Europe

In addition to Penningtons Manches Cooper’s UK presence in the ‘golden triangle’ university cities of London, Oxford and Cambridge and the business growth hubs of Birmingham, Reading, Guildford and Basingstoke, the firm has offices in the major European trading centres of Paris, Madrid and Piraeus.

Recognised for its specialist expertise in shipping, international trade, finance, energy and international arbitration, our Paris office advises clients under both English and French law. The practice has particular strength in ship arrest, maritime and road carriage disputes including CMR and aviation transport, freight forwarding, yacht disputes and general admiralty matters. It is also regularly appointed to oversee and assist on arbitrations and the enforcement of awards in other jurisdictions such as Russia, India and China.

Our Madrid office handles disputes under Spanish law and in the Spanish courts for both admiralty and casualty matters as well as other civil claims. With international experience in marine, energy, aviation, transport, insurance and trade law, the team advises on a range of contentious and non-contentious issues. Our clients include leading oil companies, shipowners, charterers, mining companies, insurers and traders. Our combined team investigates shipping casualties and advises clients in South and Central Latin America on all areas of shipping law.

We support clients throughout South East Europe from our Piraeus office, which has long-standing links with the Greek ship owning and banking communities. Acknowledged as leaders in wet and dry shipping cases, we advise on complex shipping litigation issues such as charterparty and bill of lading problems, cargo claims, sale and purchase disputes, casualty cases, and cross-border commercial disputes in the context of insurance, energy, maritime and trade issues. Due to its strategic location, our Piraeus office also coordinates and offers prompt assistance in the Mediterranean, Turkey and the Middle East.

As well as being experts in English, French and Spanish domestic law, our lawyers have significant experience of many other legal jurisdictions including Australia, British Columbia, Russia and Singapore. The firm is a founding member of the Admiralty Solicitors Group and a number of our partners are members of the London Maritime Arbitrators Association (LMAA) and the Baltic Exchange.