Rory Butler

Practice Areas

- Shipping

- Admiralty & Crisis Management

- Dispute resolution

- Alternative dispute resolution

- Commercial litigation

- Commercial contracts

- Commodities

- Oil & Gas

- Energy

- Marine Insurance

Career

Rory specialises in shipping and trade, including dispute resolution arising from charterparties, COA’s, bills of lading, vessel sale and purchase, shipbuilding/supply contracts, fire and explosions, collisions, groundings, general average, salvage, limitation and total loss. Rory has developed a reputation for successfully handling major containership casualties involving dangerous goods as well as particular expertise relating to multipurpose and heavy lift vessels. On the advisory side Rory has assisted clients on contract terms including charterparties, COA, bills of lading, pool agreements, ship management agreements, vessel sale and purchase agreements, shipbuilding contracts and sanctions related issues/advice. Rory has also built up extensive experience in the LNG sector with regard to shipbuilding contracts and long term charters/tenders.

Experience

In terms of Shipping Rory's expertise encompasses both dry and admiralty matters which is especially beneficial when handling major casualties with a multi-jurisdictional focus and pursuing large recourse claims. He also regularly advises on contractual matters with notable experience in the LNG sector. Significant matters are wide ranging and include multiple large containership dangerous cargo cases, ship sale and purchase claims including fraud cases, significant cargo losses, breaking tonnage limitation, vessel pool disputes, LNG tenders/charters, sanctions related matters, General Average recoveries, multiple charterparty disputes and significant product liability actions. Rory edits a regular case update presentation to P&I Clubs and other clients which covers recent developments in English law. He has also spent time on secondment in the industry at a P&I Club and shipbroker. Rory has also worked with BIMCO on their standard clauses, including the BIMCO Force Majeure clause.

With respect to rankings, Rory has been listed as a notable practitioner in Chambers (Band 1) over several years, being named in the world's top ten shipping lawyers in 2018 by leading trade publication Lloyd's list, one of the barristers surveyed by Lloyd's list for the report noted that Rory gets "top billing among shipping lawyers and is virtually ubiquitous at the moment". Chambers 2023 ranked Rory again as a Band 1 lawyer and notes he demonstrates wide-ranging expertise in the shipping market, particularly with regard to disputes pertaining to shipbuilding, salvage and bills of lading. His clientele includes owners, cargo interests and charterers. Similarly, in 2021 Chambers noted “he is an absolute star, highly respected and brilliant”. “He is commercially minded and very quick and efficient in his responses” and in 2022 “Rory Butler is astute and steeped in the law.” “He is commercially minded and easy to deal with.” “He is very impressive on both the non-contentious and contentious sides of the maritime sector”.