Article 1
The firm may decline Group instructions
No house of Assaf Industries may compel the firm to accept a retainer. A refusal requires no reasons and may not be escalated to the Chairman's office or to the Trustees.
House No. 04 · Legal Counsel
A practice that is permitted to act against its own owner.
Assaf Law began in 1988 as the Group's retained advisers after a disputed charter‑party in Rotterdam. It is now a commercial practice of one hundred and eighty‑six admitted lawyers, two thirds of whose fees come from clients with no connection to the Group at all — which is the only arrangement under which in‑house counsel stays worth having.
Admitted lawyers186
Fees from outside the Group68%
Jurisdictions of admission9
Founded1988 · London
Practices
Six practices, built around what the Group had to learn the hard way.
Each practice grew from a problem the Group faced itself before it was offered to anyone else. That is why the shipping and commodities bench is the deepest, and why the sanctions team was built in 2014 rather than 2022.
IShipping & CommoditiesCharter‑parties, bills of lading, cargo claims, demurrage and marine casualty. The practice acts for owners, charterers and traders, and appears regularly in London and Piraeus arbitration.London · Piraeus · Singapore
IICorporate & TransactionsPrivate M&A, joint ventures, shareholder arrangements and succession structures for owner‑managed businesses. We are transaction counsel, not process managers, and we do not run auctions.London · New York · Geneva
IIIInternational ArbitrationICC, LCIA, SCC and ad hoc proceedings, principally in energy, construction and commodity supply disputes. Seven partners sit as arbitrators in matters where the firm is not instructed.Paris · Geneva · London
IVRegulatory & SanctionsTrade controls, sanctions screening, anti‑money‑laundering and counterparty provenance. The team advises banks and traders on the same framework it wrote for the Group's own houses.London · Brussels · Dubai
VReal Estate & PlanningFreehold acquisition, development agreements, landlord and tenant, and planning appeals. Close working with Assaf Estates and Assaf Planning, subject in every case to the conflict register.London · Paris · Dubai
VIPrivate Client & SuccessionTrusts, estates, family governance and the quiet business of handing a company to the next generation without breaking either the company or the family.Geneva · London · Luxembourg
Independence
The conduct charter.
A law firm owned by a trading group invites an obvious question. The answer is a written charter, adopted in 1996 and amendable only by unanimous consent of the Trustees, which binds the Group more tightly than it binds the firm.
Article 2
The firm may act against a sister house
Where the Conduct & Ethics Committee is satisfied that an independent client's interests require it, the firm may accept instructions adverse to another house of the Group, including against Assaf Finance.
Article 3
Client files are closed to the Group
No person outside the firm, of any rank, has sight of a client matter, a file note or a fee arrangement. The firm's IT estate is physically separate from the Group's and separately audited.
Article 4
Outside fees must exceed half
If fees from unrelated clients fall below fifty per cent for two consecutive years, the firm is required to report to the Trustees and to submit a plan. It has never fallen below sixty‑one.
Counsel that cannot say no to its owner is not counsel. It is a department.
Conduct charter, preamble
Adopted 1996 · Unamended
Matters
Representative work.
Clients are not named and never will be. What follows is the shape of the work: the forum, the subject and the scale, described at a level that identifies nobody.
| Year | Forum | Subject | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | LCIA, London | Long‑term LNG supply dispute; force majeure and price review | USD 410m |
| 2025 | Private treaty | Succession and sale of a third‑generation industrial manufacturer | EUR 185m |
| 2024 | ICC, Paris | Construction delay and defects claim on a port expansion | USD 262m |
| 2024 | Commercial Court | Cargo total loss and general average following a marine casualty | USD 74m |
| 2023 | Regulatory | Sanctions exposure review and voluntary disclosure for a commodity bank | Advisory |
| 2023 | Planning Inspectorate | Called‑in appeal on a mixed‑use scheme of 1,400 dwellings | GBP 620m |
| 2022 | SCC, Stockholm | Joint‑venture deadlock and buy‑out valuation in mining services | USD 96m |
Admissions
Where we are admitted to practise.
The firm practises only where its lawyers are admitted and regulated. Elsewhere it instructs local counsel and says so on the engagement letter.
England & Wales
- SolicitorsSRA 486201
- Barristers, employed11
- Since1988
Switzerland
- Geneva bar24 avocats
- Zurich bar9 avocats
- Since1994
France & EU
- Paris bar18 avocats
- Brussels, EU practice6
- Since2001
Elsewhere
- New York21 attorneys
- Singapore, foreign law14
- DIFC, Dubai9
Contact
New instructions are reviewed by a partner, not an intake team.
Write with the nature of the matter, the forum if one is engaged, and any names we should run through the conflict register. We reply within two working days, and we will tell you promptly if we cannot act.
Assaf Law LLP, a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales, authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, No. 486201. A wholly owned house of Assaf Industries, operating under the conduct charter described above. Nothing on this page is legal advice, and reading it does not create a solicitor–client relationship.
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