UK-headquartered law firm HFW has brought across a team of 11 ship finance experts from collapsed rival Ince in Greece.
Ince was one of the leading names in maritime law until it went bankrupt last year amid allegations of misuse of client funds.
HFW said the new Piraeus recruits are led by partners Robin Parry and Ronan Le Du.
They each have decades of experience in ship finance matters and join HFW alongside a team of six lawyers and three business services professionals.
Parry was head of Ince’s finance practice in Greece.
The move follows HFW’s recent recruitment in Piraeus of legal director and ship finance expert Antonella Karalis from Australian bank ANZ.
“The latest move makes HFW one of the largest ship finance teams in Greece,” the law firm said.
It is also the latest example of rivals benefiting from Ince’s demise by snapping up legal talent.
Dimitri Vassos, head of the Piraeus office for HFW, said the new recruits are the “go-to advisors” for ship finance in Greece.
“Following Antonella’s arrival earlier this year, this is another significant step in the development of our transactional capabilities in Piraeus, to complement our pre-eminence in shipping litigation,” he added.
Vassos sees strong synergies between the new team and HFW’s global ship finance practice, with teams operating in London, Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore.
The former Ince lawyers act for a wide range of Greek and international lenders, financiers and owners, including banks and investment funds.
They advise on documenting and negotiating loan and security documentation for all types of syndicated and bilateral, pre- and post-delivery financings and club deals, as well as on restructuring and rescheduling arrangements for existing facilities, HFW said.
Platform for growth
Parry called HFW “the clear market leader for shipping globally.”
“No other law firm has the same combination of sector expertise and international reach, thanks to its network of expert shipping teams around the world,” he said.
“As a shipping lawyer, there is no finer place to work, and HFW gives our team the best possible platform on which to grow,” the partner added.
HFW has more than 200 shipping lawyers and 13 master mariners on its books.
The firm has added 30 new partners since the beginning of its 2023 financial year.
Earlier this month, former Clyde & Co partner Maurice Thompson joined to lead its global litigation funding team.
The lawyer is based in Melbourne, Australia.
At the same time, UK-headquartered law firm Hill Dickinson expanded its international reach with a new operation in Cyprus.
The base in Limassol was set up in association with two former Ince & Co partners, George Zambartas and Ester Toumpouris.
Their law firm G Zambartas formerly traded as Ince and Ince Consultancy (Cyprus).
In November, seven people were arrested as part of an investigation by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office into around £66m ($83m) of client money that went missing from Axiom Ince.
