Maritime Law

Maritime Law

Ninety percent of the world’s goods move by sea. The ordered flow of commerce around the globe depends on a regulated, predictable set of expectations and responsibilities for that movement across the water. Maritime law is the body of federal law that controls the movement of vessels on the nation’s navigable waters and on the open ocean. Whether the vessel in question is an ocean liner or a ferry, a container ship or a tanker, a yacht or a fishing boat, maritime law prevails.

Drummond Woodsum’s maritime practice group is experienced in both litigation and transactional matters. Our attorneys have assisted public and private clients alike in matters as diverse as vessel financing and preferred ship mortgages, vessel liens (including wharfage and seaman’s wage liens), labor and employment issues involving seafarers, cargo and shipping disputes, vessel seizures, liability matters including ship collisions, maritime personal injury and Jones Act claims, and the complicated interaction of maritime law with related and occasionally conflicting areas of landside law. This broad experience combines with an interdisciplinary approach incorporating maritime and non-maritime tools together in a cost-effective pursuit of the client’s goals.