Norton Rose continues regional shipping and energy practice expansion with new partner promotion

In the 2011 edition of Chambers Asia Pacific and Asia Pacific Legal 500, Norton Rose (Asia) LLP was ranked in Tier 1 for shipping finance work. Gervais Green, partner and Head of Transport for Asia Pacific, commented: “The demand for all matters relating to shipping and offshore sectors particularly gathered pace over the last 12 months in line with the global market recovery. As our shipping and offshore practice continues to expand across the region, Robert will play an integral role in further enhancing our offerings to clients.” Driver’s experience covers shipping and offshore finance and commercial contract and dispute work in shipping, offshore, energy and commodities. He has worked with clients that include ship-owners and offshore contractors, financial institutions, charterers, oil and gas companies, shipyards and commodities traders on a wide variety of contentious and non-contentious matters. Robert Driver, partner, commented: “Singapore has long held a reputation for being a global centre for finance, shipping and offshore construction. With the shipping and energy sectors enjoying steady growth regionally, ship owners, contractors, operators and others are increasingly gravitating to Singapore to establish operations that take advantage of an exceptionally friendly business landscape.” The announcement of Driver’s promotion follows the relocation of London Shipping partner, Davide Barzilai, to Hong Kong in 2010 and the addition of Shanghai-based Of Counsel, Fei Kwok, who is a shipping and offshore specialist. According to leading legal directory, Chambers Asia Pacific 2011, ‘Its [Norton Rose (Asia) LLP] full-service shipping practice is particularly recommended for its superb shipping finance services, and has worked on a large number of significant transactions over the past year. In China and Hong Kong the lawyers have been advising both domestic and overseas banks on various shipbuilding matters, including capacity and performance concerns surrounding shipyards, loan rescheduling and ship mortgage enforcement.’ Robert Driver’s promotion to partner was one of 15 announced by Norton Rose Group recently.