Maritime, International Trade & Commodities, Commercial Disputes

Max is an International Dispute Resolution, Arbitration and Mediation specialist. He has over 25 years of experience in international arbitration and other forms of commercial dispute resolution. The majority of his work involves international arbitration, with a particular focus on disputes in the transportation and international trade sectors and generally involving very substantial sums and multiple jurisdictions. He has been ranked by Legal 500 as Leading Individual in China: Shipping continuously for the past 10 years.  In the 2019 edition, he is described by clients as “commercial and highly experienced”. He is “'an elite class of his own' and provides 'results-driven service' to clients in a range of disputes". He is also recognized as a Band 1 Leading Individual by Chambers Asia Pacific 2019, where clients praised him as being “hands on, attentive and really on the ball”. In previous editions, Max was recommended for his “in-depth knowledge of the industry” and for being “able to adapt quickly to anything a case throws up”. As “a very creative problem solver”, he was complimented for being “dedicated and technically proficient”.

Max trained in London and moved to Hong Kong in 1998. He advises and acts as advocate in domestic and international commercial disputes, in particular in disputes concerning commercial sale and delivery contracts, enforcing payment or advising on the problems associated with late delivery, guarantees and letters of credit, contamination or product specification disputes, technical disputes (usually concerned with ship construction or with quantification of damages) and maritime contracts (charterparties, bills of lading, COAs, marine policies, abandoned or disputed cargoes, including the enforcement of liens and resolving issues over title, etc.).  Max also advises banks and hedge funds on issues arising from the insolvency of shipping companies, debt acquisition and restructuring. He has considerable experience advising debtors and creditors on the jurisdictional, legal and practical implications of insolvency within the shipping and international trade industries.

Max also acts in a range of substantial fraud disputes relating to misappropriation of assets and deceit and bribery claims. He is particularly skilled at obtaining and enforcing interim injunctions. Much of his workload has an international flavour.

Recent Reported Case:

>Re STX Pan Ocean (HK) Co Ltd (In Liquidation) [2014]

> Law Society of England and Wales

> Law Society of Hong Kong

Partner

University of London, King’s College