Stephenson Harwood

Commodities & Trade, Maritime

Partner and Chief Representative of Shanghai office, Head of Greater China

Paul heads the Ince Shanghai office. He is a graduate of both University College London and City University London and he joined the firm's Hong Kong office in 1996 as a trainee.

Paul relocated to the firm’s Shanghai office in 2002 and became a partner in 2006. Paul is dual qualified in Hong Kong and England & Wales and he has a broad practice covering many areas of the firm’s work. He speaks fluent English, Cantonese and Mandarin and he is a keen golfer.

Shipping

Paul is familiar with all aspects of the firm’s contentious and non-contentious shipping practice. He has a strong focus on shipbuilding, offshore construction, ship repair and ship sale & purchase transactions. These include negotiation and drafting of contracts as well as handling of disputes and international arbitrations. He frequently represents major international shipowners, charterers, shipyards, banks and financial institutions.

Paul regularly advises owners and shipyards in relation to shipbuilding, offshore construction and ship repair transactions. He has given talks on Chinese shipbuilding issues in Bergen, Hamburg, Hong Kong, Istanbul, London, Mumbai, Oslo, Piraeus, Shanghai and Singapore.

Paul represents a number of large private and state-owned trading companies with a particular focus on oil and gas trading. He advises on all aspects of sale and transportation of crude oil, refined products and gas and he has also handled numerous disputes ranging from quality, shortage and late delivery to charterparty issues.

Paul "delivers an excellent service."Chambers Asia Pacific

Business & Finance

Paul has extensive experience in handling international project financing, syndicated bank lending, ship and asset financing, mergers & acquisitions and foreign direct investment. He regularly represents and advises leading Chinese and foreign (non-Chinese) banks and financial institutions in various projects and asset financing projects both within and outside China.

Paul handles all types of foreign investment projects into China on behalf of foreign (non-Chinese) companies from all over the world, including the establishment of representative offices, joint ventures or wholly foreign owned entities. He regularly conducts due diligence exercises on Chinese companies on behalf of foreign clients, engaging in multi-lingual negotiations and the drafting of the relevant merger or acquisition documentation.

International Trade

Paul represents a number of private and state-owned major international trading companies with a particular focus on oil and gas trading as well as physical commodities.

This covers a broad spectrum of work, from drafting commercial sale and delivery contracts, transportation related issues to debt recovery. Paul also handles trade related disputes ranging from contamination, shortage to late delivery.

English, Cantonese, Mandarin

> Law Society of England and Wales

> Law Society of Hong Kong

University College London, City University London