People
After 35 years in full time senior line management roles in the marine insurance broking sector in London and internationally the last 23 with the HSBC group where Peter was responsible for global marine insurance broking and shipbroking, he is now engaged in advisory and non-executive roles in the insurance and shipping industry and is also a trustee of some marine charities and City of London Trade Associations. Peter is delighted to act as Deputy Chairman of our UK Company where he brings his extensive international network of contacts and experience.
After more than three decades with a leading international law firm in Hong Kong and the UK, latterly as joint head of the shipping casualty department, Chris established the C Solutions Group in 2000 and now devotes 100% of his time overseeing the insurance and legal claims division of the company with an emphasis on shipping casualty work. He relocated to Asia in April 2010 to develop the C Solutions network in the region.
Amanda is a Swedish law graduate from the University of Gothenburg. She was the Legal Counsel and a Member of the Board at a marine surveying and loss adjusting company based in Sweden and was also the Manager of the company's P&I Club Correspondent subsidiary.
Amanda also worked as a Claims Consultant for a Marine Insurance Broker and a P&I Club at this time. She subsequently joined a London based claims consultancy company, handling complex claims, general average and salvage cases. After relocating to Singapore she became the General Manager of the Singapore branch office.
Amanda has broad experience dealing with marine insurance matters (including P&I, hull, cargo and transport liability) as well as more generally with both contentious and non-contentious contractual and commercial matters.
As well as being a senior claims handler, Amanda is responsible for the Management of C Solutions’ Singapore office and its P&I correspondent partner, SE Asia P+I Services.
A dry shipping and insurance lawyer, formerly a Partner of a leading international law firm, Ben handles all manner of charterparty and cargo claims, coverage advice and dispute management under marine and energy policies and contracts.
Natalia joined C Solutions in 2014. She handles a wide range of P&I and H&M matters. Prior to joining the firm Natalia worked for marine insurers in both Moscow and Singapore. She has recently accomplished a Masters in Maritime Studies in Nanyang Technology University, Singapore. Being of Russian origin she is bilingual in English and Russian.
Mike was previously a director of Charles Taylor plc managing their marine and energy insurance risk consulting operations.
Mike subsequently went on to start his own consultancy which focussed primarily on large projects in the Middle East before rejoining Charles Taylor in 2009.
He was Managing Director of Management Services which involved building and overseeing risk frameworks and functions of energy insurance clients.
Mike now runs C Solutions Energy offering our clients his vast expertise in this field.
From several generations of family ship-owning, Jim spent almost 20 years in the wet shipping department of a leading international law firm. Jim handles various casualty matters including headline collision, salvage and wreck removal cases and is global casualty coordinator for the firm.
In January 2018 Jim relocated to Greece to open C Solutions' Athens office.
Clive has been involved in shipping and insurance claims since training in London law firms specialising in marine casualty matters, from inception through the investigative stages and beyond, usually to conclusion via commercial settlement. Hong Kong has been home to Clive for a long time, he has PR status and is widely travelled in Greater China and South East Asia, handling and resolving claims of a varied nature.
Sacha is a solicitor qualified in both South Africa and Australia. He was a senior solicitor at a leading law firm in London for a number of years, where he advised and litigated on a range of dry shipping issues for both owners and charterers. He has also worked as a senior claims executive at an International Group P&I Club and as in-house counsel at one of the world's largest shipping lines, as well as Senior Legal Counsel at one of the world's premier cruise lines.
Sacha advises in relation to dry shipping litigation, acting for owners, charterers, transport intermediaries, their insurers and P&I Clubs, with a particular emphasis on disputes relating to charterparties, the supply and carriage of goods, agency, contracts of affreightment and bills of lading. He also acts for cruise lines and other transport and tour operators in relation to the defence of personal injury claims, the drafting of terms and conditions as well as issues relating to general commercial and insurance law.
Charlotte joined the London office of C Solutions in July 2021, having achieved a distinction in her LPC. She will be involved in handling the full range of work undertaken with particular reference to dry work and dispute resolution.
