Marcus Bowman, the former managing partner at global law firm HFW, may be leaving the firm after more than 30 years, but he plans to keep busy in the maritime arena.
The South African, who joined the London-based law firm aged 33 in 1987, has twice been managing partner and stepped down for the final time in April.
He will be 65 in July, bringing the curtain down on his time at the outfit on 30 June.
Bowman told TradeWinds: "I've been very lucky here and the firm has been very good to me, and it's always a good policy to go before you're asked!
Client perspectives
"I leave very content and as someone who has learned a lot. Now it's time for something new."
Having moved to the UK from South Africa in 1977 and studied for a master's degree in shipping at London University, Bowman spent more than seven years at Oceanus and Britannia handling protection and indemnity and freight, demurrage and defence claims.
"I found having first-hand experience of a client's perspective really helpful as a lawyer," he said. "We do a lot of work for the P&I clubs at HFW."
He has since worked on disputes relating to everything from charterparties and bills of lading to shipbuilding and major collisions.
"I've had a very interesting career and worked on some fascinating matters for some wonderful clients," he said.
Bowman was also president of the UK Chamber of Shipping from 2014 to 2015 — a role he described as "a real honour".
When I first came to London, there were still shipowners in EC3 [in the heart of the City of London] and the Lloyd's building hadn't even been built
He said the market has changed "out of all recognition" during his near 40-year career.
"When I first came to London, there were still shipowners in EC3 [in the heart of the City of London] and the Lloyd's building hadn't even been built," he said.
Entrepreneurial spirit
"Things have become much more challenging for law firms. Clients expect so much more of their external advisors now and there is real pressure on fees.
"Many clients also have substantial legal teams and handle a lot of their work in-house."
He explained that since the charter rate boom of 2007 to 2009, levels have fallen, meaning owners are less likely to come to lawyers for cases involving relatively small sums of money, for example.
"But HFW is in a very strong position," Bowman said. "We're fortunate in that we're very well known for our expertise in shipping. We've been advising the industry for more than 135 years and have the world's largest practice.
"Many of our historic rivals have disappeared or have moved away from the sector, but we've continued to invest in strengthening and broadening our offering."
I really don't feel I want to just put my feet up and become an expert on daytime TV
Marcus Bowman
"When I joined the firm, we mainly did disputes and salvage work for shipowners and P&I clubs.
"We now have 12 sub-groups within our shipping practice, covering everything from dry shipping to admiralty and crisis management, offshore, logistics and transactional work.
"Partners are given real freedom to go out and find their own new business — that creative and entrepreneurial spirit is an important part of our culture.
"We've also committed significant resources to building our international network. When I joined the firm, we had just three offices: London, Paris and Hong Kong.
"We've now got more than 600 lawyers across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific."
Next step
After leaving HFW, Bowman will become an independent mediator, taking an associate tenancy at renowned London-based chambers Quadrant Chambers.
He will also provide consulting services to litigation funders — a growing part of HFW's global disputes practice, which has its own specialist litigation funding committee.
Bowman said: "I really don't feel I want to just put my feet up and become an expert on daytime TV. It's not going to be easy, but there is always room in the market for someone who comes at the issue from a different angle."
He was replaced as managing partner by Jeremy Shebson from 1 April after an internal election.
