BA
LLB

Having joined the firm in 2004, Carol was appointed as a senior associate in 2006. Carol specialises in all aspects of maritime law including admiralty claims, cargo claims, salvage, collisions, charterparty disputes, crew claims, disputes between ship owners and mortgagees, ship arrests and various other maritime matters including protection and indemnity related cases. Carol offers advice in aspects relating to South African Customs Clearing, which includes classifying commodities in terms of the Harmonised Commodity Coding & Description system and framing bills of entry, as well as offering advice on customs procedures for import control.

+27 11 669 9591
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B.Comm.LL.B (UCT)
Diploma in Business Management

Attorney, High Court of South Africa
Admitted to practise in South Africa, Namibia and Lesotho
Member of the Law Society of the Cape of Good Hope
Member of Cape Town Attorneys Association
Member of the Maritime Law Association of South Africa
Member of International Bar Association
Member of Inter-Pacific Bar Association

Graham has been practising in the Maritime and Transport Department of Findlay & Tait for some 25 years and has specialised in this area of law. Graham is a member of Committee A (Maritime and Transport) of the International Bar Association and has delivered papers at IBA Conferences as well as other Maritime Conferences, including the fall meetings of the USMLA and the Inter-Pacific Bar Association.

Graham also has extensive experience in other areas of law, in general litigation, negligence, insurance, personal injury, bankruptcies and client recoveries.

Graham has been involved in numerous well known South African Maritime legal cases, for example, the “Snow Delta”, the “Kalamos”, the “Navigator”, the “Fortune 22”, the “Forum Victory”, the “Ais Mamas” and the “Urgup”. He has been extensively involved in collision work and other casualties and has also initiated and finalised several major judicial sales.

Graham has been involved in the publication of the firm’s booklets “The Enforcement of Maritime Claims in South Africa” and has also been asked by Kluwer Law International to update the section in its Maritime Law Handbook on arrests in South Africa.

Graham has been involved in a wide range of Maritime Legal services including:

Practice Focus

• Arrests and enforcement of maritime claims
• Maritime casualty/collisions and salvage
• Associated ship arrests
• Security arrests
• Carriage of goods disputes
• Mortgage foreclosures
• P&I work
• Pollution
• Stowaways
• Shipbuilding and repairs
• Hull and cargo insurance
• Personal injuries

Graham has acted as legal correspondent for several P&I clubs engaged in a wide range of services, such services being rendered in the ports of Cape Town, Saldana Bay, Port Elizabeth, Mossel Bay, Walvis Bay (Namibia), Durban and Luanda (Angola).

Graham specialises in Admiralty Law, Maritime and Transport Law, Shipping Litigation, General Litigation, Negligence Law, Insurance Law, Personal Injury Law and Bankruptcy Law.

+27 21 480 7806
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B.Comm (UPE 1986)
LLB (UCT 1988)
LLM (UCT 1999, in admiralty practice and law of the sea).
Admitted attorney (Jan 1991)
Notary Public (1992)

Craig jointed Bowman Gilfillan (formerly Findlay & Tait) as a Candidate Attorney in 1989 and later as a Professional Assistant, Associate and became a Director of Bowman Gilfillan in March 1997.

Craig has been involved in a number of contentious matters on behalf of shipowners and their insurers, including:

• acting on behalf of the owner of the MV “Moa”, arrested as an associated ship in respect of alleged damage suffered to two cargoes of fishmeal involving insurance fraud in which all claims against the ship were dismissed;
• representing Grindrods in respect of a collapsed gantry crane in a recovery action against the service agents Mannesman Demag which was settled after Grindrod's experts testified;
• representing owner's P&I and H&M insurers in respect of the investigation of two main engine breakdowns off the South African coastline and transhipment of cargo involving the vessel MV "Halim";
• representing a major carrier in respect of 43 full containers abandoned in Gaberone;
• representing the owners and P&I insurers of the MV "Rizcun Trader" in setting aside a security arrest as an associated ship;
• representing various international banks in workouts in South Africa in selling vessels and administering the resultant ship funds;
• representing owners of the MV "Humber" in setting aside the arrest as an associated ship as security for London arbitration proceedings;
• representing the owners of the MV “Blue Arabella” in a similar successful matter;
• representing owners’ P&I club and hull underwriters of a fire damaged car carrier ("Modern Drive");
• representing Smit as salvors in local litigation involving the salvage of the vessels "Shinkai Maru" and "Sea Elegance.

