Watson Farley & Williams LLP is a leading name in tonnage tax and maritime, and takes an active role in thought leadership and the development of legislation in the sector. Richard Stephens, a noted expert in maritime tax with a client base of numerous major shipping companies, co-leads the department alongside Claire Miles, who is qualified as a CTA and is experienced in cross-border corporate tax matters.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘Highest knowledge possible in terms of advanced UK tax laws, applied in a commercial and solution oriented way. ’

  • ‘Richard Stephens is excellent in his solution oriented, well-based advice. Efficient and timely and to the point.’

  • ‘Richard Stephens is the go-to for UK tonnage tax advice. His approach is practical and easily digestible for matters related to tax.’

  • ‘Richard Stephens is very client friendly and accessible, and simplifies complex areas of law.’

  • ‘Very strong in maritime tax across jurisdictions, including structuring and M&A knowledge. Deep and up-to-date knowledge of shipping business, commercial conventions etc. Attentive to detail.’

  • ‘Richard Stephens - effective communication of technical analysis. Practical, pragmatic and useful advice. Claire Miles - very focussed and dedicated to providing solutions tailored to client needs, detail oriented with effective communication.’

  • ‘The WFW tax team have an impressive ability to provide reliable and understandable, commercial advice in an efficient and collaborative manner.’

  • ‘Claire Miles is excellent on the technical aspects of tax law and wonderful to work with. She is a superb legal technician and a valuable addition to the WFW partnership.’

Key clients

  • MSC Cruises
  • The Republic of Guinea
  • TotalEnergies
  • Sonnedix
  • African Export-Import Bank
  • Infranity SAS
  • Mauritius Commercial Bank
  • Taylor Maritime Group Limited
  • Temeraire Holding Limited
  • Dana Petroleum Limited
  • NYK Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha
  • Star Energy
  • Beacon Energy
  • Anglo American

Work highlights

  • Advising the Republic of Guinea on the development, financing and corporate aspects of the US$15bn Simandou project.
  • Advising TotalEnergies on its sale of a 25.5% equity stake in the Seagreen offshore wind farm for £522m to PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited.
  • Advising Sonnedix on an innovative €500m loan facility to finance the construction of its renewable development pipeline.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Richard Stephens, Claire Miles