Law: Seven leave Ince for HFW

Paul Dean, Head of Shipping, HFW

London headquartered law firm Holman Fenwick Willan LLP (HFW) is launching an office in Monaco with the hire of a team to be led by partners Ian Cranston, Andrew Charlier and Marco Crusafio.

The team, which will also include legal directors Ian Fisher and Ruth Monahan, associate George Kaye and trainee legal executive Laura Pike, specializes in shipping, yachts, business aviation, international trade, commodities, energy and insurance.

They will join HFW in early September 2019 from Ince, where Ian Cranston was Monaco Office Head and Andrew was Global Head of Yachts.

HFW will have added seven shipping partners and a senior consultant in the past four months, following a record internal promotions round and the recent hire of former shipbroker Chris Jones in Singapore.

The firm has the world’s largest shipping law practice.

Paul Dean, Head of Shipping, HFW, said: “We’re thrilled to be able to welcome Ian, Andrew, Marco and the team to HFW. We’ve been interested in the Monaco market for quite some time, but we were only ever going to make a move if we could bring them on board – they’re the clear market leaders and we wouldn’t settle for anything less. These hires further enhance our ability to provide first-class advice to shipping, maritime and yachting clients in key markets around the world, and illustrates our deep and longstanding commitment to the sector.”

Ian Cranston, who will be Monaco Office Head, HFW, said, “We are very excited to be joining what is unquestionably the world’s top shipping, maritime and yacht practice, with an unmatched international network of top class lawyers and an enviable client base. We’ve always been impressed with HFW whenever we’ve worked together on matters, and look forward to helping the firm strengthen its position as the go-to advisor for the industry.”

The move continues a period of sustained international expansion at HFW. The firm will have completed 11 international office openings, mergers and associations since 2016, including a fully-integrated U.S. merger and other moves in Brazil, China, Indonesia and the Middle East.

Richard Crump, Global Senior Partner, HFW:
“Monaco has always had a strategic interest for us because of its strong trading, shipping and yachts business, which are core parts of our practice globally. The arrival of this excellent team will continue the significant international development of HFW. We have changed beyond all recognition as a firm over the past four years, thanks to the support of our clients, and will now have 20 offices across five continents. We have ambitious plans to continue that growth and will actively pursue strategic opportunities across our core sectors, services and geographies.”

HFW has more than 600 lawyers, including 185 partners, based in offices across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. HFW prides itself on its