Legal Abbreviations
PQE – Post Qualification Experience
SQE – Solicitors Qualification Examination(s)
LPC – Legal Practice Course
QWE – Qualifying Work Experience
CPR – Civil Procedure Rules
Working in the Law – Types of employer and types of shipping law
Private Practice (Law Firms)
Contentious = Handling Disputes (Dispute Resolution)
- Litigation
- Arbitration
- Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) such as mediation and conciliation
Non-Contentious
- Finance
- Company law
- Transactional work
Dry Shipping (contractual work)
- Charterparties (vessel performance, unsafe ports, delays, on/off-hire, laytime & demurrage, bunker payments, etc etc)
- Ship arrest
- Cargo claims / bill of lading work
- General shipping contract work
Commodities / International Trade
- Buying and selling of goods / cargo
- Letters of credit
Wet Shipping (also known as Admiralty, also known as Casualty)
- Bumps and scrapes
- Pollution, collisions, groundings, sinkings, salvage, explosions/fires, etc
Ship Finance (sale & purchase and newbuildings) also known simply as ‘asset finance’
Construction & Conversions (Shipbuilding, Offshore Construction, Conversion of ships to offshore facilities)
Marine insurance and reinsurance
P&I (marine liability insurance)
Yachting
Energy and Oil & Gas is something we’re starting to do more of.
P&I Clubs
P&I clubs are (for the most part) mutual marine insurers (mutual meaning that they are owned by the ‘members’ who insure with them). Other than law firms, they employ more shipping lawyers as P&I and / or FD&D Claims Handlers than any other type of employer.
Staff employed by P&I clubs:
- P&I Claims Handlers
- FD&D Claims Handlers (legal expenses cover, known as “defence work” but actually providing legal costs for both pursuing and defending claims not otherwise covered by P&I itself). FD&D stands for freight, demurrage and defence which is historical terminology really.
- Underwriters
- Loss Prevention Staff
In-House employers
Employment with any of the following:
- Shipowner
- Oil Major
- Charterer / Trader
- Port
- Regulatory body
- Insurance company / insurance broker
…… any many more
