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Unique insights on the

prac tic e o f shipp ing that they

don t teac h in law sc hool

SHIPARRESTININDIOctober 2012,PublishedbyBrusChambers,Advocates&Solicitors,Mumbai,India Sector:Admiralty,ShippingandMar_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Ms.AanchalBedi,ofIndianEnglishdailynewspaperHindustanTimes,IntervieDr.ShrikantHathi,partneratBrusChambers,Advocates&Solicitors,whoislistedconsistentlytheeliteLeadingLawyerslistasLeadingIndividual,byLegal500andmanyotherssince20for shippingwork in India, studies andunderstands aboutbeing a shipping lawyer.He is alsoknownfigureforprojectworkinIndia.Hetalksaboutworkingonshiparrest,shippinglitigationIndiaandbalancingtheamountoflawinvolvedwithshippingnoushehasdeveloped.

.Brief introduction about Shipping lawyers and theirnature of work?Shipping lawyers divide between those involved incontentious matters and those involved in commercial andfinance transactions. Shipping spans a wide range of legaldisciplines and skill sets. Shipping litigation itself dividesbetween wet work, which involves collisions and casualtywork, and dry work which tends to relate more to

contractual disputes, cargo claims and charterparty matters.Within the commercial and finance practice a shippingawyer would be involved in negotiating shipbuildingcontracts, charterparties, management agreements andfinance documentation. The finance lawyers who specialisen shipping tend to be regarded more as banking or assetfinance lawyers, because much of their time is spentdealing with purely loan and security issues, much the sameas one would encounter in other secured lending, but it justso happens that the primary asset and source of security forthe lender is a ship.

The type of clients depends upon which area of shipplaw you specialise in. Shipping lawyers would structhemselves within the law firm with contentious and ncontentious work being done in different groups. For litigators their clients will tend to be a mix of ship ownship chandlers, bunker suppliers, ship repairer, caowners, suppliers to ship, insurers, chartering and operacompanies while disputes may be for services or supp

rendered to any ship, loss or damage done by any shipreceived by any ship, disputes under bill of lading, unpdues, wages, mortgage, brokerage or agency fees. transactional lawyers, their clients might be ship ownbanks and other financial institutions.

Dr. Shrikant Hathi is the Managing partner of the law fBrus Chambers that has welded to a practice niche specialises in shipping, corporate transactional wdispute resolution and projects. One of the attractionsshipping law is its international nature and the firms lawyare invariably acting for clients from overseas and have

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have a broad range of skills and knowledge about theirclients, the basics of laws and legal systems in the othermajor maritime centres, as well as an awareness of culturaldifferences.

Background?After completing bachelors degree from ElphinstoneCollege at Mumbai, he wasnt sure of his future careeroined Government Law College and completed his law. Heclaims that he is a lawyer by default and not by choice,although he always dreamt of being an engine driver since

childhood.

After completing his law, was employed by Mr. Charles J.E.Grundy of Little & Co, as a junior advocate where he wasasked to expand the firms scope by handling cases relatedto maritime affairs, while working he also completed hismasters in law and also the solicitors examination which isconducted by the Bombay Incorporated Law Society. OnGrundys death he moved on, and joined the law firm BrusChambers as a managing partner. He pursued with hisstudies while he was a partner and completed his solicitorsfrom England and Wales, PhD and also got admitted to theSupreme Court of India as and Advocate on record.

He earned the reputation at international level for shippingwork and is also known as ship arrestor. He is listed in theelite Leading Lawyers list as Leading Individual forshipping work in India by Legal500 and many other since2004.

Getting there? Being a shipping expert?To practice law what you need is LLB degree and should beenrolled with the respective State Bar Council and after thatt is only through experience that you learn the tricks of thetrade while all other degrees are add-ons but theseadditional degrees do make a huge difference whether youare in the job market or in practice.

Shipping lawyers are very few as it is very technical and aspecialised law practice. There are shipping lawyers andthey are plain LLBs. There are universities that offerpostgraduate course in marine law but to practice law allthat you need is LLB.

In Ship arrest, doing the documentation work for sucharrests is not easy but one ought to be very agile and wellversed with the procedures and should be very quick. Youmight have to do everything in half a day from arrangingthe papers to tracking the vessel, application of law for shiparrest and from checking the legal conventions to adhering

to their procedural patterns. A minor goof-up may lead towrongful arrest therefore have to be very careful at all pointof time. Such arrests, however, are not everyday affairs andone cant survive merely on shipping litigation. One ought todevelop expertise in transactional work, too.

