01 / Lord Hamblen, Supreme Court

Lord Hamblen of Kersey is a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and can find himself ruling on shipping disputes originating anywhere in the world if the contracts contain an English law jurisdiction clause.

2025 was no exception. Big cases included the litigation between Mediterranean Shipping Co and Conti over MSC Flaminia (IMO: 9225615); the bust-up between King Crude Tankers and Ridgebury after a collapsed S&P contract; and FIMBank v KCH Shipping, which centred on the Hague-Visby Rules time bar.

Nicholas Hamblen, as he was born in 1957, was educated at a top public school and studied law at Oxford and Harvard, and built his career at the bar before becoming a judge.

02 / Peter MacDonald Eggers KC, 7BW

The current crop of star shipping barristers includes Peter MacDonald Eggers KC of 7BW, who in 2025 successfully represented a Greek shipowner against German-owned insurance giant Allianz in the Win Win (IMO: 9219018) case.

The capesize bulk carrier was detained by the Indonesian authorities for 18 months, for what was described as the maritime equivalent of a parking ticket. McDonald Eggers persuaded the Court of Appeal that Delos was owed a constructive total loss payout.

He sometimes sits as a deputy judge of the High Court, in which capacity he ruled that the English courts had no jurisdiction in a charterparty identity dispute between Marshall Islands-registered shipmanager White Rock and Russian owner Middle Volga.

03 / John Passmore KC, Quadrant Chambers

Another of this year’s big shipping cases was that of Solomon Trader, which not only upheld the ‘pay to be paid rule’ long relied upon by marine insurers but set an important precedent for English contract law as a whole.

Quadrant Chambers’ John Passmore KC secured the win for insurer MS Amlin, which had written the charterers’ liability policy for Bintan, an Indonesian miner that had hired the aforementioned bulk carrier.

After the vessel grounded, the owner and the Korea P&I sought to uphold a $47m arbitral award against Bintan, which went into liquidation without meeting the obligation. No dice, the Court of Appeal decided on listening to Passmore’s arguments against.

04 / Kavita Shah, Watson Farley & Williams

Several shipping law firms lay claim to the title of the world’s largest dedicated maritime practice. The team at Watson Farley & Williams, which includes Kavita Shah, is one of them.

An occasional guest on the Lloyd’s List Shipping Podcast, Shah is renowned for her expertise in maritime asset finance, particularly creditor representation. She also advises on portfolio acquisitions, refinancing and credit facilities.

It has been a busy year for Shah, marked by her thoughtful interventions on topics including US port fees and the role of financial lessors in ship leasing.

05 / Jasel Chauhan, Hill Dickinson

Possibly the only shipping lawyer on the radar of Britain’s general public will be Hill Dickinson. That is probably because of the firm’s stadium sponsorship deal with premiership football team Everton.

While the arrangement underlines that Hill Dickinson has stayed true to its Liverpool roots, it is now firmly on the international stage. Among its heavy-hitters is Jasel Chauhan, head of its Piraeus office, who leads its ship finance work worldwide.

06 / Paul Dean, HFW

Law firms are usually constituted as partnerships and, unlike limited companies, operate on the basis of some form of internal democracy. Paul Dean was first elected HFW’s head of shipping in 2016, secured a renewed mandate in 2019 and did so again earlier in 2025, so presumably the electorate likes what it is getting.

This will definitely be his last term, he told Lloyd’s List in an interview in April 2025, and he is now looking to his legacy. Given the expansion of its shipping activities on Dean’s watch, it will surely be a distinguished one.

07 / Rob Wilkins, Reed Smith

Reed Smith is a giant among corporate law firms, yet the maritime industry is an increasingly important focus for its activities.

After 25 years of giving advice on financings and investment, Rob Wilkins, a partner in its transportation industry group, is widely hailed as one of the leading shipping transactional lawyers of his generation.

While his clients do include shipowners, commodity traders, shipmanagers and banks, he is even better known for acting for an impressive roster of private equity and hedge funds.

08 / Gina Lee-Wan, Allen & Gledhill

Singapore-based Gina Lee-Wan, who has appeared in several earlier iterations of this Top 10, remains one of the best-known shipping lawyers in Asia.

As well as her work for the city state’s most prominent full-service law firm, Allen & Gledhill, which specialises in shipping and offshore finance, she is a member of the Singapore Chamber of Maritime Arbitration general committee and the Singapore Institute of Technology’s industry advisory committee.

She also sits on the committee of Singapore War Risk Mutual and is a director of Lockton Companies (Singapore).

09 / Chris Nolan, Holland & Knight

Holland & Knight partner Chris Nolan is a litigation attorney who co-chairs the firm’s growing transportation and infrastructure business, which now comprises 270 colleagues around the globe.

His workload in 2025 has included legal action around the Federal Maritime Commission, related to alleged Shipping Act violations due to unreasonable detention and demurrage fees during the Covid pandemic.

Nolan headed the legal team representing Samsung Electronics America in FMC complaints against ocean carriers Zim and SM Line, which are now on appeal after an initial ruling in Samsung’s favour.

Ukraine has been at war for nearly four years now, since the unprovoked Russian invasion in February 2022. Yet somehow its domestic shipping industry — and the professional services that provide it with essential support — continues to operate.

Arthur Nitsevych is managing partner at Interlegal, an Odesa-based law firm that has been offering legal advice to shipping and transport companies in the Black Sea and Mediterranean since 1995.

He is the founder of both the Black Sea Institute of Maritime and Trade Law and the Recovery Ukraine Project, and former chair of the Nautical Institute of Ukraine.

Nitsevych will be the only lawyer on this list working under constant threat of military bombardment. But despite the bleak times for his country, he organises networking conferences and even an annual Odessa shipping dinner.

This list is part of the Lloyd’s List One Hundred People 2025 (Edition 16)

The Top 10 maritime lawyers ranking is compiled by the Lloyd’s List editorial team in conjunction with our colleagues at Lloyd’s Law Reports

Sources: Lloyd’s Law Reports, Lloyd’s List