HFW Expands Yacht Legal Practice With London Partner Toby Joy

HFW has strengthened its international yacht practice with the appointment of transactional finance lawyer Toby Joy as a partner in London. Joy advises ultra-high-net-worth individuals, family offices, trustees, lenders and operators on luxury-asset transactions, with yacht work focused on acquisition, financing, ownership and cross-border structuring.

He joins HFW from Withers, where he led the firm’s European luxury-assets practice, and is dual-qualified in England and Wales and the British Virgin Islands. That BVI experience is particularly relevant to yacht ownership and financing structures, which frequently involve multiple jurisdictions and require legal, tax, registry and lending arrangements to work together.

The appointment adds transactional depth to an established yacht team

HFW says its yacht practice has operated for more than 30 years and advises across the full lifecycle of a vessel. The firm’s work covers design and construction, ownership structures, sale and purchase, financing, operations, management, crewing, refit, charter, security, insurance and disputes.

Joy’s practice sits most directly in the ownership and finance side of that range. High-value yacht transactions often involve lenders, holding companies, family offices, registries and professional advisers in different countries, so coordinating the structure can be as important as negotiating the sale contract itself.

Yacht finance is increasingly international and asset-specific

Large-yacht financing is not identical to conventional corporate lending because the security is a mobile, high-value asset that may operate across many jurisdictions. Registration, mortgage priority, insurance, operating structure and the owner’s wider asset arrangements all have to be considered when a finance package is built.

HFW says Joy regularly works on complex cross-border matters and has particular experience with financing structures involving the British Virgin Islands. That background adds capacity for owners and lenders dealing with structures where the yacht, owning entity, finance provider and beneficial owner are not all located in the same legal jurisdiction.

The move also reflects continued growth in HFW’s London office

Joy’s appointment formed part of a wider series of partner additions at HFW in London during 2026. The firm had added six partners in the office by the time of the announcement, spanning yacht, aviation, ship finance, construction and disputes work, giving the new hire access to adjacent expertise when a transaction extends beyond a standalone yacht matter.

That overlap can matter for family offices whose assets include yachts, aircraft, property and investments under common ownership or financing arrangements. HFW explicitly links its yacht and private-jet practices, allowing the firm to apply a similar cross-border asset-finance approach while still recognising the regulatory and operational differences between the sectors.

Legal support continues after a yacht changes hands

A yacht acquisition can be the beginning rather than the end of the legal work. Ownership changes may lead into management agreements, crewing, charter operation, insurance arrangements, refit contracts and later refinancing or resale, all of which can create new obligations across the yacht’s operating life.

HFW’s rationale for the appointment is therefore broader than adding another lawyer for sale and purchase transactions. By bringing a finance and ownership specialist into an established yacht team, the firm is increasing its ability to follow complex private-client assets from acquisition and financing through operation, restructuring and eventual disposal.