Wikborg Rein strengthens London team with three key appointments

International law firm Wikborg Rein has further strengthened its leading presence in the shipping and offshore and onshore construction sectors with the appointment of three key senior hires to its London offices.

 

Nick Shepherd has joined as a partner from Ince & Co, where he was most recently the head of that firm’s office in Piraeus, Greece. Nick has a market-leading reputation as an 'owner's lawyer' for the Greek shipping market, where he is the first-choice lawyer for a number of the largest shipping groups, including TMS / Dryships / Ocean Rig (Mr George Economou); the Navios Group (MAngeliki Frangou); Alpha Bulkers / Pantheon Tankers (Mrs Anna Angelicoussi); and Marmaras Navigation / Delta Tankers (Mr Diamantis Diamantides). 

 

Nick's practice spans a wide range of contentious and non-contentious work, including charter parties, drilling contracts, logistics, casualties, marine insurance, sale & purchase, shipbuilding and ship arrest.  Nick regularly acts as lead counsel for groups of owners on key industry issues; most recently he spearheaded the owners' response to the OW Bunker collapse, taking the industry test case from arbitration through to the UK Supreme Court within only 15 months.

 

Mike Stewart, meanwhile, has joined as a partner from K&L Gates in London, where he was a key member of that firm’s Energy, Infrastructure and Resources group. Mike specialises in complex, high-value disputes arising out of major energy and infrastructure projects in emerging markets, and has developed particular expertise in relation to FIDIC contracts, having advised on FIDIC-based projects in Turkey, Oman, Jordan, India and Ethiopia.  He has advised on construction and energy disputes throughout the Middle East, acted on international arbitrations arising out of major projects in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Yemen, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, India and Sri Lanka, and on disputes arising from FPSOs in Malaysia, Indonesia and Brazil.

 

Also joining Wikborg Rein from K&L Gates, as a senior lawyer, is Mary Lindsay. Mary’s practice concentrates on international arbitration. She is primarily concerned with disputes arising out of complex construction, infrastructure and energy projects, having acted on international arbitrations in India, Yemen, Oman, Azerbaijan and Russia.  Mary also provides ongoing advice in respect of live projects in the Middle East and has a particular focus on electrical engineering and process plants.

 

Clare Calnan, head of Wikborg Rein's London office and a partner in its shipping offshore practice, says, “We are delighted to welcome Nick, Mike and Mary to the firm. Together, and individually, they have the experience, knowledge and reputation that we always look for as we seek to expand still further the expertise of our London team. All three will form an essential part of our practice offering global shipping and offshore and construction expertise, as well as English law capability.”

 

 

Wikborg Rein & Co is a pre-eminent law firm in the shipping and offshore sector, and a major player on the international scene. Services to the maritime industry include ship, project and lease finance, corporate, contract negotiation, offshore and construction projects, sale and purchase, ship registration, insurance, casualty response, carriage of goods, ship arrest and international dispute resolution. The firm is also a leading player in the onshore construction sector. More information on the firm and its partners can be found at

www.wr.no

Bureau Veritas extends offshore reliability solutions with APSYS partnership

Leading classification society Bureau Veritas has extended the range of reliability solutions it provides for the global offshore industry through a formal partnership with leading aerospace risk management firm APSYS. Under the agreement, APSYS will adapt best aerospace practices and tools to the offshore oil and gas industry and BV will implement APSYS solutions to assist clients in building robust and safe installations while optimising design and operating costs

Matthieu de Tugny, Senior Vice-President and head of Offshore, Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore Division, says, “Everything we do today for our clients in offshore energy has to be focused on reducing costs and operating downtime while improving efficiency and safety. There are many common challenges between deep-sea and space, including reliability, availability and safety issues, operation in a harsh environment, difficulty of access in operation and complex systems with embedded software. Together with APSYS we can deliver solutions proven in the aerospace industry to our offshore clients.”

Christian Forestier, Managing Director of APSYS, says, “The aerospace industry has deployed over the last forty years methodologies and tools to develop Safety, Availability and Operational Reliability, allowing airlines to build profitable business models relying on safe and cost-efficient aircrafts. Our partnership with BV will give us the opportunity to transfer this experience to the Oil and Gas industry that today needs to deploy new solutions to face the challenge of production efficiency”

Services to be provided under the partnership include Reliability and Maintainability Analysis, Risk Assessment and CFD modelling, Production Optimisation and Obsolescence Management, Optimisation of Sub-Sea Architectures, Spare Parts Strategy Optimisation and Life-Cycle Cost Analysis.

Says De Tugny, “By applying these proven disciplines using APSYS and BV tools and experience, our clients will benefit from a substantial reduction in production downtime, a much-reduced planned maintenance impact on production availability and a significant cut in operational expenditure.”

APSYS is established as the corporate centre of excellence for technical risk management of AIRBUS Group. For thirty years APSYS has provided system engineering, reliability and integrated logistic support services to the group. It has developed its own tools and expertise with key programs such as the AIRBUS series of airliners, including the hugely successful A380, or Ariane, the vector for the European Space Program. APSYS has also successfully applied its expertise and techniques to other industrial domains such as transportation, defence, oil and gas and nuclear energy.
www.apsys.eads.net

Bureau Veritas is a world leader in laboratory testing, inspection and certification services. Created in 1828, the Group has more than 66,000 employees in around 1,400 offices and laboratories located all across the globe. Bureau Veritas helps its clients to improve their performance by offering services and innovative solutions in order to ensure that their assets, products, infrastructure and processes meet standards and regulations in terms of quality, health and safety, environmental protection and social responsibility. Bureau Veritas is listed on Euronext Paris and belongs to the Next 20 index.
Compartment A, ISIN code FR 0006174348, stock symbol: BVI.
Corporate website www.bureauveritas.com/marine-and-offshore
Marine client portal www.veristar.com

For more information:
Olivier Benyessaad
Offshore Business Development Manager
Bureau Veritas
+33 (0)1 55 24 72 07
olivier.benyessaad@bureauveritas.com

For more information:
Pierre Secher
Business Development Manager
APSYS
+33 (0)6 18 50 28 86
pierre.secher@apsys.eads.net