Friday August 11 2017, 1:34am

Fichte & Co Legal Consultancy

Sheikh Zayed Road, Business Bay
Prism Tower, 19th floor
P.O. Box 116637,
Dubai, UAE

Tel: +971 4 43 57 577
Fax: +971 4 43 57 578
Email: info@fichtelegal.com
www.fichtelegal.com

Our team consists of dual qualified Advocates admitted to UK and other international Bars. The firm is the Maritime Law firm of choice in the Middle East, serving a worldwide base of clients with interests in the region and world-wide.

We provide expertise in the following areas of law:

Maritime
Fichte & Co has been actively involved in the development of the maritime industry in the region since its inception in 2005.  Although the firm may be considered relatively young, all together the shipping team of Fichte & Co has nearly a century experience in advising ship owners and other players in the industry. We are vigorously involved in advising the government in the drafting of new legislation, and in particular of a new maritime legislation resolving the ambiguous areas within the present law in the UAE.

Corporate & Commercial
Our Corporate and Commercial department understands your business, culture and goals. We understand issues across a broad spectrum of business and legal practices and offer an extensive range of legal services relating to banking and finance transactions, real estate acquisitions, construction, company establishments in the UAE and the UAE Freezones, as well as debt recovery services.

Litigation and Arbitration
We have the practice and knowledge on our side to efficiently resolve legal, regulatory and commercial conflicts wherever they arise on your behalf. Our bank of experience in litigation covers UK, UAE and DIFC jurisdictions and work on international and local arbitration cases, most notably with bodies such as ICC, DIFC-LCIA, DIAC, LMAA, LCIA, GMAA, GAFTA and FOSFA. We are the first law firm having enforced an International Arbitration Award in UAE Courts under the NY Convention.

With arguably the largest team of maritime lawyers in the UAE, we advise on all areas of maritime law, including ship finance and shipping litigation. Our coherent and comprehensive legal services cover topics ranging from Admiralty issues like salvage, wreck removal and pollution matters, to liabilities apportionment, conflict of laws and jurisdictional advise and standing regulations.

Claims handling and claims management forms an important part of Fichte’s maritime portfolio with P&I Clubs, H&M Insurers, brokers, ship owners and financial institutions constantly approaching us on ship arrest and enforcement of maritime debts and securities or Maritime Arbitration conducted under ICC, LCIA, LMAA or GMAA rules.

In a nutshell, we exert ourselves to provide an efficient, commercially focused approach along with specialized experience to understand business needs.

In addition, if litigation is pertinent, we have a shipping litigation team comprising of fully qualified Arabic speaking lawyers with vast experience in UAE Court proceedings, including litigation before the DIFC Courts.

We also have unparalleled experience and expertise to advise and assist in arbitration matters under ICC, LCIA, DIFC/LCIA and represent client as mediators for dispute resolution, reducing costs.

Fichte & Co has the largest shipping department within the region. On the onset the firm had the support of a few local shipowners. The requirement was for a firm with an international outlook and local understanding. Fichte has achieved that and the awards and accolades only reinforce that commitment. Today Fichte & Co works closely with various government entities like ADMA, ADNOC, Oman Drydocks and Fujairah Port on various maritime related issues. We are also the exclusive firm of choice today for the largest tanker owners/operators of UAE, advising them on various contentious and non-contentious matters.

We work extensively with financial institutions and individuals on s+p agreements, ship building contracts, commodities and international trade. Marine Insurance and handling of cargo claims is another area we excel at and only recently concluded a claim for a Ship Owner from Qatar on extremely favorable terms.

Notable work carried out by the Firm in the past 12 months including but not limited

to:

  • Assisting a multi-jurisdiction dispute on charterparty amounting to USD 1 million.
  • Successfully assisting a MNC conglomerate towards sale and purchase of high value commodity in a trade dispute amounting to US$ 30 million.
  • Advising a GCC port in finalizing contracts for construction and utilization of SPM facilities.
  • Assisting one of the major UAE port service providers in the restructuring of their operations and contextual finalization of renewal of contracts for port services in the GCC.
  • Advising a European financial house on securities for investment in UAE registered marine assets worth in excess of USD 10m.
  • Assisting a foreign bunker supplier in arresting procedures for two vessels in a dispute related to unpaid bunkers for USD 3m.
  • Advising an international trader in the negotiation of a settlement claim in excess of USD 10m including renewal of a furniture contract of refined petroleum products.
  • Assisting a renowned UAE offshore company in establishment of a joint venture partnership with a European yard for utilization of newly built vessel under various sharing profit agreements.The opening up of our second office in Abu Dhabi is an answer to the increasing      demand for our services and the expansion of our clients’ base. It will also give us a more efficient presence on the territory and also helps us in providing better service to government entities with whom we are constantly cooperating.