The Legal 500 > Asia Pacific > Hong Kong > Shipping

A longstanding heavyweight in the Hong Kong market and also able to leverage significant resources in other key Asian maritime centres, including Shanghai, Beijing, and Singapore, Ince continues to be seen with great regularity in many of the region's most significant disputes and transactions, for a varied roster of clients, including shipowners, port and terminal owners, lessors and P&I clubs. Experienced senior partners Rosita Lau and Max Cross head up the office's dry shipping offering and provide commercial and astute advice to clients across a myriad contentious cross-border mandates, including bills of lading, loss of cargo, pollution claims, and coverage disputes. Master mariner Richard Oakley forms an integral part of the firm's cross-office dedicated emergency response offering that is able to provide round-the-clock representation to clients in marine casualties anywhere in the world. As well as his sector-specific transactional expertise across corporate, commercial and financing matters, senior partner David Beaves is also recognised for his thought leadership on trends and developments impacting the global trade and shipping sectors. Managing associate Ruaridh Guy has a versatile shipping practice that not only includes work across a range of core wet and dry disputes, but also commodities-related work, as well as drafting and negotiations in relation to charterparties and sale contracts.

Benefiting from a longstanding shipping heritage, both in the region and internationally, Hill Dickinson Hong Kong office forms a vital part of the firm's overarching maritime offering, which is effectively able to service the local and international needs of a broad range of clients, including P&I clubs, owners and charterers. Damien Laracy spearheads much of the firm's contentious shipping work and is well-versed at handling formal court proceedings and international arbitrations, as well as providing advice on the pre-emptive early steps to secure claims by way of injunctive relief. Laracy also has experience advising on ship mortgage enforcement work, and ship arrests, for both banks and other creditors, and this skill-set forms a vital component of the firm's ancillary strength in relation to restructuring and insolvency work in the maritime sector, an area that is overseen by commercial and insolvencies disputes head Brian O’Hare. PRC and UK-qualified legal director Edward Liu is well regarded across a range of shipping litigation and arbitration, and continues to grow the firm's presence among owners, charterers, and operators in mainland China. The team is rounded out by Antony Cowie, who regularly handles transactional shipping work (including sale and purchase agreements, charterparties) as part of his broader corporate,  commercial, and finance offering.

Co-headed from Hong Kong by Steven Wise and Andrew Horton, and benefiting from the ability to draw upon the expertise of lawyers based on the ground in mainland China and Singapore, CMS provides an integrated service to a range of shipping stakeholders, including P&I clubs, owners and charterers. Although the team has capability across the bandwidth of dry and wet litigation, it is perhaps best-known for its ship arrest prowess, and benefits from many years' experience negotiating security guarantees and bail bonds, as well as taking action to obtain security for claims in many other jurisdictions, via arrest or similar proceedings. Senior associate John Butler continues to develop a strong practice across a range of shipping-related international arbitration and commercial disputes.

Instructed directly by clients, including charterers, shipowners, and insurers, as well as receiving a significant amount of law firm referrals, independent Hong Kong-based law firm Howse Williams has an excellent pedigree across a wide array of wet and dry shipping litigation. 'Very capable and well-connected' founding partner Chris Howse has lots of experience in the local market, with particular expertise handling problems arising from the shipment of coal, iron ore, nickel ore, and fluorspar. David Coogans co-heads the team, alongside Howse, and as well as representing clients in charterparty and bills of lading disputes, is also well-versed at handling admiralty matters, including collision, salvage, and pollution cases. The team also has niche expertise handling personal injury work for shipowners and terminals, where it benefits from the ability to tap into the expertise of a medico-legal department (that includes two partners also qualified as doctors).

Led out of Hong Kong by the 'practical and pragmatic' Andrew Rigden Green, and also able to draw upon the expertise of shipping lawyers based out of Singapore and Shanghai, Stephenson Harwood has the resources and knowledge to handle a tremendous range of contentious and non-contentious shipping-related work throughout Asia Pacific. On the litigation front, the team has garnered a particularly strong reputation handling cross-border enforcement work, including injunctions and forum challenges, while shipbuilding arbitration is another niche area of expertise. Recently promoted partner Elizabeth Sloane has 'substantial experience' across a range of wet and dry litigation, as well as trade finance and banking disputes with a shipping and commodities focus.

Conversant with a range of arbitral rules and also well-positioned to handle multi-jurisdictional mandates by virtue of the firm's extensive international network of offices, DLA Piper provides a 'cost-effective and client-oriented service' to owners, charterers, operators and shipyards, across the spectrum of dry shipping and marine casualty work. Ernest Yang and the 'outstanding' Kevin Chan co-head the practice, which is also well-versed at handling big-ticket disputes involving overlapping projects and infrastructure mandates, where it is also able to leverage complementary practice areas within the firm.

Leveraging off his strong ties with P&I clubs, insurers, charterers, and owners, Tsui & Co's name partner Sam Tsui has a strong reputation in the local market across a range of insurance-related disputes, both from a traditional litigation and arbitration perspective. As well as core shipping expertise relating to charterparty and bills of lading disputes, and freight forwarding, Tsui also handles maritime-related personal injury work.