Large sectors of the maritime industry—especially offshore—remain in the doldrums, but it nonetheless has been a busy few months for our Blank Rome Maritime group. Our Washington, D.C., maritime attorneys have been occupied with numerous regulatory, Jones Act, and white collar criminal matters. They also continue to devote substantial time working with our Blank Rome Government Relations partners trying to discern and advise our clients on the direction that the Trump administration will likely take with respect to maritime, environmental, and regulatory policy. Our New York office has been occupied with a number of maritime casualties, including the recent collision involving the United States Navy vessel John McCain, and a steady flow of insolvency matters/questions. And our Houston office, notwithstanding being closed for five-and-a-half days as a result of Hurricane Harvey, has been so busy that it has enlisted assistance from attorneys in our other offices. Fortunately, with more than 60 attorneys in Blank Rome’s Maritime Industry Team who are located throughout our Houston, New York, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia offices, we have the resources to meet our clients’ needs.
The last couple of months have also seen an unprecedented onslaught of extreme weather events and related damage. Our thoughts and prayers remain with the residents of Houston, Florida, Puerto Rico, and the Caribbean who have suffered so much as a result of hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. We wish them all a safe, complete, and speedy recovery.
Looking forward, the fall is always a busy time for maritime industry conferences and meetings, and this fall is no exception with many of our attorneys travelling to participate. Just to mention a few, our marine corporate/finance attorneys Brett Esber, Tony Salgado, and Humera Ahmed attended the Capital Link Forum in New York; John Kimball attended the International Congress of Maritime Arbitrators in Copenhagen; Tom Belknap and Richard Singleton, who serves as senior vice chair of the International Bar Association (“IBA”) Maritime Committee, attended IBA’s Annual Meeting in Sydney, chairing one maritime committee session and presenting in another; Jeremy Herschaft presented at the International Association of Young Lawyers Seminar in Bilbao; and John Kimball and Richard Singleton will be presenting seminars in Seoul and Tokyo in conjunction with the Korea Ship Owners Association and the Japan Shipping Exchange.
These are just a handful of our maritime events and speaking engagements; for a complete list, or to learn more about these events, please click here. If we are in your city for one of these events, please let us know. We hope to have a chance to visit with you!