Herman Steen is a shipping partner at Wikborg Rein’s Oslo office. He is head of the Shipping and Offshore Dispute Practice at the Oslo office and deputy global head of the Maritime and Offshore Emergency Response Team.

He is admitted to the Norwegian Supreme Court and is member of the Norwegian Bar Association’s Legal Committee on Maritime, Air and other Transport Law, including Marine Insurance.

Herman is ranked by Chambers and Partners, Legal 500 and the Norwegian Financial Daily. Legal 500 has described him as someone who “always has a practical solution to solve a tricky issue”, is “calm, knowledgeable and a steady pair of hands” and is “one of the best in many fields”.

He specialises in international maritime and marine insurance law. He has particular experience with maritime casualties, where he assists Norwegian and international clients, including P&I clubs, hull insurers and shipowners in connection with investigation and handling of incidents such as salvage, wreck removal, pollution, collisions, groundings, fires and cargo damage, as well as the handling of claims and legal proceedings arising out of such incidents. He has extensive experience with cover disputes under P&I, hull, war and cargo insurances, as well as direct actions, jurisdiction and choice of law issues and charterparty disputes. He is one of a few experts on autonomous ships.

Herman has extensive litigation experience as a lawyer and previously as a judge. He has argued several cases for the Norwegian Supreme Court and has acted as a mediator on numerous occasions and is an experienced negotiator.

Herman has been working out of the firm’s offices in Oslo, London and Kobe, Japan. He has previously been a judge in Oslo District Court and Drammen District Court, and also research assistant at the Scandinavian Institute of Maritime Law, where he wrote a thesis on charterparties which has been published in the Scandinavian Institute of Maritime Law’s law journal. He has a law degree from the University of Oslo and a master’s degree in maritime law from King’s College London. He has attended Harvard Law School’s Program of Instruction for Lawyers (Negotiation).

He is frequently used as a speaker at Norwegian and international conferences. He is lecturing at the Nordic Association of Marine Insurers’ (Cefor) Claims Forum and has for many years been lecturing at the Scandinavian Institute of Maritime Law. He is regularly publishing maritime and marine insurance law articles in Norwegian and international periodicals. He is one of the editors of the firm’s Shipping Offshore Update.