Jonathan is a Partner in our London office specialising in shipping dispute resolution and litigation arising from charterparties, bills of lading, shipbuilding contracts, ship sale MOAs, financing contracts, ship management and crewing agreements, hull insurance policies, bunker supply contracts and general average situations as well as disputes involving commodities, mining, energy and off-shore contracts. Cases involving shipping insolvencies, security arrests and enforcement are a speciality. Jonathan handles cases in both arbitration and the High Court and has a special interest in mediation. He is dual qualified being admitted in both England and South Africa and has travelled widely on cases to many jurisdictions maintaining an excellent net-work of international contacts.

Jonathan is regularly recommended in professional directories such as Legal 500 and Chambers being described variously over recent years as “excellent on dry work”, "brilliant", and "enormously thorough, experienced and committed" leading a "strong team". He has lectured extensively at several leading universities (both in the UK and abroad) and spoken on many panels both domestically and abroad.

By way of background, Jonathan completed a BA in history and economics at the University of Cape Town and then an LLB at the University of Natal followed by two years national service in the Army where he was commissioned and served as a lieutenant on the Namibian / Angolan border. He trained as a lawyer with South African shipping law firm Shepstone & Wylie in Durban before coming to the UK on a scholarship in 1993 to complete a Masters degree in International Shipping and Trade Law at University College, London.