Campbell Johnston Clark’s Singapore office has become one of the go-to shipping law firms in the region 10 years after opening its doors.
Founded in early 2014, CJC’s Singapore office has gone from strength to strength and deals with the highest profile casualties in global shipping.
Part of the explanation lies in the fact that the rise to prominence took place in Singapore, during a period of rapid consolidation for shipping and P&I interests in the city state.
Energetic government efforts to promote shipping and enable the Singapore Chamber of Maritime Arbitration (SCMA) as a centre for resolving shipping disputes were no doubt also influential. As was, no doubt, the changing landscape in maritime law firms in the intervening period.
However, the story of the Singapore-based operation of maritime law firm CJC has been one of strategy and cultivating the right expertise, rather than simply timely endeavour.
Establishing CJC in Asia was an early priority for the ambitious firm, which was founded in the UK in 2010. Singapore appeared to have the edge over other locations at that time and by early 2014 CJC had opened its doors there.
CJC Director Ian Short was a founding partner of the office and saw instant results when an existing client instructed CJC Singapore to act in two cases on his first day there. “Would we have got those instructions had we not had the Singapore office? Probably not, as they related to Singapore Arbitration,” he says.
However, Short stresses, hard work was the order of the day at the outset to make the office a success, combining case work with attending maritime events and managing the office.
Short says that the objective of establishing CJC Singapore had been to grow region-specific expertise for existing and new clients, and to serve an accelerating consolidation of maritime interests across the whole of Asia, not only in Singapore.
Local foundations
Gradually, as well as the usual arbitration and litigation work, the office saw demand increase for its advisory services on the day-to-day issues that shipping companies face throughout the region, with the ability to advise promptly in the same or similar time zone being a key factor. “Relationships with clients in the region were close and involved continuous dialogue,” he says, “whether or not issues turned contentious.”
Short helped to steer the office through its first five years, as the firm climbed local ‘Legal 500’ and ‘Chambers’ rankings, and made inroads in the likes of South Korea, Japan and China including Hong Kong. Before returning to London, he was also involved in the process of bringing in the expanded team which, he says, “has subsequently driven CJC from strength to strength and consolidated our position at the forefront of disputes involving English Law in the region as well as high profile casualty work”.
That team began to form with the recruitment of directors Paul Apostolis and Gareth Williams, who would soon be joined by William Pyle and Andrew Shannon. The quartet came with considerable experience in maritime law across multiple jurisdictions.
All four are well-known individually as Singapore-based practitioners in shipping disputes and had previously worked as a team at another firm.
Rise to prominence
Together, they broadened CJC’s appetite for casualty work, based on the respective experience of Apostolis, Williams and Pyle in wet and dry aspects, and Shannon as a Master Mariner.
“There has been a significant focus on building an international profile in the ‘wet’ side of CJC’s Singapore-based business, especially through casualty work and casualty investigations,” says Pyle.
Short describes CJC Singapore as now occupying “a pre-eminent position in casualty work in some of the busiest waters in the world”.
“We have been instructed to handle some of the largest casualties in the region” explains Pyle. Topical cases include two high profile car carrier fires - one involving a constructive total loss - as well as a Lithium-ion battery fire and the loss more than 2,000 boxes over the side of a container ship, he says.
At the local level, CJC’s Singapore-based directors are ably supported by Senior Associate Henry Setiano, Associate Joehunt Jinnah and Office Manager Jasmine Kroll.
Where workload is heavy, additional experience is of benefit or time zone issues arise, the Singapore office works closely with CJC’s London and Newcastle teams. “For example, we’re currently working on a collision case in the English High Court assisted by our London office, and for urgent matters we often work seamlessly across the time zones with our colleagues in the UK,” says Pyle.
A recent instruction from an Asian-based P&I Club to act for a member based in Japan covering an incident in Europe also led to an exemplary collaboration between London and Singapore, adds Short.
Dry flowering
Pyle also emphasizes the significance for the firm as a whole of disputes closer to the home, in an around Singapore, during the second part of the company’s first decade in the city.
“The number of instructions to act in ship management disputes continues to grow, which is an area which plays into Gareth’s [Williams] expertise on the dry side of the business, and also represents about 50% my practice,” he says.
The upward trajectory even pushed through the trials of COVID-19, adds Pyle. “In some ways, there were benefits when video conferencing was accepted because we can take a more active role in the English High Court litigation that we run from this office.”
CJC’s reach from Singapore has progressively extended to include Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and Taiwan, also holding on to earlier advances made in China, Japan and Korea.
“Meanwhile, the gradual increase in the number of Singapore arbitrations with English law applying continues and that is very much in our sweet spot,” says Pyle. “Today, we are a main player in shipping litigation in Singapore and part of Singapore’s successful consolidation as a centre for shipping and for the resolution of maritime disputes.
“We retain the outlook and responsiveness of a boutique firm, but in real terms CJC’s Singapore-based shipping team can go toe to toe with competitors who are much larger in global terms.”
Regional platform
Building on this platform, the firm recently added to its expertise in the region. Aik Hui has joined the Singapore office as a director specialising in ship transactional work, where she will join forces not only with the Singapore team but also the transactional team in London headed up by James Clayton.
“This enables our Singapore office to provide a full service to clients in the region covering not only wet and dry shipping disputes but also ship sale and purchase and ship finance assistance”, says Short.
Further, experienced dispute resolution specialist Chris Kidd joined the London office as Director in November 2023, bringing a strong reputation in ship construction, repair and conversion work in Korea and China. Associate solicitor Jeong-Sook Kim also joined the London Office in 2023 where she is well established in the Korean market in particular.
On that note, Short, Pyle, Kidd and Kim were all involved in a successful CJC seminar staged in Seoul last month, together with Allen Marks, Director of the firm’s Newcastle office, who is also highly regarded in the Korean market.
With Pyle a part of the Singapore Shipping Association Legal and Insurance Committee, and Williams on the SCMA committee, CJC is “part of the conversation driving the agenda for growth of maritime services in the region,” says Pyle.
CJC’s 10th year in Singapore also coincides with plans to refurbish its offices on Amoy Street, he adds. It is both a timely spruce up for an attractive period property situated in the historical heart of the commercial city and a renewal of the commitment of CJC to Singapore.
