Middle East - United Arab Emirates
Watson Farley & Williams
Watson Farley & Williams offers a ‘very experienced and responsive’ maritime practice, regularly advising major clients in the UAE and wider Middle East on complex commercial contracts, finance, corporate and dispute resolution matters. With former practice head Andrew Baird departing the firm in November 2023 to move in-house at ADNOC Logistics, Michael Savva now leads the offering and regularly represents owners and operators on a broad array of non-contentious matters, including sale and purchase, charters and contracts of employment. Senior associate Charlotte Knight is also developing an impressive transactional practice and regularly leads on ship finance negotiations. Natalie Jensen was a new arrival in March 2024.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Very experienced and responsive’.
‘Very commercial in approach and prompt to respond.’
Key clients
- Neonautica Ships & Boats Trading LLC
- National Bank of Fujairah PJSC
- National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (Bahri)
- ABN AMRO Bank N.V.
- Astro Offshore
- Tomini Shipping
Work highlights
- Advising Neonautica Ships and Boats Trading LLC, a shipping start-up, on various corporate and commercial matters.
- Advising a national Middle Eastern ship owner on the sale of 7 oil tankers and the purchase of 2 VLCCs.
- Assisting a drilling operations company in connection with the sale of three mobile offshore drilling units to the drilling arm of a leading GCC based oil and gas entity.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Michael Savva