Should you need marine claims advice in Hong Kong, Peter Mills is the man to go to. Peter has 40 years of experience as a solicitor in New Zealand, the City of London (10 years) and Hong Kong (since 1990). He has been involved in all aspects of wet and dry shipping disputes, sale and purchase of ships and cargoes, and casualty management. As well as being a Consultant to C Solutions, Peter is a partner with Hart Giles Solicitors & Notaries, our preferred law firm in Hong Kong.
Yan has been involved in marine claims administration for a number of years and forms an integral part of the Claims Management, Survey Coordination and P&I Correspondent Team. She has qualifications in Business Management and Shipping and Marine Offshore. Yan is of Malay decent and speaks English, Bahasa, Mandarin and other dialects ll as Lloyd’s Claims Office.
Ben has a sales and marketing background where he developed the skills necessary to expand the C Solutions business models into our established markets. He focuses on the development of our outsourcing functions, in particular the management of large projects and outsourced claims portfolios, including for liability and H&M insurer clients. He is also responsible for coordinating and expanding the network partnerships we continue to establish in strategic locations. Together with Chris Telford, Ben supports Clive Beesley in the day to day running of the C Solutions Group.
With hands-on experience in corporate marketing and business management, Jacqui coordinates various commercial activities for the C Solutions Group and is a Director of C Solutions (Asia) Limited. Current focus for Jacqui is on the Asia-Pacific region in which she spends much of her time.
Eric specialises in all aspects of shipping and commercial dispute resolution. He handles disputes in relation to the full spectrum of shipping contracts including charterparties, contracts of affreightment, bills of lading, letters of indemnity, bank guarantees, MOAs, shipbuilding agreements and general agency agreements. Eric is particularly well versed in the overseas service of process, obtaining injunctive relief and asset tracing.
Hans Langsrud is a Master Mariner who is based in Hong Kong. During his 23-year career in the Marine industry, he has been employed in a variety of roles including 9 years at sea on a range of ship types, serving up to the rank of Chief Officer, before coming ashore to take on the role of technical adviser to an Oil Major. Thereafter, Hans was a Senior Risk Management Executive for a leading P&I Club before moving into the field of marine surveying and consultancy. His extensive experience in marine casualties and accidents, and his practical knowledge and expertise in this field earned Hans the appointment as a Lloyd's Special Casualty Representative (SCR) in 2015
Sam is actively involved in various matters of a legal and claims nature, providing valuable input on our many collision and salvage cases in particular. He is our casualty coordinator and manages a busy ship-watch and alert system.
Chris handles the full range of P&I, FDD and H&M matters and advises on charterparty and bill of lading disputes, as well as freight forwarding and transport liability matters.
He supports Clive Beesley in the day to day running of the C Solutions Group and manages a number of the firm's businesses including C Demurrage and C Dem Finance, as well our TPA contracts with a number of Lloyd's Insurers.
Prior to joining C Solutions Chris spent six years at a leading international law firm, responsible for winning the firm business and before that he worked in the insurance industry.
Network Partners
Europe
Irene holds a PhD in International Commercial Law and a Masters in Economic and Business Law. In
2002 she joined our network partner Enrico Mazier Law Office in Monaco, which became SCS Mazier,
Ballini & Cie in 2012. Irene advises on the full range of marine contracts, claims and disputes and has
experience of the full range of yacht matters.
John Heslop
Qwest Forensics (Newcastle)
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John previously worked as an Intelligence Analyst for Northumbria Police Economic Crime Unit and the Force Intelligence Department. He is currently the Company Secretary for the North East Fraud Forum, a post he has held since 2004.
He has worked in the fraud arena for several years since leaving the police and for the past 5 years has worked in the maritime sector working with ship owners, insurers and lawyers in commercial disputes carrying out enhanced due diligence enquiries, asset tracing, critical maritime incident investigation, vessel tracking and monitoring plus investigating fraud and financial crime, cyber crime and money laundering.
