Hill Dickinson LLP

Anthony Allen

Tony heads our world renowned yacht team, and has more than 20 years' experience of yacht-related legal issues. With an international client base and having worked with most of the leading European yacht underwriters and yards, he enjoys a reputation as one of the leaders in this field.His work focuses primarily on large yacht transactions and major yacht insurance disputes whilst he also has an active involvement in industry bodies such as the Superyacht Society, the British Marine Federation and its Superyacht UK initiative, and the Royal Yachting Association.

Darren Wall

Partner

David Pitlarge

Has specialised in shipping and commercial law since qualifying in 1989. Undertakes a broad range of shipping and related commercial work, including advising on contractual disputes arising from bills of lading, charterparties, MOAs, shipbuilding contracts, ship management agreements and international sale agreements (this has included investigative work following casualties); drafting and advising on documentation for shipping and shipping-related transactions, including management contracts, sale and purchase, construction, loan and ancillary security documentation; advising on insurance coverage, principally P&I and H&M issues; and advising on general commercial litigation. Clients include ship-owners/operators, P&I clubs, banks, charterers, underwriters, brokers, traders and non-English lawyers. While acting for clients from a diverse range of locations, David has a particular interest in the Mediterranean markets.

David Rabagliati

Partner dealing with a wide range of issues in the non-contentious commercial field. Focusing on banking and financial work, including lending and the taking and enforcement of security; the construction, sale and purchase, and finance of ships; infrastructure projects including PFI/PPP projects in the rail industry; joint ventures and other corporate transactions, and the restructuring and documentation of a wide range of commercial transactions. Major transactions include Manchester Metrolink, Midland Metro, Croydon Tramlink, the fleet renewal programme of the Libyan State Shipping Company and the restructuring of the Szczecin Shipyard.

David Hill

Partner, Governance, Regulatory and Public Law

Helene Peter-Davies

Partner

Ian Maclean

Provides his international client base of ship owners, ship managers and their insurers with extensive multi-jurisdictional casualty experience, including collisions, structural failure, pollution, actual and constructive total losses, fire, and salvage and cargo damage. Known for his practical and measured approach in the emotive environment that characterises the immediate aftermath of a casualty. Also advises on the contractual and third-party disputes arising from casualties through to settlement, and has a pragmatic and proportionate approach to case management and settlement negotiations. In addition advises on MARPOL issues, hull and machinery claims, piracy and ship management disputes. Master mariner with 12 years’ seagoing experience; worked for a major ship manager in Cyprus where, as deputy director, he was responsible for the marine superintendency, safety, loss prevention and the casualty management/investigation functions. Contributes to seminars and writes for the trade press on litigation risk management, casualty management, seaworthiness and the ISM code. Has advised the Cyprus government on the introduction of shipping legislation.

James Williams

A partner in the employment and pensions team, James advises both employers and employees on a full range of matters, including day-to-day surgery advice, transactional support, executive severance and litigation.James joined the firm in April 2014, having qualified into a large European law firm in 2000 and spent eight years as a partner in a niche city employment practice. He acts for organisations across a range of sectors, with a particular focus on financial services, shipping, education and advertising. He specialises in: Tribunal and High Court litigation (including whistle-blowing, discrimination, TUPE and breach of contract claims) Dealing with team moves, post-termination restrictions and applications for injunctive relief Providing day-to-day ‘surgery’ advice Advising senior executives on their contracts and severance packages James attended the University of Liverpool, where he completed his law degree and an LLM in International Law.

James Lawson

Transactional aspects of the owning and operation of superyachts, including construction, refit, sale and purchase, design, project management, yacht management and crew management agreements and issues arising out of the ownership, operation, chartering, taxation, registration, regulation and crewing of superyachts.

Janet McWhinney

Partner

Jim Garton

James is head of real estate and real estate finance in London and his particular areas of specialism are hotel and residential (and mixed use) development; real estate finance and joint venture arrangements. James has many years’ experience of acting for investment funds and institutions, property companies, developers, banks, high-net-worth individuals and end users on a diverse range of real estate work including development, investment, real estate finance and landlord and tenant. Recent successes include advising on hotel developments and mixed use schemes – including joint venture arrangements, acting on numerous secured lending transactions including hotel acquisitions and developments, investment properties, mixed use developments and restaurant premises and representing high-net-worth clients in relation to high-value residential sales and purchases. He has also been responsible for advising West Ham United in connection with its bid to take over the Olympic Stadium in Stratford following the London Olympic Games in 2012.

