Freehill Hogan & Mahar LLP - Firm profile

The Firm: With 18 partners considered to be “of the highest quality,” including seven with considerable seafaring experience, Freehill stands out as one of the most recognizable names in the New York maritime industry. Few competitors are able to match the depth of resources that the firm possesses: its “mix of experienced and talented” lawyers offer services that cover every aspect of traditional blue-water law, as well as some transactional maritime work. The firm does a great deal of large casualty work, and is particularly known for its representation of vessel owners and their P&I clubs in collisions and oily water separator cases. It also does work on personal injuries representing vessel owners, Rule B Attachments defending clients against the seizure of their assets, and charter party arbitration. Clients from all these areas of work have nothing less than the highest regard for the firm, seeing it as “a negotiable, customer-friendly team that gets the work done with expertise and prudence.”

The Lawyers: The past year has been particularly successful for Wayne Meehan, who garnered a great deal of praise for his casualty work on the ''Tug Rebel'' barge collision in Texas, along with other major crashes. His ability to “handle major litigation sensibly and effectively” has elevated his reputation to such an extent that several commentators describe him as the “best in the firm.” Praised for his “experience and responsiveness,” Peter Gutowski is extremely well thought of by clients and peers alike. He is regarded in the industry as the “the go-to guy for Rule B work.” Clients see Don Murnane as “the primary sounding-board when there are issues that aren’t quite right.” His “reliability and accessibility” make him “a major player” in arbitrating charter party disputes. Managing partner William Juska remains a focal point for the firm. His practice is primarily centered on cargo loss and damage, with some pollution-related arbitration. Leading criminal lawyer Tom Russo is well regarded for a considerable amount of good work on oily water separator cases and dealing with coastguards.

Clients/Work Highlights: The firm has been involved in the ''Tug Rebel'' barge unit litigation, representing the vessel owner and insurers following its collision with an oil platform off the coast of Texas. Since April 2006 the firm has been engaged seven times, by a variety of owners and insurers, for representation on separate oily water separator cases. It is also defending a vessel owner in 50 lawsuits relating to the April 2007 sinking of the ''Sea Diamond'' cruise ship in Greece, in which plaintiffs are seeking to recover damages for personal injuries and emotional distress