Shipping Lawyer, Lovell Joins Reed Smith

Global law firm Reed Smith has announced the arrival of market-leading admiralty and casualty response lawyer, Richard Lovell, as a partner in the firm’s Singapore office. Richard joins Reed Smith from Ince & Co, where he was head of shipping and managing partner of the firm’s Singapore office.

Richard has almost 30 years’ experience as an admiralty and marine insurance practitioner in Asia. He joins Reed Smith to head a highly experienced Singapore team of casualty lawyers (including two senior ex-mariners) handling a wide range of marine casualties and offshore oil and gas matters. The team advises ship owners, clubs, underwriters, charterers, offshore oil and gas producers and commodities traders. Typical matters include vessel and cargo loss or damage, collisions, pollution, groundings, ship fires, main engine breakdowns, salvage incidents, wreck removal, oil rig incidents and spillages and liquefaction cases.

In addition to his work in Singapore, Richard has advised on a significant number of marine and offshore casualties in the region, including Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand where, over the years, he has established extensive local knowledge.

Richard joined Ince & Co in 1996. Prior to this, Richard was at Sinclair Roche in Hong Kong (1986 – 1988) and London (1983 – 1986). He relocated to Singapore in 1988 to establish and head up a new shipping litigation practice in Sinclair Roche & Temperley’s Singapore office.

“We wish to enhance Reed Smith’s shipping, marine casualty and ‘major incident’ response capabilities in the Asia Pacific region. This is largely in the face of demand from our clients operating in the shipping and energy and natural resources sectors and is consistent with continued growth in the key Asian shipping lanes, which run between regional and intercontinental hubs," commented Barry Stimpson, Reed Smith’s Singapore office managing partner. “Richard’s arrival provides our clients with senior local expertise and will form a pivotal part of our emergency response services where clients need us most.”

Reed Smith has continued to grow its offering in Singapore since launching its office in 2012. Today, the firm’s offering extends to 18 lawyers across a broad range of disciplines, including shipping, energy and natural resources, international arbitration, corporate, finance, restructuring, regulatory affairs and investigations.