  Member of the Baltic Exchange A Commercial man |
Simon Gault - Maritime Arbistrator and MediatorProfile - PracticeSimon’s international practice covered all aspects of maritime law, but its core was all aspects of dry (contractual) work and wet (casualty) work. The dry work covered principally disputes involving sale and purchase, shipbuilding, ship repair, charterparties, bills of lading, towage, sale of goods, marine insurance, and ship mortgages. The wet work covered principally disputes involving collisions, salvage and general average. Both types of cases often involved seizing assets, disputes as to jurisdiction, and limitation of liability. He was also involved in drafting standard form shipbuilding contracts and charterparties. He appeared as counsel in all the higher courts, including the Admiralty Court, the Commercial Court, the Court of Appeal, the House of Lords, and the Privy Council. He also appeared in many Lloyds Salvage Arbitrations and LMAA Arbitrations. He appeared in a number of wreck inquiries both English (The ‘Speedlink Vanguard’ and The ‘European Gateway’, The ‘Kurdistan’ and The ‘Marchioness’ and The ‘Bowbelle') and Liberian (The 'Amoco Cadiz' and 'The ‘Aegean Captain’ and 'The Altanic Empress’).
His most important cases were: The 'Halcyon Isle' [1981] AC 221 (ship mortgage priorities), The 'Maira' [1986] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 12 (H.L.(E)) (ship management), The 'Vimeira' [1986] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 117 (H.L.(E)) (cost against third parties), The 'Bijela' [1994] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 1 (H.L.(E)) (general average), and The 'Nagasaki Spirit' [1997] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 323 (H.L.(E)) (salvage).
He was the general editor of the 12th, 13th, and 14th editions of Marsden and Gault - Collisions at Sea, the standard legal text book on the subject. He rewrote half of the 12th Edition.
He was a Recorder of the Crown Court for 11 years, and tried criminal, civil and family cases. He sat regularly in cases in the commercial list of the Central London County Court. He has tried collision cases as a deputy Admiralty Registrar. He has acted as an assistant boundary commisioner. He remains a door tenant at Quadrant Chambers. |
