U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (B.S., Marine Transportation); St. John’s University School of Law (J.D.) Fellow, The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators; a member of AAA-ICDR Commercial and Energy panels.
USCG License Deck Officer, any ocean, any tonnage – sailed as Second and Third Office aboard tankers, containers and break bulk vessels. Assistant Port Captain, Sealand; Lieutenant, USNR (ret.)
Haight Gardner Poor & Havens, 1974-1977; Senior Vice President, Coscol Petroleum Company and Coscol Marine Ltd. (operating subsidiaries of The Coastal Corporation) an international fully integrated oil, gas and trading company, 1977-1981; Partner, Bell & Muphy, PC, 1981-1997; Partner, Beirne, Maynard & Parsons, LLP, 1997-2016; Partner, Akerman LLP, 2016-2024; Of Counsel, Akerman LLP (2024-present).
Experience in vessel operations and chartering, both foreign and domestic for blue water and brown water operations; articulated (ATB’s) and conventional tug/barge construction, operations and chartering; all aspects of chartering disputes from both owners’ and charterers’ perspective; contracts of affreightment; cargo claims; newbuilding/repair contracts; vessel sale and purchase agreements; container terminal agreements; commodity trading; offshore oil/gas and pipeline operations; marine insurance and reinsurance; collision; pollution; third-party property damage; salvage, and wreck removal.
Professional Associations
Society of Maritime Arbitrators; Houston Maritime Arbitrators Association; American Arbitration Association; Commercial and Energy Panels; Fellow, The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators; London Court of International Arbitration; Maritime Law Association of the United States; Atlanta International Arbitration Society; Institute for Transnational Arbitration; Institute of Energy Law, Advisory Board (past); State Bar of Texas; Texas Board of Legal Specialization, Civil Trial Law and Personal Injury Trial Law (past); National Board of Trial Advocacy, Civil Trial Law (past); American Board of Trial Advocates (past); Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (past); Association of Average Adjusters of the United States (past).
Professional Licenses
Licensed to practice law in Texas and New York; admitted to and practiced before the United States Supreme Court; numerous courts of appeal and federal courts throughout the United States.
Residency: Houston, Texas and East Marion, New York
Mailing address: 255 Maple Valley Road, Houston, TX 77056
Office Telephone: (713) 871-6777