Legal News

Somali Piracy & the Law: The Lawyers at the Center of the Storm

By Ashby Jones

Associated Press

London’s Holman Fenwick has received more work as pirate attacks have increased off Somalia, where a French Navy frigate patrolled Saturday.

A few weeks ago, a BBC report on the pirates off the coast of Somalia mentioned that negotiations were being facilitated by “law firms in London.” Intrigued, we made a few calls and soon found ourselves chatting with Toby Stephens, a partner at a maritime and shipping firm called Holman Fenwick Willan.

Turns out, Holman Fenwick (pronounced “Fennick”) — a firm of about 290 lawyers with a variety of offices around the world — is at the epicenter of many of these widely publicized incidents. Click here for today’s WSJ story on the firm; here and here for other WSJ stories on the Somalian piracy problem.

Most typically in these situations, lawyers at Holman represent shipowners whose ships have been hijacked, or the insurance underwriters for the ships. And lawyers there are often the first folks called after an owner learns that a ship has been taken over. “They’re often quite panicked, and understandably so,” says Stephens.

The firm has a 24-hour hotline for emergency calls. Holman lawyers gather as much info as possible, like where the hijacking took place (international or domestic waters) and the “flag” of the ship hijacked. Each is important in determining the specific law that applies.

From there, Holman often contacts one of its security specialists, who can begin the delicate dance of trying to get a ransom paid and the ship freed. It’s not for the faint of heart. Says one insurance-syndicate exec who uses Holman to arrange negotiations: “I know we’re in good hands. . . but there are still times when you feel like you have no control at all.”

But there’s one job lawyers say they won’t handle. “We won’t get in that speedboat and deliver the suitcase of money,” says Stephens. “I don’t think anyone here agreed to do that when they signed on at the firm.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on December 10, 2008 (boomark / email).