Shipping is one of the oldest and most developed branches of commercial law. It falls into two areas: contentious and noncontentious. On the contentious side, ‘dry' shipping involves contractual issues, such as bill of lading and charterparty disputes, whereas ‘wet' shipping involves disputes over the ship itself (eg, collision and salvage). Non-contentious work concerns itself primarily with ship finance (lending and security), drawing up commercial agreements (eg, charters and shipbuilding contracts) and corporate aspects. Whereas the shipping industry is by its nature international, London remains the pre-eminent venue for dispute resolution and English law is one of the main legal systems of choice.

Simon Petch had seawater coursing through his veins long before he became a successful shipping lawyer: "My family is full of doctors and mariners, so it wasn't that I was following in the family footsteps. Rather, I thought it was a good degree that would stand me in good stead later in life. I was pretty clear that I wanted to be a solicitor; I think I lacked a certain theatrical bent that my contemporaries who went to the Bar had!"

Law school at The College of Law in Chester and a training contract at Sinclaire Roche & Temperley (now Stephenson Harwood) followed. Simon then spent nearly four years working for the firm in Piraeus - one of the busiest ports in the world. It took another stint back in London before the lure of the ocean became too strong to resist, and Simon took a couple of years out to complete some sailing qualifications and work on yachts. He returned to the law and joined shipping expert Watson Farley & Williams (WFW) in 2006.

Now a partner in the firm's asset finance department, and with the tang of brine still in his nostrils, Simon typically acts for either the lender or the shipowner in transactions involving the financing of ships. He outlines what that involves: "Buying a ship is a bit like buying a house - the bank lends money to the owner and the owner grants security over the ship. Within the life of that ship, there are key stages, on which a deal may also focus, such as when it's constructed, bought, delivered, hired out for charter, sold to new owners or sold to the scrapper for parts." Also influencing the way that deals can run are the threat of piracy and the cyclical nature of the shipping market: "It's very volatile. You have to be aware of what's going on and think ahead. It's also made more colourful by the characters involved and the fact it's a very international business. You often end up in exotic locations!" Shipping hubs include Piraeus, Singapore, New York and Hamburg - all cities where WFW has a presence.

The post-credit-crunch environment is very different from the heady early 2000s, when shipping was booming. "Shipowners were doing well, the rates they were earning on their ships were high and banks were getting repaid quickly," Simon recalls. "However, when the credit crunch hit, there was a sharp downturn in the rates earned on ships, which affected their value and in turn affected finance terms. So a lot of what I'm doing at the moment is restructuring. For example, a ship-owning company is going through some tough times and needs some breathing space in terms of its loan obligations. We try and restructure the debt so that they're not applying the standards of the good times in the bad times, all with a view to keeping the company going." And these restructured deals are not a case of bank versus shipowner: "Nobody benefits if it all goes wrong and the ship is repossessed. That's the nuclear option and is not done lightly."

A recent highlight is testament to the satisfaction of getting the negotiations right: "I'd previously acted for a banking syndicate that lent money to a shipping company to buy lots of ships. It was a complicated deal with short timeframes, but we did it. Then about a year ago, with the shipping company feeling the pinch, we managed to restructure things in such a way that everyone walked away happy. In the current climate, where failure to restructure can lead to insolvency and unemployment, it's immensely rewarding to help avoid that."

Simon suggests that while a reversal of fortunes in the industry is still some way off, the general opinion is that recovery will come. People will always need ships - "there's no other way of moving some essentials around the world" - and it's a very commercial sector: "There used to be a large amount of money in the system; that is no longer the case. However, China remains a powerhouse in shipbuilding, importing and exporting - all activities that require the transportation by ship of raw materials and oil, thank goodness!" Simon explains why the services of English lawyers will always be in particular demand: "The English legal system lends itself well to international commerce. For example, you may have a Chinese shipyard building a ship for a Greek buyer, which will then charter it to a Japanese company, which is managed by another entity registered in Singapore. And yet you will use English law for the contract."

Jurisdiction is a major issue, especially when it comes to disputes: "All ships fly the flag of a country and the law of that country will apply to that ship. But if a ship is arrested by unpaid creditors anywhere in the world, a bank - your client - may find that other creditors are given priority over it in that jurisdiction." An associated issue is sanctions: "Your client may want to trade with a company in a country imposing sanctions or a country that has sanctions imposed on it, such as Iran or Libya, so you have to keep abreast of the international picture." This is a truly global industry, and as a shipping lawyer you have to be attuned to that, including getting to grips with different legal and social practices. Simon suggests that "although you have to keep up with legal developments, you also have to understand what the commercial drivers are for your client and what's affecting the different areas of the industry". And key for all lawyers is the need to be well organised: "You have to be able to prioritise, multitask, compartmentalise and juggle. It's also essential to look at the broad and complicated picture of a deal, identify the issues quickly and nail them down."

If shipping appeals, "you need to find out about the industry. It's not something that necessarily makes the wider press very often, but there are several characters, banks and shipping companies whose names crop up again and again, so it's worth getting to know who they are". The trade press and online sources are a good place to start to read around the subject.

Broadly speaking, if you are interested in a particular subject or practice area, Simon's advice is to get stuck in: "Take an interest in the subject, learn more and the rest will fall into place. You spend a lot of your life at the office, so you want to enjoy what you're doing." He thinks that his romantic view of the sea helped him choose his path: "I'm not a salty old sea dog, but I can claim to know a bit about ships! And I like the tangible nature of it - the fact there's a very large object at the centre of the deal gives a focus to things. Compared to other more ethereal areas, where it's about bits of paper and computer entries, this feels totally real."