Leading insurance company sponsors IML library
International marine insurance company Gard has become the main sponsor of the Philippa Kaye Library at the Institute of Maritime Law (IML) at the University of Southampton. It will also support the research and training activities of the Institute.
The agreement was officially launched at an event in Southampton in September when Filippo Lorenzon, Director of the IML and Senior Lecturer in Maritime and Commercial Law at the Southampton Law School and Gard’s Vice President Mark Russell unveiled a plaque. At the same ceremony Mark presented the first Gard Award for the Best Mark in Carriage of Goods by Sea LLM 2013 to this year’s winner Thea Thorstensen.
For more than 100 years, Gard has been helping shipowners to protect their assets, safeguard their incomes and defend their reputations so that trade can flourish. Today, it is the largest P&I Club and the second largest marine insurer in the world – employing nearly 450 people in 12 offices worldwide.
Commenting on the sponsorship Filippo says: “Teaming up with Gard has been a very positive and important development for the Institute or Maritime Law. P&I insurers are at the very heart of the shipping industry as a whole with a strong direct interest in improving ship safety, pollution prevention and the uniformity of maritime laws and their implementation. The IML and Gard have a lot in common. For 31 years now the Institute has aimed at bridging the gap between academic research in law and the legal profession by cooperating with national governments, international organisations and the shipping industry to achieve a better maritime global legal framework. The Gard sponsorship consolidates the link between the IML and the industry it strives to serve and marks for us both the beginning of an exciting new adventure”. As part of the sponsorship, IML will host annual workshops in Arendal, Norway for claims and underwriting staff; Gard will provide speakers for courses in Southampton.
Gard’s claims and underwriting teams form one of the largest groups practising marine insurance within one corporate entity; by supporting the Institute, Gard aims at contributing to improve the risk environment in the maritime industries. Knowledge sharing and exchange of information between Gard and the IML will also provide important insights into current and future developments within our respective areas of expertise and hence be of mutual benefit and to our students’ advantage.