Alistair Johnston

Shipping litigation.

Alistair is a director in our London office and is one of the founders of the firm.

Alistair read Law and French at a London university and qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales in 1994. He has 20 years of experience in the field of marine law. He first worked for six years with City of London law firm, Elborne Mitchell, before joining Holman Fenwick Willan and working there for 12 years, becoming a partner in 2002. He left Holman Fenwick Willan in 2010 and co-founded Campbell Johnston Clark together with two other senior partners from Holman Fenwick Willan. Alistair's expertise covers all aspects of marine insurance, collisions, groundings, fire and explosion, salvage, total loss, wreck removal, limitation of liability, pollution, general average, insurance coverage, shipbuilding, charterparty and bill of lading disputes.He has been involved in some of the largest casualty cases over recent years including Mineral Dampier c/s Hanjin Madras, CMA Djakarta, the Hanjin Pennsylvania, the APL Panama, the Ocean Crown and more recently the HANSA BRANDENBURG to name but a few. His role in these cases involved detailed and comprehensive casualty handling acting primarily for owners and their insurers, dealing with everything from the practicalities of the casualties themselves to contractual and legal disputes that arise. Alistair features in Chambers & Partners UK 2014 ‘leading individuals’ section and he continues to receive market praise from clients and fellow practitioners alike, describing him as ‘good to deal with when matters turn contentious’. The Legal 500 also praises Alistair for being ‘knowledgeable’.

According to Chambers and Partners (2018 UK edition) he is a "knowledgeable, thorough and technical lawyer who is an aggressive defender of his clients."

Royal Grammar School; London Metropolitan University (Law and French).