Stallards is Barbados bound

London firm Stallards claims to be the first English firm to establish a permanent representative office in the Caribbean.

The new one-man office, situated in Barbados, will advise on English law affecting shipping matters in the Windward Islands, the Caribbean Basin, and Central and South America.

English lawyer Rupert Steer left the London office of Stallards, where he was a partner, to work from Barbados as executive consultant.

"Attractive tax arrangements and special international treaties put Barbados among the most favourable offshore centres in the world," he said.

He said ships registered under a new Barbados ship register were attractive to Canadian and UK ship owners because of tax advantages and favourable manning regimes.

"It is a small corner of the world that has been waiting for me to come and fill it," Steer said.