Denton Wilde Sapte

Denton Wilde Sapte

MARY Thomson has joined the Hong Kong office of Denton Wilde Sapte. A fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and an accredited mediator with twenty years’ experience in London and Hong Kong, Thomson will specialise in international trade and transportation, insurance, corporate disputes, banking, IT, employment and insolvency.

BBL Bracker Boelhoff & Luebbert

SPECIALIST shipping and transport firm BBL Bracker Boelhoff & Luebbert has opened for business in Hamburg. Two of the partners, Jacobaus Bracker and Daja Hilka Boehlhoff, come from a Hamburg-based international shipping law firm and specialise in transportation, maritime law and international trade law. Matthias Luebbert specialises in the carriage of dangerous goods and environmental issues.

THE Nautical Institute

THE Nautical Institute’s AGM in London earlier this year was marked by the departure of Julian Parker as general secretary after thirty years at the helm. We wish Julian well in his retirement. But as the president, Captain Robbie Middleton, put it, “There doesn’t seem much connection between retirement and Julian’s continuing activities in the publishing department.” We also wish all the best to the new ceo, Philip Wake, who will have a hard act to follow. His appointment was prefaced with the phrase, “And now for a very important moment”– at which one member was heard to mutter longingly, “Tea.”

New York State Court of Claims

JOHN G Ingram, a former partner in admiralty law firm Healy & Baillie, has resigned from his Manhattan law firm to undertake a new assignment as a judge on the New York State Court of Claims. Ingram is well-known for his defence of maritime personal injury claims, but has also litigated a number of high-profile admiralty and charter party disputes. According to Healy & Baillie chairman John Kimball, Ingram has had a broad-based and very distinguished career as a maritime lawyer. Ingram was also previously a partner with Martocci and Ingram and an associate and partner at the old Burlingham Underwood firm from 1969 to 1995.

Inal Law Office

CORPORATE and shipping lawyer Seyma Inal has established Inal Law Office in Istanbul, specialising in corporate and shipping work.
“The Turkish economy is strengthening, and there has never been a better time to invest in Turkey. That creates a demand for specialist law firms with an international outlook and also a good knowledge of global shipping,” says Inal.

Inal and her team, which includes UK-qualified Russell Welsh and corporate specialist Ebru Akbudak Sozer, have built up a reputation for non-contentious corporate work and commercial litigation, with particular success in ship finance.

KPMG

KPMG has appointed Dr Ashley Steele to chair its global transport practice. Steele, who has been a KPMG partner for seven years, will replace Robert Allison, who is retiring. Based at KPMG’s Canary Wharf headquarters in London, Steele has experience in a broad range of industries including aviation and shipping.

Al Tamimi

AL Tamimi has established a law practice in Iraq. With many of the existing laws in Iraq likely to be revised and reformed, the firm will be closely monitoring developments affecting the Iraqi legal system. For a copy of Al Tamimi’s Iraqi Law Update, contact Sadiq Jafar at sja...@tamimi.com