Chambers Guide to the Legal Profession 1999-2000

THE annual Chambers Guide has a two-fold purpose. Its published aim is to offer a comprehensive survey of all corporate and commercial law firms in the UK. This, in turn, becomes a guide to would-be clients in search of who's who in, for example, shipping and maritime law. This comes in particularly useful for overseas clients, who would like their choice confirmed. But considering that most clients choose a lawyer or barrister on the basis of recommendation or previous experience, a guide of such door-stopping (just under 2,000 pages) proportions may be judged an over- reaction to market needs.

The unpublished aim of the Chambers Guide (and its competitor publication The Legal 500) is to feed the fragile egos of the legal community, members of which have been known to lose sleep over whether or not they have been named in the relevant editorial (wet, dry or finance for shipping) or, heaven forbid, the list of 3,000 leading lawyers ranked from 'star' to top band, then second to fourth band and, if they're lucky, the 'U' band (which stands for up-and-coming). They do, at least, have control over the personal profile section, which is where the publishers make their money. Here, lawyers - if invited - can pay for whatever they want to say about their practice and themselves in the knowledge that it will be printed word for word.

Not so the editorial and leading lawyer sections. These are the result of 6,000 interviews conducted over a six-month period which are independently audited by the British Market Research Bureau (BMRI). It is this that makes Chambers Guide to the Legal Profession the undisputed leader in its field. Over sixty areas of law are researched with the aim of providing an objective list of recommended lawyers and barristers. Of the 6,000 interviews, eighty per cent are with legal practitioners, and twenty per cent with those who actually buy legal services. As some lawyers tend to relish gossiping about each other, while feverishly guarding their own domains, these are interesting statistics.

The shipping and maritime law section (pages 754 to 766), which is also available on the web at www.chambersandpartners.com, is divided into London and the regions. In London in the wet field, Ince & Co and Holman, Fenwick and Willan remain together at the top of the league, "although it was felt that Ince & Co had the edge". Under the name of each firm to appear on the table, ranging from the top two through to the likes of Clyde & Co, Hill Taylor Dickinson, Clifford Chance and other well-known firms with an admiralty or dry practice, those who appear as the star partners are named, further fuelling the anxieties of those left unmentioned.

Leading dry firms included at the top of the league were, once again, Holman Fenwick and Ince, with Clyde & Co and Hill Taylor Dickinson a close third and fourth. Overall leaders in wet and dry shipping law were Archie Bishop and Richard Sayer, senior partners of Holman Fenwick and Ince respectively.

Undisputed leaders in ship finance work were Alastair Farley and Martin Watson at Watson, Farley & Williams, followed by John Shelton at Norton Rose.

For those looking to the regions for their shipping and maritime law work, Bond Pearce and Foot & Bowden in the south-east, and Eversheds in East Anglia, are recommended. Up north, despite it being grim, Dibb Lupton gets the nod.

Cuban delights

Marc de Man, barrister and solicitor, samples the Samba at the Cuba Maritime 99 Conference.

AT the end of October last year, the Cuban Shipping Association (Antares) hosted the Cuba Maritime 99 conference in the heart of old Havana. The event attracted delegates from Spain, England, Germany, Italy, Canada, Latin America and others, who enjoyed a sumptuous reception on the opening evening at the exclusive Club Habana, with live entertainment and dancing.

The conference was officially opened by Raul Rodriguez Romay, director- general of Antares. Several presentations were made, including one on the development of maritime transport in Cuba and on a worldwide scale. Seminars were also held addressing legal management problems. The day closed with a cannon shot ceremony from the La Cabaña Fortress overlooking the Bay of La Habana.

On the second day of conference proceedings, delegates were transferred from La Habana to Varadero Beach. During the morning, a presentation was made by José Diaz Escrich, director and commodore of the Hemmingway Marina, on the construction of several marinas throughout Cuba and their strategic location for yachting in the Caribbean area.

Containers were the hot topic the following day, with presentations on transportation, construction and repair. Later, Capt Panaiotis Tsakos, president of Tsakos Shipping & Trading, speaking about shipping in the new millennium, said that, if human initiative and basic ethical tenets were maintained, steady growth and prosperity could be achieved in the twenty-first century.

Raul Rodriguez Romay closed the conference with a passionate speech in which he evoked the survival and growth of the Cuban merchant marine after the Cuban revolution. The minister thanked all the companies throughout the world which have supported the Cuban merchant marine, and predicted that the Cuban merchant fleet would continue to grow.

A farewell dinner was held at the Habana Café in the Maliá Cohiba Hotel with live musical entertainment. At the very least, after four days, every conference member could return home and boast that he or she was an expert in the Cuban samba.