Watson Farley & Williams is a distinctive law firm with a leading market position in international shipping finance and maritime. Shipping finance has been a core practice since the firm was founded in 1982.
We have one of the largest dedicated maritime team of any law firm in the world. Our talented lawyers work from strategically located offices in Europe, the USA, Asia and the Middle East. Delivering integrated cross-border advice, our maritime team advise on Italian, English, French, German, Spanish, Greek, Russian, Singaporean, Thai, Hong Kong, New York, Liberian, Marshall Islands and Vanuatu laws, – no other practice can match our scope and range of services to this sector of the market. Our finance lawyers operate across both private and public international finance markets working closely with a broad client base.
Our clients include more than 150 international banks and financial institutions, corporations, governments and governmental agencies who collectively dominate the world’s shipping markets.
We provide incisive, commercially driven advice on every aspect of domestic and international ship finance transactions including: (I) newbuilding and second-hand ship financing, (II) domestic and cross-border finance leasing, (III) operating leases and other off-balance sheet financing, (IV) insurance policies, including credit wraps and asset protection, (V) enforcement of securities, including arrest of vessels, (VI) taxation, (VII) restructurings and insolvencies, (VIII) syndication, securitisation and asset sales, (IX) maritime legislation and (X) workouts.