A qualified Master Mariner, Bob spent 11 years at sea on a variety of vessels including general cargo, reefer and bulk carriers ranging up to 80,000 tonnes. He has since worked in various roles associated with marine risk management and marine insurance, including three years as a Marine Surveyor and three years as a Cargo Underwriter in the UK cargo insurance market. In 1995, he became Director of Latin American marine operations for CIGNA Insurance Company, responsible for the development and control of their marine insurance and risk management operation. Bob founded the CSL Group in 2000. The Group owns or operates marine survey and technical consultancy businesses in the UK, North America, Latin America, Middle East and Asia, with offices in more than 20 locations.
Phil Butler
Qwest Forensics (Newcastle)
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Phil was the former head of the Northumbria Police Economic Crime Unit and Asset Recovery Team. He was a serving police officer for 30 years and is also a member of the UN Expert Group on Fraud. He was the founding member of the North East Fraud Forum and a former Director of the Newcastle University Cybercrime Research Centre.
Prior to leaving the police he studied law and accountancy and since leaving has assisted many ship owners, insurers and lawyers in commercial disputes with enhanced a range of specialist skills and disciplines including, due diligence, asset tracing, critical maritime incident investigation and investigating fraud, cyber crime and money laundering.
Guy Morel has held senior management positions in ship owning and ship management companies since 1979. He is former General Secretary of the International Ship Managers Association (InterManager). Guy was President of the New York listed shipowning company, MC Shipping Inc., and prior to that was Vice President of Marketing and a Founder of the Monaco-based ship manager V Ships. He is also a Professor of Corporate Finance at the University of Monaco. Guy holds an MSc Eng from the Ecole Centrale de Paris and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He sits on the boards of several shipping companies and is a member of various professional clubs and societies.
With a distinguished career in marine law in the City of London dating back to 1972, Andrew was formerly a Partner of Ince & Co and has many years’ experience in the shipping and insurance arena. He is a passionate yachtsman and in addition to dealing with casualty case matters has been involved in Super Yacht cases in which C Solutions have been engaged. Andrew is a qualified diver and RYA Yachtmaster.
David van Bemmel is a founder of our Rotterdam based network partner Beaufort Litigation. In his capacity as a lawyer (admitted to the Rotterdam bar) he handles a wide variety of wet and dry contentious and non-contentious shipping work in close co-operation with Fred Langelaar.
Middle East
Jasamin, the founder and Managing Partner of Fichte & Co, is an experienced international maritime lawyer, holding both German and British qualifications and a Master's in Maritime Law from Southampton. She is the President of WISTA UAE (Women's International Shipping and Trading Association) and chairs the Legal Council of the German Emirates Club in the UAE. Jasamin was listed amongst the top 20 lawyers as nominated by “The Brief” and is founder and organizer of the UAE Ship Round Table.
Americas
Bernardo is founding partner of Bentata & Associates and a graduate of Universidad Catolica Andres Bello. He went on to complete the Master in Comparative Jurisprudence at New York University before completing the Master of Laws in Admiralty Law at Tulane University, New Orleans. He was then admitted to the Louisiana State Bar Association. He advises on the full range of maritime and insurance issues.
As well as being a co-drafter of the recently passed Venezuela Law on Maritime Procedure, Bernardo has been a guest speaker on numerous topics in shipping law and has acted as an expert in Venezuelan law for litigation in Panama, USA, Italy, The Netherlands, Trinidad & Tobago and the UK.
Estela graduated as lawyer from Argentina Catholic University in 1979. She worked at Mathé Law Firm (specialized in maritime law) until 1984. Afterwards, she joined Maruba (Maritime Navigation Company) as internal lawyer until 1991 and as Legal, Insurance and Claims Manager from 1991 until 2011. She took seminaries organized by the Instituto Argentino de Derecho Marítimo (“Argentine Institute for Maritime Law”), Instituto Iberoamericano de Derecho Marítimo (“Iberoamerican Institute for Maritime Law”), Comité Marítimo Internacional (“International Maritime Committee”), Assurance foreningen Gard and Marsh Oslo, among others.
