Admiralty & Maritime

Our Admiralty & Maritime practice group provides a broad range of legal services to a businesses and individuals involved with all aspects of the domestic and international shipping industries. We represent a wide variety of clients, including cargo underwriters, P&I clubs, vessel charterers, vessel owners, commodity trading companies, consignees, cargo shippers and brokers, chartering brokers, marine suppliers, non-vessel operating common carriers, and freight forwarders.

Our group’s attorneys have broad experience in every practice area important to the maritime community, and they have more than seventy years of collective experience in handling all types of maritime claims and transactions.

Cargo Claims & Carriage of Goods

We have extensive experience with all major forms of contracts for the carriage of goods, including bills of lading, liner services, booking notes, charter parties, contracts of affreightment, and service contracts. Our knowledge covers the carriage of goods aboard all types of vessels, irrespective of size. The group also handles both the defense and prosecution of all types of cargo claims.

Casualties

We have on numerous occasions handled all forms of casualties and related events. Our experience encompasses collisions, fires, sinkings, and general average and salvage, among other events. Our attorneys are also highly skilled in both the defense and prosecution of exoneration and/or limitation of liability proceedings.

Charter Parties

Our attorneys have engaged in a wide variety of disputes relating to all types of charter parties, including bareboat charters, slot charters, time charters and voyage charters. As most charters provide for the resolution of disputes by arbitration, the attorneys in the group have represented clients in numerous arbitration proceedings in both New York and London .

Finance

Our attorneys have been involved with numerous maritime finance transactions, and we have represented buyers, financial institutions, and sellers. We possess considerable expertise in the drafting of the appropriate contractual and financial instruments necessary for the consummation of the transaction, including the registration of vessels and the filing of applicable documents with all relevant flag states. Our practice group has also conducted the enforcement of maritime liens in courts throughout the world, and we have represented both creditors and debtors in bankruptcy proceedings.

Insurance

We represent underwriters of marine insurance in matters relating to cargo insurance, hull insurance, and P&I insurance, particularly with respect to coverage issues and the paying and handling of claims.

Litigation & Maritime Remedies

The group prides itself in its success in litigating all manner of claims on behalf of clients to obtain maritime remedies including, inter alia, the arrest of vessels, the attachment of assets, and the enforcement of maritime liens. Our experience also includes the confirmation and enforcement of domestic and foreign arbitral awards as well as the enforcement of domestic and foreign judgments. The attorneys in the group represent clients in arbitration proceedings and federal and state judicial proceedings.

Pollution and Spills

We have represented clients on safety and environmental matters relating to the discharge of prohibited substances, hazardous materials, and vessel spills, often in relation to fines levied by the United States Coast Guard.

Ship Construction

We represent the purchasers, buyers and other interested parties with regard to disputes arising from the construction and repair of vessels in shipyards around the world.