News

Like Budd’s other
French offices, Budd Paris is a listed Correspondent of most of the IG P&I Clubs.  It provides
maritime legal advice and assistance to Clubs and their
Members alike.

Although it is not a sea port,
Paris with its major container port (Gennevilliers) and huge wholesale food
market (Rungis) is at the heart of France’s road, rail and brown water
transport system, providing direct links to France’s major ports (Le Havre,
Marseille) as well as our international neighbours (Belgium, the Netherlands,
Switzerland, Italy, Spain etc.).  Through
our extensive network of surveyors (Wiggins France) in the Paris area we can intervene rapidly to
investigate and assess damage to cargo in accordance
with a Club or Member’s requirements.

Our assistance also extends to
ill or injured crew members who are often in transit at Paris airports. 
In such cases, our well-established working relationships with trustworthy and
efficient medical service-providers, as well as the airport border police, is
extremely beneficial for our clients.

Being
in close geographical proximity to the Parisian cargo underwriters proves invaluable when it
comes to dealing with any cargo claims or other urgent cases e.g. LOU
requests on a Friday afternoon.  In most cases, our legally-trained claims handlers favour amicable
settlement of claims on the best possible terms to avoid lengthy and costly
judicial procedures.  This is far more
economical for our clients than negotiations handled
by a law firm.

If legal action in France proves
either preferable or inevitable, we are always happy to recommend the Chambre
Aritrable Maritime de Paris http://www.arbitrage-maritime.org/CAMP-V3/accueil/ (Paris Chamber of
Arbitration) as the most cost-effective choice for our clients, particularly
since Budd’s in-house lawyers are entitled to represent their clients without
being obliged to appoint barristers.  Furthermore, the Chamber’s
arbitrators can be asked to judge according to English law and are well qualified to do so.  Many of them are also members of the London Maritime
Arbitrators Association and are of British nationality.  Budd is also an institutional member of the
Chamber.

In much the same way, Budd’s
in-house lawyers can also be mandated to represent clients in the Commercial
Court.

In addition to our in-house
lawyers and barrister, we have a list of the specialist barristers who are
best-placed to defend the interests of our
clients at the lowest possible cost.

We look forward to assisting you further and remain at your disposal if you
have any queries.

Rhea Li

Legal and Claims Department 

Rhea.li@budd-pni.com
T:
+33 142 56 36 12