The Legal 500

Al Tamimi & Company’s shipping practice is widely praised for its ability to ‘translate local laws and customs into comprehensive and pragmatic advice’. Practice head Yazan Saoudi combines ‘strong local expertise with a strong dedication to the client’. He acted alongside newly promoted partner Omar Omar on registering a new fleet of vessels for Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, a transaction that included the restructuring of its existing fleet. The team also strengthened its shipping arbitration capability through Paul Turner’s arrival and appointment as head of the arbitration department.

Clyde & Co LLP is widely regarded as ‘one of the best maritime law firms in the region’. It acts for some of the UAE’s largest shipping and oil companies, including ETA and Emarat, as well as international companies such as aluminium producer Rusal. Irvine Marr became team head in Dubai following Brian Nash’s return to the London office, while Christopher Mills took over as head of the dispute resolution group. Mills recently acted for Emarat in a $90m multijurisdictional dispute with Trafigura concerning the sale of various gasoil cargoes.

Hadef & Partners’ diverse team of ‘excellent practitioners’ combines ‘the quality of an international firm with the ability to provide the most authoritative opinion on local legal issues’. It recently acted as UAE counsel alongside Watson, Farley & Williams LLP to advise DVB Group Merchant Bank (Asia) Ltd on a $26.1m tanker financing facility. On the contentious front, it acted for British Marine as P&I insurer of the vessel, Lilian, in respect of alleged damage to a pipeline owned by Qatar Petroleum. The ‘extremely knowledgeable and responsive’ Erik Muthow heads the team, and is recommended along with Richard Briggs, and recently promoted partner Adrian Chadwick, who is ‘an excellent tactical litigator’.

‘Among the best in the region’, Holman Fenwick Willan LLP fields one of the largest dedicated shipping practices in the Middle East, handling both wet and dry shipping disputes as well as transactional shipping law. Edward Newitt and Simon Cartwright jointly head the team, and their collective contentious expertise makes them ‘the main port of call’ for P&I clubs and regional H&M and cargo underwriters. The team has continued to receive a flow on mandates stemming from Somali piracy, and has handled more than 20 piracy incidents for shipowners and underwriters.

Bashir Ahmed leads a small team at Afridi & Angell that is dedicated to handling contentious and non-contentious shipping matters. Senior legal consultant C Chakradaran recently acted for the Transworld Group in renegotiating two new building contracts with dry docks, as well as renegotiating the client’s facilities with the lending bank.

Fichte & Co advises on all areas of maritime law, from ship finance, shipbuilding, sale and purchase, and contentious matters. The contentious side of the practice remained busy, with Alessandro Tricoli and his team advising on a number of cargo and ship arrest claims for shipowners, P&I clubs and other foreign law firms. Clients include Gulf Energy Maritime and United Arab Shipping Company.

Iqbal Lala’s shipping practice at Galadari & Associates has seen a sizeable increase in shipbuilding disputes and piracy cases, and also acts for banks on the restructuring of existing loans. Clients include Globelink West Star Shipping and Seamark.

Ince & Co’s Dubai-based shipping team underwent significant change in 2010, as Bob Deering relocated to London; Graham Crane replaced him as managing partner in Dubai; and Peter Measures joined the Dubai office from London to boost the practice’s transactional expertise. In 2011, the group acted for Standard Chartered as arranger of a $25m murabaha facility for offshore supply vessels; and, on the contentious front, it acted for Qatar Insurance Company regarding a disputed insurance claim relating to a fire on a vessel.

Adam Morgan’s shipping team at Reed Smith acted for Huta Marine in a dispute involving a dredger under construction in China, and advised Eagle Shipping on newbuilds in China and Japan and the restructuring of its $1.6bn financing arrangements.

SNR Denton’s Middle East shipping practice is squarely focused on ship finance transactions, where it acts for leading banks including RBS, HSBC and BNP Paribas. Paul Jarvis’ team advised Standard Chartered on a $56m shari’ah-compliant murabaha facility for the refinancing of six Marshall Islands flagged ships owned by Topaz Marine and Energy Limited.