John Caddies

Head of our Marine PI and Regulatory, John worked with the previous head of department, Maria Pittordis, for 28 years and has taken over the role as a result of her sad passing. Specialising in high-value, complex personal injury and industrial disease claims, John joined the firm in 1988 and has dealt with complex and high-value employers' liability and public liability personal injury claims for over 25 years, varying from athletes to divers. A marine and transport claims' specialist, he regularly visits ports and attends onboard vessels to carry out immediate post-accident investigations, liaising with the HSE, MAIB, MCA and the police, and advising in relation to both the consequent criminal prosecutions as well as the civil claims. John has significant expertise in dealing with fatal claims, psychiatric injuries and multi-party litigation in the “BOWBELLE”/“MARCHIONESS” and “COSTA CONCORDIA” litigation, and leads a team with extensive experience in GI, legionella, norovirus and sexual assault claims. John also has specific expertise in dealing with industrial disease claims, particularly asbestos, asthma, vibration white finger and stress at work and argued the only successful date of knowledge defence for ship owners in the reported case of G Smith (deceased) -v- P&O Bulk Shipping Limited. He regularly lectures and provides training to clients both in the UK and Europe on both personal injury and industrial disease claims.

Kiran Bhogal

Partner

Malcolm Entwistle

Malcolm is head partner in the London corporate and commercial team. He is experienced in all aspects of corporate and commercial law and is involved in all types of financing and equity finance structures.A director or company secretary for a number of the firm's clients, he is, and has been for over 30 years, honorary secretary of the Jubilee Sailing Trust. A high proportion of Malcolm's clients are overseas and his work involves multi jurisdictions. His experience covers all types of assets or arrangements including joint ventures, but he has a particular specialism in all types of commercial shipping transactions including shipping finance, sale and purchase, ship and yacht instructions, repair contracts, charter parties and other related contracts where he has substantial experience and expertise.

Mark Walker

Best described as an international mercantile lawyer, Mark is a partner in the corporate and commercial team in the London office. His practice is a diverse one and includes expertise in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and cross-border joint ventures, finance, commercial shipping and commodities.Mark qualified as a solicitor in 2008 having completed his articles at the firm and upon qualification he joined the commercial and corporate team in London before becoming a partner in 2014.  He is experienced in handling matters as diverse as the sale and purchase of ships, businesses and assets, asset finance (acting for banks and owners), trade and structured trade finance, cross-border joint venture and investment agreements, corporate restructuring and the drafting of commercial agreements. In addition, Mark is also experienced in drafting supply contracts, both domestic and international, negotiating and drafting shipbuilding contracts and regularly provides the firm’s commodities clients with advice on a range of commercial and corporate matters relevant to their businesses.Mark completed a degree in law and accountancy at the University of Brighton where he graduated with first class honours and won the American Express prize for his performance in his final year. He undertook his LPC at the College of Law.

Mark Weston

Mark heads our London offering for commercial, information technology (IT), intellectual property (IP), on-line commerce and media law, in both non-contentious and contentious areas. He particularly loves the technology, media and telecom (TMT) sector.Mark joined the firm in February 2016 after 12 years as partner and head of the commercial/IP/IT team at Matthew Arnold & Baldwin LLP. Before that, he spent several years at Baker & McKenzie in London and Chicago and has also previously been seconded to Hewlett Packard and other technology businesses. Mark is used as a 'trusted adviser' by many clients in all sorts of businesses and often acts as ‘private practice in-house counsel' for many clients. He specialises in tech and internet businesses. Within IT law, Mark has particular expertise in IT projects, software issues (including development, licensing, maintenance and distribution), SaaS, Cloud and virtualization issues, outsourcing, facilities management, new media solutions, transmedia development (particularly transmedia gaming), solutions for/methods of transacting on and via the internet, online retail, ecommerce generally, s-commerce, m-commerce, liability management strategies, IT audits, procurement, IT policies, data protection (privacy) and freedom of information issues. He is also experienced in dealing with commercial disputes (including software disputes and IT litigation). The increasing media side of his practice relates primarily to publishing (both real world and digital content), to games and gaming platforms (and particularly new transmedia technologies), advising companies about their advertising onscreen, online and in print and managing their public communications strategies generally - and also television, film and music exploitation. Mark completed his law degree at University College London in 1993 (achieving top first class honours) and achieved a distinction at the College of Law, London (1994). He then trained at Allen & Overy (1995-1997).