Ivo is a Master Mariner with specialist knowledge in marine casualty investigation including structural failure, grounding, collision, and machinery losses. Previously, a Marine Surveyor & Consultant to a leading Ship Register, he has considerable experience in marine loss control inspection, condition, and approval for all types of commercial vessels.
In addition, he has expertise in a wide variety of cargo losses with a particular emphasis on commodities of all types including perishables, steel, and general bulk goods, and the loading and discharge of critical heavy-lift cargoes. Ivo is a graduate of the Academy of Nautical Science & Marine Technology, Bremen, and a widely recognized marine casualty expert witness.
With over 34 years of cargo and marine survey experience, Jim is well qualified to lead and facilitate timely quality service and superior standards. He actively participates across all business lines through his extensive experience in loss prevention, claims adjusting, and recovery operations. He has a wealth of specialized knowledge in management, infrastructure, and operation of global cargo and marine transportation services and is a member of Technical Services Committee for the American Institute of Marine Underwriters.
Asia
Being a Chambers and Legal 500 recommended shipping lawyer in China, Henry handles both dry and wet claims from collision to cargo damage to personal injury. He is a partner of Sloma & Co, a leading Chinese shipping law firm based in Shanghai, and in the meantime sits as an arbitrator of CIETAC.
Ashwin is a well-respected leading maritime lawyer in India with wide ranging experience, including as Arbitrator in charter party disputes, specialising in urgent ship arrests in a practice with a 30 year proven track record. This includes several landmark cases in India. Ashwin has dealt with many London arbitration cases and has given expert evidence on Indian maritime law in various jurisdictions including in New York and in Singapore.
Ora's career touches almost every aspect of involvement in shipowning, insurance and claims. She has an LLB and an LLM from London and after eight years working for a leading Asia-based container line she set up, with support from C Solutions, and is now Managing Director of Crossroads Solution Ltd, our partners in Bangkok. Ora has vast experience dealing with all types of marine claims and contracts, and she and her legally qualified staff assist us in handling complex legal and claims projects.
M. Aminul Islam Nazir is a qualified advocate in Bangladesh with more than a decade of experience in transport liability claims. He gained a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and Masters of Laws (LLM) from the University of Chittagong, Bangladesh. He began his career in maritime industry with a P&I correspondent firm in Bangladesh as its legal counsel. In 2009, he moved to establish a marine claims & legal consulting firm where he handles full range of P&I and FD&D claims with an emphasis on trans-border marine debt recovery and claims enforcement works.
Australasia
Alex has over 20 years of experience in the maritime industry with significant expertise in P&I and H&M. She gained extensive experience in marine cargo claims and P&I related matters initially with Lloyd’s of London and later with the Gard P&I Club. Alex moved "Down Under" in 1997 and handles all types of marine matters throughout Australia, including Carriage of Goods by Sea, General Average, Pollution, ITF disputes and serious crew injuries.
A graduate of Liverpool John Moores University, Neale has over 35 years experience in the shipping industry.
Neale started his career as a seagoing Deck Officer for ten years, serving on tankers and anchor handling tug supply vessels. After a period working ashore at the Newcastle P&I association, handling a variety of incidents and claims, he joined a leading global shipping, logistics & marine services company, based in Dubai, where he established and managed a regional network of P&I Correspondents across the Middle East.
After 11 years in Dubai, Neale moved to Indonesia, and took on the Country Manager role at GAC, handling a wide variety of vessel types at ports & terminals across the archipelago. .
Neale has also worked extensively in Nigeria, Ghana and Turkmenistan in a variety of roles in the shipping and logistics industry including country manager and developed a network of partner and sub agent arrangements from Mauritania to Gabon.
Willum has over 25 years' experience in the international marine and non-marine insurance claims field specialising in areas including hull, cargo, builders risks, and ship repairers liability. His career has seen him work in the UK, USA, India, Singapore, Hong Kong and New Zealand. Willum focusses on his wide range of clients in South East Asia, Australasia and the Pacific Islands.