National Maritime & Admiralty Law Attorneys Introduction:

From ancient trade ships to current day cruise liners, admiralty or maritime law pertains to any vessels traveling on open water navigable for interstate or international commerce. Because sea commerce has been in place for centuries, this area of law has a long tradition. Even at the time of the American Revolution many prominent attorneys of that time, John Adams and Alexander Hamilton for example, were maritime or admiralty lawyers. 

Maritime and admiralty lawyers are needed to determine a ship owner’s liability in an accident or when there are claims for lost or damaged cargo, and even to determine personal injury claims for seamen or passengers. Other reasons you may need a maritime or admiralty attorney would be if you were mortgaging a ship or issuing a lien against a ship to guarantee a payment for a judgment such as back-wages for seamen, or an unpaid vendor of fuel or supplies. Salvage claims from an ancient sunken treasure or the good deed of helping a fellow sailor bring in a damaged ship or lost cargo are also handled by maritime lawyers.

Because of the international nature of sea travel, maritime and admiralty law have international conventions that apply. The United Nations established the International Maritime Organization (IMO) that has prepared many conventions and treaties dealing with environmental protections, collisions and safety at sea.

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