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Kevin Cooper Joins MFB

June 1 2018

MFB is pleased to announce the arrival of Kevin Cooper.

Kevin’s core expertise is in shipping law. For commercial shipping, his main focus is on casualty cases, complemented by his dry shipping expertise in charterparty, cargo claim and ship- and boat-building. A keen sailor, he also handles contentious yacht and superyacht cases and regulatory and compliance matters, particularly anti-corruption issues. His clients include major international ship owners and their insurers, charterers, cargo owners, salvors, shipyards and boat builders.

Kevin studied law at Oxford University and qualified as a barrister before serving in the British Navy for 10 years, much of that time at sea. After leaving the Navy in the rank of Lieutenant Commander, he worked for the United States Department of Justice before joining a leading shipping and insurance law firm in 2000, at which he worked in its London, Shanghai and Monaco offices.

Having spent time as a casualty investigator earlier in his career, Kevin’s admiralty practice includes collisions, groundings, ship fires, cargo damage, pollution and salvage cases. He regularly handles high-value multi-jurisdictional matters: noteworthy cases include the collision between the container vessel MSC Joanna and the hopper dredger W D Fairway, the grounding and subsequent collision of the Khalijia 3, the container fire on board the Amsterdam Bridge, the sinking of the Atlantik Confidence and the Norman Atlantic ferry fire. Kevin also has significant experience of handling casualties in the offshore oil and gas and yachting sectors and has acted as an advocate in court, arbitration and mediation proceedings in the United Kingdom and China.

Kevin’s earlier experience as a criminal court advocate in the Navy has provided him with valuable expertise when advising clients whose employees become the subject of criminal investigations and in handling the prosecution of ship owners and managers. That same experience benefits clients in relation to other corporate ethics, crime and regulatory matters, especially anti-corruption policies and procedures, on which Kevin provides advice and training to a range of shipowners and insurers.

Most recently, Kevin has been recognised as a “Rising Star” in Shipping by London Super Lawyers magazine and as a leading shipping and maritime lawyer by Who's Who Legal: Transport, in the latter of which clients commented on his “calm demeanour”. Kevin is also the Contributing Editor of 'Getting the Deal Through: Shipping 2018' and is the panel leader for their "Market Intelligence - Shipping" publication.

Kevin is dual-qualified as a solicitor and a barrister, regularly chairs and speaks at shipping sector events, sits on various industry committees in the shipping and yachting sectors and has particular industry contacts in Norway, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Latin America.

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