The North of England Club’s freight demurrage and defence (FD&D) department has a lack of legal battle honours — but that is something it is, in a way, proud of.
“Our philosophy is that we’re trying to resolve disputes cost-effectively in our members’ interest,” FD&D team leader Katherine Birchall said.
As issues arising from casualties are usually covered under hull or protection-and-indemnity (P&I) policies, the disputes referred to her team are mostly commercial, with a high proportion arising from charter parties.
