Problems and disputes regarding maritime letters of indemnity are frequently encountered in practice, and have increasingly come before Courts and Arbitral Tribunals, not just in England but in jurisdictions as diverse as Singapore, Malta and France. Although some P&I Clubs have given useful practical guidance to their members as to the circumstances in which the common types of letter of indemnity can be legitimately used and the pitfalls, and risks associated with their use. The legal and insurance issues which arise have typically only been referred to in passing in the standard reference works. This work is an attempt to fi ll the gap. Our thanks go to the Secretary of the International Group of P&I Clubs, and the Secretariats of FOSFA and GAFTA, who permitted us to exhibit the wordings of the standard LOIs, GAFTA Contract 100 and FOSFA Contract 11 respectively. Greatest thanks (and apologies) go to our respective families, as well as the editorial team at Informa and more latterly, Taylor & Francis. It has been our aim to analyse the developments and cases up to 30 June 2013.