Elinor Dautlich
Partner – Holman Fenwick Willan
T: +44 (0)20 7264 8493
W: www.hfw.com
What sort of clients do you advise?
Owners, designers, yards, financiers, brokers.
How did you end up in superyacht law?
I always set out to practise shipping law and that has included yachts for the past 20 years.
What makes a good superyacht lawyer?
Knowledge of market custom and practice. Balancing legal protection of the client against not holding up the deal for legal issues.
What do you most like about your job?
The people involved (but that can on occasion also be what I least like about the job). And looking round engine rooms.
What one piece of advice would you give to potential yacht buyers?
Don’t just listen to what people tell you; charter a few yachts and work out for yourself what are your priorities and preferences, and how the money is spent on operating a yacht.
Official biography
Elinor is a transactional lawyer acting for shipowners, operators, shipyards and designers across the shipping, LNG and offshore sectors.
Elinor advises on all types of commercial shipping contracts including second-hand sale and purchase, shipbuilding contracts, EPC and EPCI contracts, ship recycling, ship registration, charterparties, pooling agreements, management agreements, seismic-related contracts, shares sale and purchase and joint venture agreements as well as on ship and aviation finance, leasing, seller’s credits and other forms of capital raising. She also advises on contracts for the design, construction, purchase and operation of yachts and business jets.
Elinor is part of the firm’s LNG group, which has been responsible for drafting some of the first long-term LNG vessel charters and has over the years built up extensive experience of LNG time charters and related agreements, including joint venture arrangements, for some of the major LNG projects around the world. The group deals with all modern LNG time voyage and other specific charters, gas supply / offtake and LNG sale and purchase agreements, financing agreements, insurance issues, FLNG and the construction and operation of LNG ports and terminals.
Elinor has been advising on piracy related contracts since 2009, including contracts for the provision of private security services and she sits on BIMCO’s drafting sub-committee for GUARDCON.
Elinor lectures on commercial shipping matters, and in particular on shipbuilding and offshore construction topics, security in shipping and yachting, LNG charter issues and related insurance issues.
Elinor is recommended by Legal 500 UK 2012. She sits on the board of advisors to the Human Rights at Sea (HRAS) international maritime initiative and is a vice chair of the International Bar Association’s Maritime and Land Transport Law Committee.
