Gallagher Bassett has acquired London marine law firm Winter & Co. Solicitors, its second shipping law purchase in five months, as the claims management arm of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. continues building an in-house legal business.
Winter & Co. is a boutique firm specialising in charterparty and shipping contract disputes, and acts mainly for protection and indemnity (P&I) clubs. Its team, led by founding partner Glenn Winter, will join Gallagher Bassett under Manan Sagar, chief executive of Gallagher Bassett for Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
The deal follows Gallagher Bassett's acquisition of London marine boutique Mays Brown in May. That firm serves shipowners, operators, charterers, P&I clubs, insurers and shipyards.
Gallagher Bassett plans to combine the Winter & Co. and Mays Brown practices into a single marine legal practice, subject to regulatory approvals.
"This step expands the specialist expertise available to clients and reinforces our commitment to building the most comprehensive marine legal solutions offering in the region," said Sagar.
Winter said the deal was a significant milestone for the firm. He said it would allow Winter & Co. to keep growing while preserving the qualities and expertise behind its reputation.
Matt Foote, Gallagher Bassett's global head of mergers and acquisitions, who led the deal, said it reflected a disciplined approach focused on opportunities that support long-term growth.
The two law firm deals sit within a fast-moving marine expansion. Gallagher Bassett bought London-headquartered marine and transit claims manager W K Webster in 2025, then Bremen-based marine claims firm Reck & Co. in February 2026, before adding Mays Brown.
Together, those businesses give Gallagher Bassett claims handling, surveying and now dedicated legal capability across hull and machinery, cargo and P&I work.
Law firms are becoming a strategy in their own right for the group. As Insurance Business reported in June, Mays Brown was the third law firm Gallagher Bassett had bought in under a decade, following Strata Solicitors in 2017, which handles motor and liability work, and Caytons Law in late 2024, which covers financial lines and professional indemnity. Winter & Co. makes it four.
That coverage noted Gallagher Bassett's legal operation was approaching 200 people. It also reported that directors' and officers' liability and clinical negligence had been named as future practice areas.
For marine brokers and their clients, the deal deepens the concentration of claims, surveying and legal services within one group. Clubs and insurers that outsource claims to Gallagher Bassett can now draw on in-house shipping lawyers. That may speed up handling of charterparty and contract disputes, where legal detail often decides the outcome.
It also raises questions some clients will want answered. Winter & Co.'s P&I club clients will be watching how the firm's independence is preserved inside a group whose parent is also a major broker. Regulatory approval for the combined practice will need to address conflicts and confidentiality.
More broadly, the pattern points to a claims market where third-party administrators increasingly own the specialist legal expertise they once bought in. For brokers advising on claims arrangements, that makes it worth asking who will handle a dispute, under what ownership, and whether that suits the client.
