Chances are, as a land dweller, you haven’t given much thought to the laws of the high seas. Maybe you’ve stumbled across the subject of maritime law in your time in the legal profession or merely found yourself curious about the ins and outs of the law when aquatic matters are involved. Whatever you know about maritime law, it’s unlikely you’ve heard much from women in this industry that has been long dominated by men.
In the featured article for the latest issue of Washington State Bar News we provide a look at maritime law as seen through the perspectives of eight women who specialize in the niche practice area. Each lawyer provides a unique view into this complex, multifaceted body of law. In doing so, they not only highlight what it means to be a maritime lawyer, they each examine specific challenges such as combatting the superstition that women bring bad luck to a ship, finding mentors to help “show them the ropes,” and breaking through the “men’s room mediation” that traditionally prohibits women lawyers from getting an equal seat at the table.
Their experiences in the practice area will hopefully inspire, intrigue, and occasionally shock.
“One of my first onboard vessel inspections was to investigate the death of a crewmember. It was an international vessel and the crewmember had died several weeks before the vessel returned to port, so the body got stored in the freezer for preservation,” shares attorney Molly Henry. “We were invited to dine on the vessel with the captain, on a meal presumably prepared from the same freezer. I was taught never to turn down crew hospitality, so we accepted, but all I could think about was where the food had come from.”
The new issue of Bar News has much more from the air and land areas of law as well. First, check out our detailed interview with Ninth Circuit Judge Morgan Christen. In it, Judge Christen talks about her judicial perspective on the things that separate the good from the bad when it comes to appellate briefs—sharing invaluable insights such as the benefit of including a table of contents, the importance of brevity, how best to approach your statements of fact, and more.
“If someone puts in the extra time to reduce the redundancy … to make sure that each sentence and each paragraph is working effectively and doing its job—it definitely shows,” Judge Christen explains.
Also in this issue, take a look at our guide on developing an organizational conflict philosophy for your law firm, an ethical analysis of a lawyer’s duty under RPC 3.3 regarding correcting false statements of material fact or law, the latest news on WSBA member license fees, an examination of environmental justice, and much more.
