Certificate in Marine Claims by online distance learning

Course Director

Trevor Harrison,
Maritime Arbitrator and Mediator 
UK

Trevor Harrison is a full time maritime arbitrator and mediator. He was called to the Bar more than 30 years ago; after practising in chambers he joined a P&I club where he handled cargo and other claims and FD&D matters. He next worked for a firm of marine consultants and surveyors as manager of their London office where he learnt, sometimes first-hand, about the practical side of investigating marine claims and incidents. After this he spent over 20 years as head of legal for Tramp Oil & Marine, one of the world's largest suppliers of marine fuels where, amongst many other things, he made and defended bunker claims, arrested countless ships in numerous jurisdictions and handled a number of large liquid cargo claims.


Course Authors

Henry Adams,
Associate,
Birketts LLP, UK

Henry Adams specialises in all aspects of shipping and transport work. His experience includes pursuing and defending cargo recoveries and handling charterparty/contract of affreightment disputes. He also advises on the construction of international sale contracts, together with issues concerning conflicts of law/jurisdiction. Henry has a broad experience of legal and arbitral proceedings in England and other jurisdictions. He joined Birketts LLP in 2007, having worked at City law firm Clyde & Co for 8 years.

Archie Bishop,
Consultant,
Holman Fenwick Willan, UK

Archie Bishop is a Solicitor both in England and Hong Kong, an Examiner in Admiralty and until recently was the Senior Partner of Holman Fenwick & Willan with whom he is now a Consultant. Trained aboard HMS Worcester he served 7 years as a deck officer with the P&O Line before joining the firm in 1960. Since that time he has specialised in collision, salvage, total loss and all other casualties in which his nautical expertise is of value. He has considerable experience in the investigation of large casualties, the resultant legal issues, choice and enforcement of appropriate jurisdiction, public enquiries and dealing with claims by government and local authorities concerning oil pollution, and has been involved in many leading cases. He is the Legal Adviser to the International Salvage Union, worked with International Maritime Organisation's Legal Committee in preparing the Salvage Convention, 1989, is a member of the drafting committee of LOF and played a leading role in the development of the SCOPIC Clause. He sits on the Salvage Committee of the British Maritime Law Association and the Salvage Liaison Group and is the Chairman of the Steering Committee of the London Shipping Law Centre. He is a CEDR Accredited Mediator and a visiting lecturer to the International Maritime Law Institute of Malta, and University College London. He is also a frequent contributor and speaker at international conferences.

Mike Birchall,
Marine Consultant & Surveyor,
Minton, Treharne & Davies Ltd, UK

Mike Birchall’s career began as a Deck Officer with BP Tanker Company, spending several years serving on a variety of vessels, including VLCC’s, product & gas tankers. He then joined the oil inspection business with an international inspection company, performing inspections, investigations and surveys on over two thousand vessels worldwide. During his inspection career, Mike built up an extensive range of experience in all aspects of both liquid & dry cargo operations. He designed, recommended, and implemented new loading procedures for high-purity petrochemical cargoes for major international companies. He received the 1997 ‘Award for Excellence’ from an Oil Major for determining a calculation routine for Petrochemical volume expansion coefficients. Mike joined Minton Treharne & Davies Ltd as a Consultant Marine Surveyor in January 2000, and has attended numerous incidents worldwide, including acting as an expert witness at mediations, arbitrations, and in the High Court.

Patrick Donner LL.M,
Professor, Associate Academic Dean,
World Maritime University, Sweden

Patrick Donner received an LLM from the University of Turku. He qualified for the bar in Finland (vicehäradshövding) in 1977 and served on the bench as deputy judge and acting chief judge of the City Court of Mariehamn for several years in the late 1970s. Professor Donner served the Sally Shipping Group for 12 years, advancing from chief legal counsel and company secretary to deputy managing director with responsibility for the legal affairs of the Group, which operated tankers and had ferry operations in Scandinavia and the United Kingdom and cruise operations in the Caribbean. After the Sally Group he was managing director of Delfin Cruises Ltd in Finland, operating cruises in the Baltic, after which he ran his own law and management consultancy firm for a few years. During all this time, he taught maritime law (part-time) at the Maritime Academy of Åland and also held numerous non-executive positions on boards of directors of shipping and insurance companies as well as elected public office at local level.
Since January 1995, Professor Donner has been at the World  Maritime University in Malmö, Sweden, currently as Associate Academic Dean, teaching international post-graduate students in all commercial aspects of shipping with an emphasis on maritime and commercial law as well as Programme Director for a distance learning course for a Postgraduate Diploma in marine insurance, offered by World Maritime University in co-operation with Lloyd’s Maritime Academy. He is the author of Insurance Perspective on Places of Refuge (in Chircop, A., and Linden, O., Places of Refuge for Ships, Leiden, Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2005).

Jonathan Fox-Braddock,
Marine Consultant & Surveyor, Minton,
Treharne & Davies Ltd, UK

Jonathan Fox-Braddock is a Master Mariner with a BSc degree achieved through the Open University. He first went to sea in 1974 serving mostly on general cargo ships and later broadened his experience to bulk carriers, car carriers and latterly in his seagoing career to various types of offshore support vessels, achieving the rank of Master. He forsook the sea in 1994 and embarked on a new career of marine surveying, based in the UK but travelling worldwide to assist in the investigation and resolution of maritime incidents including not only loss or damage to cargo but also collisions, groundings, personal injuries and fires. He has appeared as expert witness in legal actions in the UK and USA.

Alex McIntosh,
Partner,
Clyde & Co (Greece) LLP

Alex McIntosh is a partner at Clyde & Co. LLP, the international law firm where he has worked as a shipping lawyer since 1987. He has worked in London and Hong Kong, and is now based in Piraeus. Alex advises ship owners, charterers, defence and P&I Club, traders and lenders on the practical and legal aspects of all types of shipping contracts. Alex has advised on disputes for clients all over the world and has handled court proceedings, arbitrations and mediations in many countries. Alex is a supporting member of the London Maritime Arbitrators Association, and a member of the Baltic Exchange. Alex has lectured extensively on shipping related matters and is the Course Director for the LMA Certificate in Chartering Distance Learning course.