The Legal 500

Bech-Bruun’s ‘professional, good and friendly team’ advises P&I clubs, shipowners, operators and carriers and frequently appears before the Maritime and Commercial Court. Clients include Maersk, Stena Line and Thomas Cook, and insurers TrygVesta and If P&C Insurance. The group has handled matters caused by the financial crisis, including termination of charter party arrangements and detention disputes. Group head Jes Anker Mikkelsen represented Transurance/Codan in a high-profile case before the Maritime and Commercial Court regarding the interpretation of institute cargo clauses, and is representing SAS in disputes regarding handling charges at Copenhagen Airport. Jesper Windahl is ‘one of the best lawyers for marine cargo law’ and handles multijurisdictional disputes, while Henrik Valdorf-Hansen offers ‘particular expertise in marine insurance’, including Supreme Court cases and arbitrations.

Gorrissen Federspiel’s 16-lawyer group represents airline operators, banks, insurers and P&I clubs, shipowners – notably Clipper, Norden and Scandlines – and BIMCO, the world’s largest shipowners’ organisation. Insolvency work is significant, notably the bankruptcies of Britannia Bulk and Sterling Airlines. Transactional work included Scandlines’ acquisition of the ferry service on the Elsinore-Helsingborg route and TORM’s acquisition of FR8. Alex Laudrup, Peter Appel, Morten Lundqvist Jakobsen and ‘rising star’ Jens Mathiasen are recommended.

At Kromann Reumert group head Henrik Thal Jantzen, Lars Rosenberg Overby and Jakob Rosing have a ‘hands-on approach and good shipping industry knowledge and are fun to work with’. The group assisted the buyers of the Danish Shipowning Company Get2Sea, negotiated charter parties in respect of specialised vessels and rigs for the construction of a large wind farm in the Irish Sea, and acted as liquidators of Danish shipping companies Britannia Bulk Shipping and Atlas Shipping. It also represented cargo underwriters in Supreme Court proceedings regarding the ‘salmon roe’ multimodal transport case.

Ulla Fabricius heads Bang + Regnarsen’s shipping practice, which operates out of Copenhagen and German offices in Hamburg and Berlin. She advises P&I clubs and major transport and shipping companies in Denmark, and has drafted standard conditions for Danish stevedores.

Delacour Dania’s shipping and transportation group represents Danish ports, shipping agents, freight-forwarding companies, ship brokers, road carriers and insurers. Henrik Kleis, who ‘understands the business’ and is ‘extremely knowledgeable regarding shipping and transportation law’, and Anders Hedetoft head the practice. Line Kjær specialises in customs duties, while Merete Andersen advises on VAT. Key clients include the Port of Aarhus, Maersk Logistics, Cargo Nord and TrygVesta.

Leading shipping lawyer Peter Ringsted at Focus Advokater (LLP) represents financiers and shipowners. As well as handling restructuring and enforced sales following the financial crisis, he is advising Swedish shipowners such as Tärntank on flagging their fleets in the Danish International Register of Shipping.

Horten represents insurers and reinsurers including GE Frankona, shipping and cargo companies such as The Partners’ Company and Summerton Alliance, and corporates including Siemens Wind Power. Hans Abildstrøm demonstrates ‘commendable dedication and professionalism’, while Jakob Arrevad and Michael Goeskjær are also recommended.

Lett Law Firm serves as principal adviser to DSB (Danish State Railways), has recently built a record of divesting public bus companies, and is also commended for its ‘broad and in-depth understanding of the shipping industry’. Michael Grønbech is representing Scan Global Logistics in a Supreme Court case, while Thomas Bang advised AkzoNobel on logistics and distribution agreements. Other high-profile clients include Green Cargo and A. P. Møller-Maersk.

MAQS Law Firm’s group led by Philip Graff advises on sea, road, air, rail and multimodal transportation. It is representing Danish and international shipowners and charterers in connection with the bankruptcies of Britannia Bulkers and Atlas Shipping, and advises banks, notably Danske Bank, on defaulting shipowners. Transport-related M&A and global logistics contracts are other areas of focus. Key clients include DHL, Seatainers, DSV, Air France-KLM and Kühne & Nagel.

Magnusson Advokatfirma is expanding its influence into emerging markets and recently opened an office in Minsk to better serve its logistics clients with business in Belarus. Aage Krogh, who ‘explains complicated matters in an easily understandable way’, and his team advise clients such as TNT Express, Iberia and the Danish Freight Forwarders Association.

Philip Thorsen at Mazanti-Andersen, Korsø Jensen & Partnere is advising NSB, the Norwegian national railway, on expanding into the Danish public transport market.

Jens Hjortskov and Per Petersen at Philip Law Firm handle shipping and transport issues for corporate clients including FedEx Scandinavian Cruise Centre.

Peter Fogh at Plesner is acting in vessel-related disputes variously regarding the loss of a Ro-Ro vessel in November 2006, a shipping incident in Zanzibar and the sale of a chemical tanker. A team headed by Jørgen Permin and Micha Fritzen is advising longstanding client Nordic Tankers on its conditional assets-for-shares deal with Clipper, which includes the takeover by Nordic Tankers of a substantial part of Clipper’s tanker division and commercial and technical ship management activities.

Viltoft offers specialist knowledge of maritime penal law and maritime pollution, and represents crews in salvage disputes.