Maritime Lawyers

If you're like most people, you probably don't give much thought to maritime lawyers and the role they play in societies around the globe. Even if you live near an ocean port, maritime lawyers might not figure into your everyday consciousness.

When we think of lawyers we tend to think of personal injury lawyers, the proverbial ambulance chasers, who actually can come in handy if we get into a car accident or other type of unexpected incident. Or we think of entertainment lawyers-those people who get huge settlements for their celebrity clients by suing the National Enquirer for libel are an example. There are malpractice attorneys, corporate attorneys, probate attorneys, and tax attorneys too. All of these are common. And we can't forget the defense attorneys who are paid to defend people accused of crimes whether they're innocent or not. Everyone's entitled to legal representation; we learn this in grammar school.

So what are maritime lawyers and what do they do? Well, if you decided to search for sunken ships, hoping to find lost treasures, you'd have dealings with maritime lawyers somewhere along the way because ocean waters all have maritime laws that must be upheld. If you are in the water's of particular country, that country's laws need to be upheld. If you're beyond a particular country's jurisdiction, international maritime laws apply, and you'll deal with maritime lawyers who are conversant with international laws.

What if you work your way across the ocean on big ocean-going vessel? All of the regulations pertaining to your ship from its dimensions to the weight and packaging of its cargo, to where it goes and by what routes to how many passengers can come aboard, how big the crew should be and how long you can stay in any given port are influenced by maritime law, and maritime lawyers.

What if you want to start your own international shipping company? You'll need to consult maritime lawyers. Just like a business on land, there are taxes to pay, payroll to issue, workers to house and feed, supplies to purchase, protocols to follow when out at sea and when coming into port. Maritime lawyers are expert in all matters pertaining to this.

And imagine what additional trouble the owners of the infamous Exxon Valez would have encountered if they'd had no maritime lawyers to consult about the enormous oil spill from that tanker many years ago. The spill caused enormous damage, and Exxon paid a huge settlement to the people of Alaska to help normalize the environment. Maritime lawyers researched all the pertinent laws and hammered out the settlement.

These are just some of the areas where maritime lawyers play a vital role. And as globalization grows, and more goods and people are traversing the globe for business and pleasure, maritime lawyers will play an important role as a new age in commerce evolves.