Hill Dickinson, Alley Maass unite for ‘competitive edge’
Superyachts at the Monaco Yacht Show. Photo: MYS.
The phrase “think global, act local” has been knocking around for decades but it neatly sums up the new alliance between superyacht law firms Hill Dickinson and Alley Maass.
The UK-based maritime law specialist Hill Dickinson and Florida firm Alley Maass have agreed a formal alliance to share knowledge and expertise across their respective jurisdictions.
It is a strategy designed to answer “local questions with local expertise”, says Panos Pourgourides, head of yachts at Hill Dickinson.
Sign up for the Superyacht Investor newsletter
“The market gets more global every year, the boats get bigger, they go to more places and clients need that support in whatever jurisdiction they are in,” he tells Superyacht Investor.
“The globe has also shrunk a little bit, and we feel this is a good response to give us immediate access to the market leader in such a key market. It will give us a competitive edge.”
Hill Dickinson has offices in the UK, Monaco, Piraeus, Hong Kong and Singapore, while Alley Maass specialises in the US and can also provide support in the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands and Marshall Islands.
Though the two firms have been friendly for years, the idea took seed around the time of the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show last year. Conversations explored what an alliance might look like, how it would work and what the benefits might be. Once the idea gained traction the two firms moved to signature stage “very quickly”.
Pourgourides is keen to stress what the alliance isn’t. “We’re not merging, it’s not a takeover, we’re not blending IT. Everything will remain confidential,” he says.
It is, though, a response to the notion of “closer horizons” where clients need informed support quickly.
“It has a local angle and gives us each the inside track,” adds Pourgourides. “It could be somebody who has a charter licence query or an insurance question in the US; or a European taking their boat to America; or keeping abreast of legal developments, knowing there is some change in regulations planned by the Cayman Islands, for example. It could also be transactional and everything in between.
“There won’t be anything the two firms haven’t seen before, haven’t dealt with before and haven’t resolved before.”
Robb R Maass, head of the maritime department at Alley Maass, said: “We have long thought that our clients would benefit from the ability to offer a range of services across multiple jurisdictions.
“We are confident that the combined geographic reach, industry contacts and breadth of knowledge and experience of this alliance will provide unmatched advantages to our respective clients and will be transformative in the superyacht legal sector.”