Martin Hall

Martin Penny

A marine partner in the yacht team with many years’ experience of yacht transaction and related disputes.

Monica Macheng

Panos Pourgourides

Originally engaged in both contentious and non-contentious work in the commercial shipping sector, but has since focused on yacht work for most of his career. Extensive experience acting for yacht owners and almost all of the major banks involved in the provision of finance for new build projects and second-hand yachts. Also advises on the negotiation of construction agreements, sale and purchase work and other yacht-related regulatory issues.

Paul Taylor

Specialising in commodities, shipping and insurance with particular expertise in energy, Paul is a dual qualified English solicitor and French avocat. He advises traders, insurers, ship owners, charterers and operators, P&I clubs, oil majors and companies generally. In addition to his commodities and shipping expertise, Paul also has extensive marine and non-marine insurance experience.He handles disputes in England before the High Court and appellate divisions as well as disputes in ICC International Court of Arbitration, London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), London Maritime Arbitrators Association (LMAA), GAFTA, FOSFA, FCC and LME arbitration. Paule has appeared before the courts and arbitrators throughout France and he lectures around the world and publishes on issues in the commodities, shipping and insurance fields.He studied law and French Law at University College London, spending a year at the University of Aix-Marseille and qualified as a solicitor in London in 1997 and as an avocat of the Paris Bar in 2004.

Philip Haddon

Partner dealing with casualty-related work, including collisions, salvage, groundings, strandings, oil pollution and fires. Extensive experience dealing with cases from initial instruction to final resolution, including on-site investigations, trials, arbitrations, mediation and other forms of final resolution. Also has extensive experience in marine insurance and charterparty and cargo matters.

Richard Taylor

Partner advising on the acquisition, development, disposal and funding of investment and redevelopment properties, and real estate transactions for a wide range of main stream businesses including: hotels, casinos and travel-related leisure businesses, healthcare, oil and energy, transport and logistics. Advises owners, financial institutions, and commercial landlords and tenants of all types of freehold and leasehold commercial property. Reflecting Hill Dickinson s long-standing international reputation, Richard has a large renowned international clientele from a wide geographical base encompassing North America, the Middle East and Far East, Africa, Italy and other Mediterranean countries. Known to be commercially astute and a good communicator who has successfully led many multi-discipline lawyer teams on large company commercial deals in which real estate is a key factor.

Robert Wallis

Robert is a consultant in the marine trade and energy team. He specialises in admiralty law and insurance litigation and is legal advisor to International Salvage Union.

Roderick Palmer

Partner undertaking general commercial and finance work, specialising in asset, acquisition, yacht and ship finance and aviation.

Russell Gardner

Partner specialising in all aspects of shippingand superyacht litigation.

Stuart Armstrong

Initially specialising in subrogated cargo recoveries before broadening his areas of practice to include all types of logistics and commodity trade disputes, Stuart qualified as a solicitor in 1983. He joined the firm in 2001 and heads our London cargo and logistics team.Stuart's expertise lies in marine, air and road cargo claims and related marine cargo insurance and freight liability insurance disputes and his caseload now encompasses: Charterparties Bills of lading CMR and domestic road haulage Warsaw and Montreal conventions GAFTA/FOSFA contracts The Institute Cargo Clauses With experience in admiralty and commercial court cases, London arbitration and mediation, Stuart's focus is on dispute resolution in a quick and cost-effective manner.

Susan Leonard

Legal director in the commodities team and practises shipping and international trade litigation and arbitration. Has acted in Commercial Court, LMAA, LCIA, GAFTA, FOSFA, and RSA/SAL proceedings.