The team is to be led by partners Ian Cranston, Andrew Charlier and Marco Crusafio, and will include legal directors Ian Fisher and Ruth Monahan, associate George Kaye and trainee legal executive Laura Pike. They will join HFW in early September 2019.

“Number one yacht team”

Mr Cranston was Monaco office head and Mr Charlier global head of yachts. Discussing bringing the new team aboard, Paul Dean, head of shipping at HFW, explained “We've been interested in the Monaco market for quite some time, but we were only ever going to make a move if we could bring them on board - they're the clear market leaders and we wouldn't settle for anything less.” Jay Tooker, partner at HFW, added “This is a major development for our global yacht practice. It isn't every day that you get an opportunity to bring in the number one yacht team in Monaco, the centre of yachting in Europe.” Mr Cranston has been advising shipping clients for more than 30 years in Monaco, Italy, Switzerland, Greece and worldwide on a broad range of contentious and non-contentious dry and wet shipping issues. Mr Charlier has more than 30 years' experience advising on transactional yacht, business aviation, and corporate and commercial matters. Mr Crusafio is an experienced litigator with a focus on shipping, international trade and commodities disputes. Mr Cranston, who will be Monaco office head at HFW, said  “We are very excited to be joining what is unquestionably the world's top shipping, maritime and yacht practice, with an unmatched international network of top class lawyers and an enviable client base. We've always been impressed with HFW whenever we've worked together on matters, and look forward to helping the firm strengthen its position as the go-to advisor for the industry.”

Different view

Gordon Dadds Group sees the situation somewhat differently, with media statements claiming the firm has replaced its Monaco personnel in order to improve the office’s financial performance. According to a statement, “The group has concluded that the financial performance of its representation in Monaco can be improved by bringing in a new team.”