Stephenson Harwood

Maritime, trade & offshore

Max Lemanski is a partner in the marine and international trade department at Stephenson Harwood specialising in offshore energy, shipbuilding and shipping.

He is head of the firm’s offshore energy and construction group, including Stephenson Harwood’s market-leading FPSO team.  Max works primarily for offshore contractors, negotiating bareboat charters and O&M agreements, and EPIC construction and conversion contracts. He has worked on dozens of floating production projects all over the world including offshore Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway and the United Kingdom. On the litigation side his cases include many complex, high-value FPSO disputes (including in the English High Court and various LMAA, ICC and LCIA arbitrations) involving, inter alia, detailed technical analysis, variations claims, delay and prolongation issues, hire adjustment clauses, production problems and termination disputes. He is an expert in the decarbonisation of the offshore energy sector, including offshore wind (both fixed and floating turbines), carbon capture and the electrification of offshore assets.

He is the co-author of the leading work on the law of floating production, Offshore Floating Production: Legal and Commercial Risk Management (2023).

Max also heads the firm's shipbuilding practice and has acted in all kinds of negotiations in relation to shipbuilding contracts and related contracts such as refund guarantees, warranty bonds, option agreements and parent company guarantees.  When things go wrong Max regularly advises on all manner of related disputes including liquidated damages, termination, demands under the refund guarantees and post-delivery warranty claims.

On the shipping side, Max has many years’ experience working with owners/charterers and their P&I/FD&D clubs (representing shipping companies involved in dry bulk, containerships and all types of tankers, as well as specialist vessels such as oil spill response ships).   Clients value his considerable expertise in all manner of disputes, which span the full spectrum of dry shipping.

Max also has expertise in the superyacht sphere, working on a number of disputes involving high value, high profile superyachts.  These include construction and refurbishment disputes, as well as chartering issues.