What does a Maritime Lawyer do USA 2022?

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What does a Maritime Lawyer do USA 2022

A maritime lawyer is generally a lawyer with a specialization in maritime. They complete graduation and takes a specialization in maritime law. They are similar to other lawyers but get certified as a maritime lawyer along with the same graduation terms. In this article, we will discuss maritime law and its features. What does a Maritime Lawyer do in the USA in 2021? How to become a maritime lawyer and complete careers scope.

So you might be thinking of one question as well. that 


What is Maritime Law?

Maritime law was into existent since the 17th and 18th centuries when ship travel was the only method. But now it is much different from the old one due to changes in the laws of the nation for shipping and maritime.

According to investopedia.com, maritime law is a governing body constituting laws, treaties, and conventions. It is responsible for controlling maritime business and other maritime activities. Nautical matters like offenses in open water or shipping.

Precisely what are the features of maritime law?

  • Maritime law controls and governs private maritime business, disputes and offences related to nautical issues.
  • In most nations, its independent of normal government rules and has a separate code of conduct.
  • Keeping the maritime conventions up to date according to the need.

Maritime law has a separate conducting code and issues certain agreements or conventions by IMO. These conventions are enforced by navies of different nations that have signed the agreement. 

The entire set of activities for ships like registration, license issue, and inspection and insurance claims. 

Now before discussing any other detail lets know,

Also read: At What Age Do Car Insurance Premiums Go Down?


What does a Maritime Lawyer do?

 A maritime lawyer must be aware of every angle about the marine law of all the nations whether minor or major. The lawyer must have a knowledge of business transactions between nations as they include border security protocols. In such a case, they must have an upper hand in dealing with any sort of marine issue.

  • A maritime lawyer needs to have very specific information about the cases as sometimes the situation becomes controversial.
  •  Accidents involving any damage or injuries must be handled carefully if any point of compensation is initiated.
  •  A maritime lawyer needs to keep an eye on overall activities from the involved nation and their specific one. He must operate like Jones Act. 
  • Jones Act is a law of federal that controls maritime commerce in the United States. According to Jones Act, ships used for shipping goods between US ports must be built, owned and operated by the citizen of the US. 
  • Therefore a maritime lawyer must act like jones act to handle the injured and death of semen on the line of work. He must be completely aware of the compensation involved for fully functional law.
  • As maritime lawyer specialisation is known to very few and they operate over large marine activities it becomes important to provide care to each client.
  • A lawyer prepares the contracts and insurance agreements and interviews the witness.
  • They protect any company in a lawsuit related to marine affairs.

From the above points, the picture of what does a Maritime Lawyer does in the USA in 2021 gets somewhat clear? Let’s discuss what are the educational requirements.


Required Education for becoming a Maritime Lawyer

To become a maritime lawyer you must get a qualifying degree in law with a J.D. degree and a clear state bar association exam. You will also need a license to work as a lawyer in that state and maintain it. This is the regular procedure for becoming a lawyer. As getting into marine law, you need to apply to marine law school.

University of Miami School of law offers a maritime law course. 

  • Duration: 9 months
  • Fees: $54,750
  • Available to: Law graduates from domestic location and internationally trained lawyers
  • Read More

Tulane University-Tulane Law school

Tulane Law school is one of the oldest law schools in New Orleans. In the first year, students take a respective course with elective subjects in the second and third year. Apart from traditional law courses, this school also offers certification in Maritime law.  

  • Duration: 10 months
  • Fees: $54,310
  • Admission: In August

Salary of a Maritime Lawyer in USA

What does a Maritime Lawyer do USA 2022?

The average salary of a maritime lawyer is $118,596 as taken from the law crossing official website.

The salary differs from the location as in Seattle, WA it’s $125,000 and in Los Angeles, CA it’s $164,000. 

The newly graduated Maritime lawyers usually earn less than those with an amazing record of winning cases and experience. The new graduates work as an associate in a law firm with experienced attorneys. After this state, they can go for higher ones and charge the expected fees. Also, many maritime lawyers start their kind of firm to get better in their career. They can also get indulge in a large corporation that needs maritime lawyers to handle the marine cases.

According to data, there was a 0.5% growth in maritime trade in 2019 with 11.08 billion tons of volume reached. While in 2020 the growth is declined as the trade is disrupted due to COVID-19. From the reports, International maritime trade is expected to expand by 4.8% in 2021.

U.S. International Trade in Goods by Transport Mode and Tonnage: 2018(by percentage and in millions of tons)

(Source: U.S. International Freight Trade by Transportation Mode, Bureau of Transportation Statistics*, U.S. Department of Transportation)

By the International Trade Administration (2018) data, the total maritime exports and imports were 868 and 733 respectively. And a total of 1601 tonnage by mode. 


Career growth outlook for a Maritime Lawyer in USA in 2022

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the demand for lawyers will increase by 6% from 2018 to 2028. This will produce about 50K more jobs in this field but parallelly the competition will be higher. Therefore specialization such as maritime law can offer more opportunities.


Conclusion for What does a Maritime Lawyer do in USA in 2022?

In this article, we have discussed maritime law and its lawyers. What are the educational requirements and career outlook? Moreover, some informational statistics to know. Maritime law is becoming a new and advanced profession having an ocean of opportunities. Having more perfection and certification will help you out in career growth. Also, the salary range is quite good and can be incremented. A maritime lawyer is a growing career in the law field with multiple opportunities and growth. You just need to dive deeper to explore its significance. So we hope that you are clear with this question of What does a Maritime Lawyer do in the USA in 2022? Reach out to us for any further queries.


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