Croft and can work in English, French, Italian and Russian. Stuart Dench joined the firm from the UK P&I Club. "Languages are important to us because they help us get closer to our clients," says shipping partner, Imogen Rumbold. "These new associates will strengthen our team and add to our language skills."

Curtis Davis Garrard expands

CURTIS Davis Garrard, which is based near Heathrow Airport in the UK, has appointed two new shipping lawyers as partners. Mike Allen and Charles Baker are to join the firm from Herbert Smith, which has announced its intention to discontinue its shipping practice in the face of conflicting internal focus and increased external competition. While the shipping department had been consistently profitable, Herbert Smith considered it to be no longer a core part of its services.

Curtis Davis Garrard has also taken on two new assistants, David Gardner (formerly with Watson, Farley & Williams) and Alistair Smith (formerly with Norton Rose and Lovell White Durrant). Both have five years' post-qualification experience and a shared experience in shipping litigation and the offshore sectors.

Norton Rose

GEMMA Lampert and Simon Williams have joined the commercial shipping litigation practice at Norton Rose on qualification. Gemma returned to London after a secondment at the firm's Greek office and Simon has joined from the bar. Also joining the practice in London is ex-mariner and Lloyd's surveyor David Sunter. David is an experienced solicitor in contentious shipping and admiralty work.

Move for Vlassis N Macris

VLASSIS N Macris & Associates has moved to new offices on the 5th floor, 86 Filonos Street, 185 36 Piraeus, Greece. Telephone + 30 1 429 2095, Fax + 30 1 429 2759, E-mail: mac...@otenet.gr.

New partner at Rowe & Maw

LONDON firm Rowe & Maw has taken on a new partner, Philip Ruttley. He specialises in EC competition law and the dispute resolution system of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Philip is currently secretary of the World Trade Law Association and has recently been involved in competition cases before the European Court of Justice.

Shepstone & Wylie opens in Cape Town

SOUTH African firm Shepstone & Wylie has finally opened an office at the Cape of Good Hope, in the heart of the city (at 2 Long Street, Cape Town 8001, Tel + 27 21 4196495, Fax + 27 21 4181974). At the helm is former Safmarine legal counsel Johan Swart, assisted by James Mackenzie from the firm's Durban office. Executive consultant to the practice will be Professor John Hare, who heads up the Shipping Law Unit at the University of Cape Town. He is about to publish the locus classicus of South African maritime and insurance law and is currently president of SAMLA. Professor Hare will be available to the S&W Cape Town team and its clients for advice, research and opinions.

Somewhere to go

FINDING the right job in the marine industries can be a dispiriting business, particularly when those industries are of necessity in the process of what is now called 'rightsizing', and particularly if you are too young to be part of the old boy network or sufficiently old that all your contacts in the old boy network have long since retired or become experts. The trick is to match the right people to the right job, something which a UK-based consultancy is currently specialising in, with some success.

Spinnaker Consulting was set up in the summer of 1997 by Phil Parry and Stephen Cox. Phil, a shipping lawyer, and Stephen, a barrister with experience of the financial markets, identified the need for a specialist shipping recruitment agency. They deal purely with shoreside maritime employment, using their knowledge of - and contacts in - the marine industries.

The idea for Spinnaker first came to mind when Phil Parry was chairman of the Plymouth Nautical Degree Association (PYNDA), the old boys/girls network of maritime graduates from Plymouth in the UK. People kept calling Phil for help with recruitment, and it was then he realised that there was a need for what he describes as "somewhere to go."

Phil says, "There are very few places that offer help to shipping personnel or companies seeking staff. The agencies that do exist are either generalised or service sector-specific, such as law, accountancy or engineering, and they have little knowledge or understanding of shipping, its terminology or the relative importance of different types of experience."

Spinnaker's client base consists of maritime lawyers, P & I specialists, marine insurance staff, marine and technical superintendents, operations staff and brokers.

Stephen Cox says, "We believe ours is the only site on the internet purely devoted to shore-based recruitment. Current vacancies are listed and candidates can either complete an onscreen application form or send us their cv on the web."

The address of the Spinnaker website is: www.shippingjobs.com. Its email address is spin...@btinternet.com. Or you can speak to Phil Parry or Stephen Cox by calling + 44 1702 480142.