Non contentious matters include:

• a sale and leaseback transaction involving an Atlantic lobster fishing fleet (acting for financier)
• a sale and leaseback of fishing vessels and processing plant (acting for the financier and purchaser);
• registration of security bonds and mortgages for Standard Bank Vehicle and Asset Finance in the purchase of fishing vessels, catamarans, luxury yachts and sport fishing craft.
• advising an multinational trader on coal trades from South Africa

Craig has also been involved in the following reported cases:

•The Tao Men 1996 (1) SA 559 (C)
•The Ocean King No 2 1997 (4) SA 349 (C)
•The Rizcun Trader No 1 1999 (3) 953 (C)
•The Rizcun Trader No 2 1999 (3) SA 956 (C)
•The Rizcun Trader No 3 1999 (3) 966 (C)
•The Rizcun Trader No 4 2000 (3) 776 (C)

+27 21 480 7801
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BA (Law) (Stellenbosch)
Diploma in Law (UCT)
Post Graduate diploma in Maritime Law (UCT)

John has practiced Maritime Law at Bowman Gilfillan for some 25 years and now specialises virtually exclusively in this area of law. He was extensively involved in the work of the Maritime Law Association, resulting in the enactment of the Admiralty Jurisdiction Regulation Act of 1983, and the amendments thereto in 1992.

John has been involved in many of the major casualties off the Cape, such as the stranding of the “Antipolis” and ”Romelia”, the “Bos 400”, the mt “Treasure”, the “Decurion”, the “Sealand Express”, the "Safmarine Agulhas" and the "Kiperousa" and in some major South African marine insurance hull claims (the “Big Red”, the mfv “Palli Hiya Maru” and the mfv “Explorer”), and has acted for several mortgagee banks in foreclosures and workouts.

He has delivered papers to the German and US Maritime Law Associations and to the International Bar Association, and has lectured on Marine Insurance to post-graduate students at the University of Cape Town.

John has published extensively, including the first edition of the firm’s booklet, “The Enforcement of Maritime Claims in South Africa” (which has been translated into German and Greek).

His other publications include:
“Security Arrests in South Africa”, 1 LMCLQ 9, 1990
“The Enforcement of Maritime Claims in South Africa”, P&I International Vol 2, No 5
“Judicial Sales of Vessels and priority Claims – South Africa”, Kluwer Maritime Law Handbook, 1999
“A Jurisdictional Lacuna – The Need for the Amendment of Section 26 of the Supreme Court Act 1959”, (103) 1986 SALJ 670
“South African Maritime Law – An overview of some developments” – Journal of Maritime Law & Commerce, Vol 32, No 3, July 2001

+27 21 480 7813
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BA (Stellenbosch)
LLB (Stellenbosch)
LLM (Shipping Law) (UCT)
Attorney of High Court of South Africa
Solicitor of High Court of England and Wales
Member of the South African Maritime Law Association

Jeremy has 2 years experience practising shipping law in England focussing on contentious carriage of goods by sea and road cases in which he acted principally for shipowners, P&I Clubs, freight forwarders and hauliers. Much of the work involved enforcing and defending claims for loss or damage to cargo based on bills of lading, charterparties, or standard terms and conditions of the road transport and forwarding industries. He also gained experience in marine insurance and ship finance transactions.

Jeremy joined Bowmans in January 2005 as an associate and has thus far gained experience in casualties, ship arrests and carriage of goods by sea, road and rail disputes.

+27 21 480 7811
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