HFW is to launch a Monaco office after hiring a team from Ince led by partners Ian Cranston, Andrew Charlier and Marco Crusafio. The team, which specialises in shipping, yachts, business aviation, international trade, commodities, energy and insurance, will include legal directors Ian Fisher and Ruth Monahan. The team is set to join in early September.
Cranston had been Ince’s Monaco office head, while Charlier was previously global head of yachts. He has more than 30 years of experience advising on transactional yacht, business aviation, and corporate and commercial matters. Crusafio specialises in shipping, international trade and commodities disputes.
Global senior partner Richard Crump said: ‘Monaco has always had a strategic interest for us because of its strong trading, shipping and yachts business, which are core parts of our practice globally. The arrival of this excellent team will continue the significant international development of HFW.’
Head of shipping Paul Dean said: ‘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. These hires further enhance our ability to provide first-class advice to shipping, maritime and yachting clients in key markets around the world, and illustrates our deep and longstanding commitment to the sector.’
The firm have added seven shipping partners and a senior consultant in the past four months, including shipbroker Chris Jones in Singapore. Since 2016 the firm has opened 11 international offices and merged with US firm Legge Farrow in 2017. The firm now has 20 offices in five continents and has ambitious plans to enhance core sectors, services and jurisdictions.