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Elliot Woodruff

Consultant

Portrait ofElliot Woodruff

Elliot Woodruff

Consultant

Contact
Lau, Horton & Wise LLP, in Association with CMS Hasche Sigle, Hong Kong LLP
8th Floor, Nexxus Building, 41 Connaught Road Central,
Hong Kong
Languages English

Elliot is a Consultant in the insurance & reinsurance practice group. 

Elliot specialises in maritime law and international trade focusing on disputes arising out of bills of lading, charterparties, letters of credit, international trading contracts, ship management contracts, shipbuilding contracts and ship sale and purchase agreements. He regularly advises shipowners, insurers, P&I Clubs, trading companies ship brokers and ship managers on these matters. He has extensive experience in obtaining security for clients in particular in respect of vessel arrests in both Hong Kong and other jurisdictions. He also handles general commercial disputes from drafting contracts to obtaining injunctions.

Elliot has considerable experience in shipping law, particularly in Asia, having worked for a major shipping law firm in Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai, and also as in-house counsel for a large Korean shipowner. Elliot has also worked in Hamburg and was seconded for a time to a major Norwegian P&I Club in Oslo. Time spent running his own business and acting as a consultant to shipping entrepreneurs as well as working for the UK government makes Elliot an exceptionally well-rounded and multi-faceted lawyer. 

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Relevant experience

  • Successfully defending cargo contamination claims for shipowner.
  • London arbitration, acting for the successful shipowner in respect of a hire dispute and defending unseaworthiness brought by Charterers.
  • Assisting P&I Club in respect of wreck removal and cargo recovery operations arising out of two maritime casualties in the Taiwan Straits.
  • Owners of semi-submersible oil platform in a contract performance dispute including assisting with the release of the rig from arrest in Scotland.
  • Owners in relation to claims arising from the repudiatory breach of a long term time charterparty and involving issues ranging from piercing the corporate veil to the sequestration of assets.
  • Shipbuilding contract for the construction of a semi-submersible platform, acting for the shipyard in the United States defending claims for delay, faulty workmanship and defects.
  • Representing owners of a cable laying vessel defending claims for damage brought by charterers in a Bangkok arbitration.
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Education

  • 1998 – Solicitor, High Court of Hong Kong 
  • 1993 – Solicitor, England & Wales
  • 1990 – Barrister, England & Wales
  • 1989 – Downing College Cambridge (Law)
  • 1987 – Christ Church, Oxford (Modern History)
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Expertise