HILL Dickinson must be the best-known law firm in Britain right now, after agreeing to sponsor Premier League football team Everton’s new stadium a few months back.

The cost of the deal remains undisclosed but is widely believed to run to millions of pounds a year.

But while the name will probably be new to the wider football-following public, its two-century involvement in shipping means it is already familiar to many Lloyd’s List readers.

Hill Dickinson traces its heritage back to 1811, when its predecessor was established in the port of Liverpool. The city is home to another football club, incidentally.

Its shipping pedigree includes representing both White Star Line after the sinking of Titanic and Cunard after German U-boats torpedoed Lusitania in the First World War.

Like most of its peers, it has diversified away from exclusive focus on our industry and is now a diverse corporate lawyer, spanning banking, financial services, retail, education and logistics.

But shipping and marine insurance remain central to its activities. Earlier this year, for instance, it represented Greek owner Delos in a significant Court of Appeal victory over German insurer Allianz in a constructive total loss case.

Given the partisanship football always excites, pumping large sums of money into the Toffees can hardly have pleased all its staff, not least those working at its other locations in Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds, Birmingham and London.

But Jasel Chauhan, the head of international finance, pointed out that the contract was agreed even though the firm’s former chief executive is a diehard Liverpool supporter.

“It’s still quite a bold move. There has been a lot of positive feedback and a few sceptics as well. But we’re very pleased with how it’s going so far,” he said.

The Premier League is followed all over the world and ranks behind only the Olympics and FIFA World Cup in terms of television audiences, so the stadium sponsorship has generated useful marketing exposure and brand recognition.

Delos v Allianz centred on capesize bulk carrier Win Win (IMO: 9219018), which was held by Indonesian authorities for 18 months after what was described as the maritime equivalent of a parking ticket.

The Court of Appeal found that the owners were entitled to a CTL payout, rejecting the insurer’s contention that the detention was not fortuitous.

The outcome has been hailed for clarifying the meaning of both the American Hull Clauses and the UK Insurance Act 2015.

Former master Tony Goldsmith, head of business group, said the outcome demonstrated the quality of Hill Dickinson’s shipping offering.

“It was a master class in litigation management from the perspective of different clients... If it had not been a winner, we wouldn’t have run it.

“We are a firm that does not as a matter of course litigate everything. We give objective advice to clients on the right approach to adopt to resolve a case.”

The action should not be regarded as Hill Dickinson choosing to work for a shipowner rather than an insurer, he added. After all, Delos’ action was funded by its freight, demurrage & defence coverage, so there were insurance interests on both sides.

Chauhan added that many claims in London are on behalf of Greek or Asian owners, making matters a lot more international than in the past.

While the interests of underwriters, clubs and owners need to be balanced, law firms will of course go where the work is.

Sanctions work

Hill Dickinson is also known for its work on sanctions, which is headed by Siiri Duddington.

Goldsmith said: “It’s a broadening out of our platform that has been going on for five or six years. The sanctions practice is a market-leading practice that we have.

“It spans a number of offices and jurisdictions, including Piraeus, Newcastle and London.”

Sanctions on shipping is of course an ever-changing field, sometimes requiring the firm to follow developments by the hour, with much focus on the stipulations of the US Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Clients need to be confident they can enter whatever transactions they want to without falling foul of the restrictions.

“It is an area that has blossomed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but we had quite a big practice even before that. And there’s all sorts going on in the Middle East.”

Chauhan added that sanctions have become a much bigger element of day-to-day commercial transactions and now seem to touch on almost everything.

“If you are buying a ship, either secondhand or a newbuilding, you need to be aware of your counterparties, from source of funds all the way through the cycle to demolition and recycling.

“Fundamentally it is coming from geopolitics and that is really what has been changing the shape of business, and of legal advice as well. That has fuelled it.”

The proportion of the firm’s workload sanctions make up will inevitably vary, in line with the volume of new developments.

Finance has been another growth area over the past decade, including for Chauhan’s Piraeus office, which is helping to draw up a deal that is not yet public. Volumes have also increased in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Chauhan’s experience in the niche dates back to the heyday of the Royal Bank of Scotland prior to the global financial crisis, when it had the biggest ship finance portfolio in Greece.

The once-mighty RBS — now relegated to one of the many brands in the NatWest Group — famously had to be bailed out by the UK government, which steered it away from non-domestic activities.

Many German banks also pulled out of shipping, with Chinese lenders happy to step into the gap left by the Europeans, often on a sale and leaseback basis.

“The key change in the nature of financial transactions is that they are much more international. So, you will have Chinese lessors financing ships with owners in Greece that are flagged in the Marshall Islands or Liberia,” said Chauhan.

“If you have a Chinese lender, you now have the US port fees issue coming in and sanctions aspects as well. So, finance has just become a lot more complex.”

The picture used to more cyclical. Transaction work for law firms went up when litigation was quiet and vice versa.

But more recently, factors such as the financial crisis, the pandemic and various tranches of environmental regulation have changed that outlook, making the streams more consistent.

Meanwhile, Everton’s fortunes are improving after finishing 15th in the Premier League last season, they currently sit eighth in the table after a dramatic 2-1 stoppage time win against South Londoners Crystal Palace on Sunday. The sponsor of its stadium appears to be on the up as well.