Andrew Chamberlain

Partner at HFW

Speaker

Andrew Chamberlain joined the Royal Navy in September 1985 and served at sea in HMS "INVINCIBLE" and HMS "ARK ROYAL" before completing a Navy-sponsored degree in Geography & Economics at the University of London. Summer vacations were spent chasing illegal immigrants with the Hong Kong Squadron and less glamorously in the Northern Atlantic on HMS "BIRMINGHAM". After graduation in 1989 Andrew returned to sea on HMS "NOTTINGHAM" which completed a tour of the Gulf and was then escort to the Royal Yacht "BRITANNIA" during her Far East tour.

Andrew left the Navy in 1990 and completed his legal studies before joining Richards Butler (now Reed Smith) in 1992. He qualified as a solicitor in 1994 and joined Holman Fenwick Willan's Admiralty Department in September of that year. He was promoted partner in 2003.

He specialises in Salvage, Collision, Total Loss and Oil Pollution cases although he also handles the full range of marine litigation including charterparty disputes, lube and bunker oil disputes, MOA and shipbuilding cases. He has been involved in many high profile casualties during his career including: the "ACONCAGUA" and "CMA DJAKARTA" (both 1999), "PRESTIGE" (2002), "PELICAN 1" (2003), "THUNDERHORSE" (2005) which remains the most valuable property subject to a Lloyds Open Form salvage agreement to date, "MSC NAPOLI" (2007), "MSC CHITRA" (2010), "COSTA CONCORDIA" (2012), “KULLUK" (2012), the "SMART" (2013), the "NORMAN ATLANTIC" (2014), “MAERSK SEOUL” (2016), “BURGOS” (2016), “SANCH” and “MAERSK HONAM” (both 2018), “YANTIAN EXPRESS” (2019) and "golden ray" (both 2019).

Reported cases include the "HAPPY FELLOW", "HERCEG NOVI“, "TOREPO“ and “MAERSK NEUCHATEL”

Andrew lectures regularly on salvage, wreck removal and casualty response and is an acknowledged expert in the field. In September 2016, he was appointed as HFW's Global Head of Admiralty and Crisis Management.