Ship arrest litigation work is very limited while statisticsreveals that in Bombay High Court, there would besomewhere around 125- 150 new cases every year,Calcutta High Court might have ten and Madras High Courtabout three to four while Gujarat High Court may have one

or two. No wonder, there are only a handful of shipping firms or lawyers in India, most of them concentratedMumbai, to deal with such matters. Mumbai is imporbecause of its Pan-India ship arrest jurisdiction unAhmedabad, Kolkata and Chennai, which deal with carelated to their own state territory, Hathi says.

Even though senior lawyers have junior lawyers and baup staffs to shoulder some of their tasks, it doesnt relithe senior lawyer of his/her responsibilities becaultimately its the responsibility of a senior lawyer as

buck stops with him, adds Binita Hathi a solicitor anpartner of Brus Chambers, also attending to shipping wo

Liking for shipping law is the basic instinct, readupdating on shipping laws, judgments, procedures, drafof court pleadings, documents, understanding shippterms, documents and also updating on the happeningthe shipping world are important factors to becomeshipping law expert.

Shipping lawyers are legal professionals who deal wcontentious or non-contentious matters. In ship arlitigation matters one has to be well versed with admir

laws and laws relating to the subject matter of dispute court procedure. They are required to represent clientarrest or release of a ship recovering unpaid dues, wagownership disputes, loss or damages done by any shipreceived by any ship, dispute under bill of lading and all are allowed under the Brussels and Geneva conventionsarrest of ships.

Your typical daily timeline?08.30am: Office08.45am: Read emails from client and replies/advising cl09.30am: Read journals, case laws, stay abreast of latest developments11.00am: Appear in court, if matter listed or for urgapplications12.00pm: As managing partner, firms administration wmeeting and planning01.00pm: Prepare for new case, advising client, strategisand planning03.00pm: Appear in court for urgent application, if any04.30pm: Corresponding with clients/ advising clients05.45pm: Meeting client or counsel06.45 pm: Prepare for the next days case or advising clon transactional work07.45pm: Home, unless there is urgent work

The Payoff

Dr. Shrikant Hathi also has a piece of advice for prospective maritime lawyers. Though the profession pwell, (he charges a fee ranging between USD125 USD300 per hour), one should be open to all fields of as a fresher. Be receptive to all kinds of work, he says.

As a trainee or junior, a maritime lawyer can earn anywhbetween Rs 5,000 to Rs 30,000 along with 2 percent of profit cost in the matter to the junior lawyer attending tofile. The salary increases with experience and time.

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Trainees at Brus Chambers are given significantresponsibility and direct contact with clients on a day to daybasis. The transactional work is fast paced, and traineesoften find themselves attending meetings, attending shipregistries to register documents as part of closingarrangements, and possibly travelling for completionmeetings. Back at the office there tends to be a lot ofdrafting of documents and management of files anddocuments generally and in ship arrest, the trainee startsfrom scratch like tracking of the vessel, understanding theshipping documents, preparing briefing note, assisting in

preparation of pleadings, attending counsel conference withseniors, attending court departments and almost everythingthat is required for the purpose of ship arrest.

Being a niche and specialised field, it is very difficult to startndependent practice as a shipping lawyer and as suchthere are very few law firms or lawyers specialising inshipping.

Skills and traits to be a shipping law expert?There are several acts pertaining to shipping laws, oneshould be well versed with the Admiralty Courts Act,Merchant Shipping Act, Carriage of Goods by Sea, Bill of

Lading, Major Ports Act amongst others. Should be awareof the Indian cases and from major countries havingadmiralty jurisdiction. Understanding the Laws of Contractand International laws is important. One should also knowthe Court procedure, Rules, Code of Civil Procedureamongst other.

Pros & consYou can make real money in shipping law amongst otherareas but it is very specialised, technical and you have to benear perfect. Since experience is an important factor notmany law firms/ lawyers specializing shipping law areavailable where one can be trained.

Personal ViewsHis training on shipping law was with Mr. Charles J.E.Grundy (now deceased) the last English solicitor of India,the then managing partner of the law firm Little & Co. In hisview, he was perfect had vast knowledge about shippingaw more so he was really good in handling clients and wasa rainmaker.

Although, today he is tagged as the leading individual forshipping work in India even today he much appreciateSenior Counsel Mr. S Venkiteshwarans knowledge onshipping law and on his near perfection. There areperfectionists in all industry whether it is Rani Mukherjee or

Katrina Kaif from entertainment or N,R. Narayana Murthy;Ratan Tata; Fali Nariman or Dr. V. Kurien from other sector,they are near perfect in their respective areas of work andthats how it should be.

BRUS CHAMBERSAdvocates & Solicitors8, Rajabahadur Mansion, 3P

rdP Floor, Ambalal Doshi M

Fort, Mumbai 400001, India.Off: +91-22-22659969Email: contact@bruschambers.comWeb: bruschambers.com