The Admiralty and Maritime Practice Group at Cetrulo & Capone LLP provides a wide variety of legal services ranging from maritime business ventures, regulatory issues, litigation and alternative dispute resolution, to "damage limitation" counseling in the face of fast-breaking events. It ranges from the most traditional maritime situations to cutting-edge issues associated with offshore wind power development.
We have represented a diverse group of maritime clients, including marine insurers, vessel operators, cargo interests, financial institutions, port operators, pilots, vessel characters, salvors, marine contractors and developers, port and civic authorities (including prosecutors), stevedores, vessel repair firms and builders, marinas, maritime historic organizations as well as many individuals and small businesses.
The practice group is headed by partner, Michael Rauworth, who has years of seagoing and maritime experience in both the public and private sector. He maintains the highest license attainable as a U.S. seagoing officer and has been to sea on more than twenty ships. He commanded both Navy and Coast Guard forces overseas and domestically before he retired as a Captain in the United States Coast Guard Reserve. He teaches marine insurance to marine professionals in training. He developed arguments that made their way to the United States Supreme Court in the Sky Reefer case and made a nationwide change in the law of cargo disputes.
The needs of our clients in this group often reach into areas that are not traditionally viewed as maritime. Our attorneys draw on many of the firm's other practice areas, such as business transactions, business litigation, insurance coverage, personal injury, and products liability for "crossover" benefits. Our contacts in the maritime community enable us to engage the most highly qualified expert witnesses, consultants, and services.
Our experience reaches virtually every aspect of Admiralty and Maritime law, including:
- Court proceedings at all levels including the Supreme Court; trials, appeals, hearings, administrative proceedings, arbitration, mediation, alternative dispute resolution, and foreign proceedings
- Seagoing operations and casualties including collision, allision, sinking, grounding, fire, mysterious disappearance, and cargo damage
- Maritime personal injury and wrongful death issues, including injuries to seamen, longshoremen & harbor workers, passengers, and others
- Charter party, bill of lading, and carriage of goods disputes
- Marine insurance representation, including coverage, defense, and subrogation
- Salvage, search & rescue, and damage-control issues
- Special admiralty remedies and procedures such as limitation of liability, maritime garnishment and attachment, and arrest
- Environmental and oil spill issues including: on scene investigation and real-time mitigation; related cargo claims; procuring release of vessel; and penalty proceedings
- Maritime liens, ship mortgage foreclosures, and other maritime debt remedies; all forms of security interests in support of debt proceedings; foreign and domestic bankruptcy
- Purchase & sale, financing, and documentation of commercial vessels and yachts; incepting business corporations and limited liability companies; acquisition, transfer, and financing of marine business and industrial assets and real estate
- International maritime law issues involving the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention, the Safety of Life at Sea Convention, and other various other treaties
- Port Security, Harbor Defense, Homeland Security, and general maritime security, with particular depth of exposure as to asymmetric threats from irregular or terrorist cells
- Federal- and state-level maritime statute-drafting, rulemaking, and policymaking
- Coast Guard merchant marine regulatory authority, including vessel documentation, vessel inspection, dangerous cargo, casualty investigation, aids to navigation, Captain of the Port Orders, waterway management, harbor control, operating requirements, and penalty proceedings
- Specialty regulatory issues such as pilotage, cabotage, tonnage, tariffs, Customs and Federal Maritime Commission requirements
- Maritime claims by and against government agencies
- Government procurement and contracting
- Vessel construction and repair contracting and claims
- Marine construction and surety issues, and specialty waterfront development, siting, and permitting issues
- Chartering, management, and crewing agreements
- Maritime employment and discrimination law
- Licensing and credentialing of maritime personnel, including staffing standards, licensing requirements, investigation and discipline, and suspension & revocation procedures by the Coast Guard
- Specialty vessel issues, including gaming vessels, ferry service, and educational vessels
- Shipwrecks, treasure salvage & the law of finds, and maritime historic preservation issues
- Maritime intellectual property issues, including negotiating seagoing film contracts
- Major maritime special event management and attendant legal issues
- Fishing rights, permitting, and aquaculture
- Maritime criminal law issues
- Maritime press relations and crisis management
