Maryam has over twenty years’ experience in the shipping industry having previously worked at Clyde & Co, Hill Dickinson, W K Webster as in-house legal counsel, and also at a P&I Club before setting up her own practice in 2004. Maryam has handled a variety of work, from non-contentious advice, to arbitrations relating to demurrage and detention, to sole conduct of large scale multi-jurisdictional disputes, and major cases such as the US$800m "Kuwaiti Airways" case following the invasion of Kuwait by the Iraqi Government. Maryam has a high profile as a sanctions expert and has successfully brought actions in the European General Court to annul the applicability of European sanctions against entities and individuals. Her cases and clients represented in the European Courts are in record numbers and the successful judgments remain unchallenged. She is currently representing one of her shipping clients in their high value claim for compensation arising out of the EU sanctions. Maryam holds an LLM degree in Maritime Law from Southampton University and speaks fluent Farsi/Persian and Azerbaijani/Turkish. She also has basic knowledge of Arabic. Maryam is a member of the British Maritime Law Association (BMLA), Association of Average Adjusters (AAA) and British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL).
Tim has over 25 years' experience in international trade, insurance and shipping, ranging from rapid advice on a sale contract, policy or fixture wording to daily management of an ongoing casualty. He spent four years in industry amid the chartering and operations benches of an oil major, where he undertook specialist responsibility for the legal aspects of a tanker fleet and enhanced skills in rapid response to operational problems. He was a member of the Emergency Response facility and developed great expertise in sanctions, especially as regards Russia and Iran, and other regulatory matters. His broad experience of carriage of goods and weighty commercial litigation includes claims following armed hijack of cigarettes, contamination of soft commodities and the break-up of an iconic rock band. A confident public speaker, Tim has frequently provided seminars internally and for industry bodies at home and overseas, on maritime law and practice, operational issues, anti-money-laundering, anti-bribery and corruption and sanctions, and he has been a regular contributor to the legal and related industry media.
Terry is an independent marine investigator, consultant and a former Master Mariner holding a British Class 1 (Master Mariner) Deck Officer's Certificate of Competency. In addition to running his own consultancy, OGG Expert, Terry works as a consultant to M Taher & Co. Terry served 16 years at sea in commercial trading vessels from deck cadet to master before coming ashore in 1990 to join Clyde & Co where he worked for 15 years as case-handler, in-house technical consultant and investigator based in the London, Guildford and Singapore offices. Terry has acted as expert witness in English High Court, PRC Court (Wuhan) and London and Hong Kong arbitration. He has a keen professional interest in safety management and human factors in marine and offshore casualties. Terry is experienced in handling and investigating cases brought or defended in English High Court; London, Singapore & New York arbitration; the Singapore & Hong Kong Courts and a number of other legal jurisdictions on behalf of hull & machinery, energy, marine liability, cargo and war risks underwriters, P & I insurers, shipowners & managers, salvors, port operators, shipyards, offshore installation operators, loss & average adjusters, logistics companies and claims representatives.
Soran is an Iranian national with Farsi as his first language. An ACII since 2011 and a Chartered Insurance Professional with the Canadian Insurance Institute, Soran has over 15 years of international experience, working for Lloyd’s brokers and managing agents and handling primary and reinsurance covers for marine, P&I and cargo accounts for high-profile shipping companies. Also dealing with very substantial portfolios in oil and energy insurance, he uses great technical and communication skills to build strong client relationships, alongside authorship of numerous articles in the leading insurance journals and delivery of insurance and management courses at universities in Iran.
An FCCA accountant, MJ joined the firm as account manager and compliance officer in September 2018. MJ has over 10 years’ experience as a financial controller and COFA, working in UK law firms specialising in insurance and contentious work.
She has considerable experience in dealing with complex high value/volume matters in the property market, and was an academic member of a research team in Tehran, working on various national projects.
MJ is fluent in Farsi and has basic knowledge of French and Turkish.
Toffee is the newest addition to the team and proudly carries the title of Chief Barketing Officer. His ever-friendly demeanour, energy and positive attitude brings much joy to the office.