Best Lawyers in America for Admiralty and Maritime Law
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Matthew P. Vafidis is a partner specializing in commercial litigation, with an emphasis on shipping and environmental law. Mr. Vafidis began his legal career as a barrister in London at the Bar of England and Wales, to which he was called in July 1979. Since 1981, he has practiced in San Francisco, first as an associate and partner at a major California law firm, and thereafter as a partner at Holland & Knight and one of its predecessors, an internationally-renowned shipping and aviation ...
As a member of Lugenbuhl's Admiralty & Maritime Group, Adelaida (Adi) Ferchmin focuses on advising clients in a wide variety of maritime, insurance, and energy matters. When working with her clients, Adi uses her knowledge of Spanish, Polish and Croatian to assist clients with international transactions and matters involving foreign entities or witnesses. Growing up in San Juan, Puerto Rico Adi has a thorough understanding of not only the languages, but barriers that can be brought on by ...
Mr. Flint is a Shareholder in the New Orleans office with a practice that includes both commercial and civil litigation within the maritime and energy fields. His maritime industry experience includes the representation of drilling and service companies, blue and brown water vessel owners, charterers, and insurers. Particularly related to his maritime practice, Mr. Flint has developed a specialty with DBA cases defending burn pit and PTSD claims. His longevity in the practice area and concern...
Scott Andrews is the 2024-2025 President-Elect of the Louisiana Association for Justice (LAJ). He is licensed to practice law in Louisiana (since 1996) and Texas (since 2006), and is admitted to practice in all Federal Courts in Louisiana, and before the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court. Since 2010, Scott has been an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Southern University Law Center teaching Advanced Louisiana Torts, Insurance Law, and Products Liab...
Bert M. Cass Jr., is a jury trial litigator concentrating in the defense of bodily injury and death cases particularly in marine and offshore litigation claims. His practice focuses on representing vessel owners, oil and gas producers, exploration and drilling companies, facility operators, distributors, and offshore service contractors and their insurers against personal injury, wrongful death and survival claims. He is also experienced in energy-related claims, including interpretation of i...
Bryant Gardner is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Admiralty and Maritime Law. Bryant, who practices law in Washington, District of Columbia, has been recognized since 2023. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Bryant is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Bo Williams is licensed in Alabama and Florida and practices in the areas of insurance, litigation and admiralty throughout those states and the broader Southeast. He focuses his practice on complex first-party and third-party insurance coverage, litigation and counseling. Bo represents various Underwriting Syndicates at Lloyd's and domestic market insurers in first and third-party bad-faith matters and excess engagements and routinely represents their insureds in litigation throughout the So...
Jim Silverstein joined Kean Miller in 2012 and is based in New Orleans, Louisiana. His practice focuses on Admiralty and Maritime Law and Product Liability Litigation – Defendants , along with matters involving energy, construction , environmental , and commercial litigation . Jim has substantial litigation and trial experience representing clients in admiralty and maritime disputes, energy and oil and gas matters, and complex product liability litigation. He regularly defends manufactu...
Leading Maritime Injury Advocate Ian Taylor is a trusted advocate for individuals injured at sea, recognized for his skill in complex maritime, products liability, and civil litigation cases. As a member of Lewis, Kullman, Sterbcow & Abramson, LLC, he was appointed by a federal judge to the Executive Committee overseeing litigation from the 2021 SEACOR POWER maritime disaster and has played a key role in securing multi-million-dollar recoveries for clients in the BP oil spill and other ma...
Kent Morrison practices in all areas of marine and energy law, including tort defense, monitoring and insurance coverage analysis. He has handled cases involving cargo disputes, collisions, personal injuries, deaths, collisions, allisions, wake/wave wash, groundings, products liability, property damage, indemnity and insurance coverage disputes, representing maritime employers, vessel owners, longshore employers, energy companies, dock and terminal owners and their underwriters. He also provi...
David Sipple is a partner in the Savannah office and practices in the areas of admiralty law and insurance law. David is admitted to practice in the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Northern Districts of Georgia. He is a member of the Savannah Bar Association, the American Bar Association, and the State Bar of Georgia. David also belongs to the Maritime Law Association of the United States, in which he se...
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.