The 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in Maritime, Admiralty & The High Seas

We’re honored to introduce The 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in Maritime, Admiralty & The High Seas.

This is the inaugural edition of our guide honoring the lawyers whose expertise ranges from piracy to international disputes, offshore energy and superyachts, cruise ship injuries to ship finance. They advise those who navigate the 71 percent of the Earth covered in water from Monaco and Galveston, London and Athens’ port area of Piraeus, Seattle and Dubai, and New Orleans and Hong Kong.

Our research for this maiden voyage inspired us with the range of backgrounds and knowledge embodied in this remarkable group of lawyers.

Sally Yuanyuan Qin is a partner in BakerHostetler’s Washington, D.C., office. A litigator, she specialized in antitrust, civil and criminal investigations and international asset tracing. Among her specialties is representing ocean shipping companies – she has defended all antitrust investigations involving ocean shipping companies in the past 15 years. She obtained the lowest criminal fines and fewest carve-outs in defending the largest roll-on, roll-off car carrier shipping service in a Justice Department investigation, and defended a Jones Act carrier and senior executives in the investigations into the October 2015 El Faro casualty.

Luke Reid is a partner in Blank Rome’s Boston office. A longtime Coast Guard officer, he attained the rank of Commander and served as a military prosecutor, defense counsel and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney. He also led numerous missions in more than 20 European, African and Asian nations in furtherance of U.S. national security and foreign policy objectives, combating transnational crime, counter-piracy operations, drug and human smuggling interdiction, the legal aspects of counterterrorism, human rights, and war crimes. In private practice, he has represented numerous maritime corporations and individuals in civil and criminal matters, including the owner and operator of the SS EL FARO, a container vessel that sank in 2015 in Hurricane Joaquin in the Caribbean, resulting in a complete loss of the vessel, cargo and 33 persons on board. He was lead counsel in the U.S. Coast Guard’s Marine Board of Investigation and held co-counsel roles with the National Transportation Safety Board investigation and the liability lawsuit in federal court. He also represented the owner and operator of the STRETCH DUCK 7 passenger vessel that sank on Table Rock Lake in Branson Missouri in 2018, resulting in the loss of 17 lives.

Eric Daniel is a partner at Thompson Hines in Cleveland. He specializes in Maritime litigation, including personal injury cases alleging negligence under the Jones Act and unseaworthiness under general maritime law. Daniel also has extensive experience defending clients in maritime and land-based asbestos litigation. Daniel has defended personal injury claims involving the deaths of seamen, longshoremen and harbor workers (slips, falls, back, shoulder and neck injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder claims, and alleged toxic exposures to asbestos). He also has represented shipowners in matters involving property damage (collision, allision, propeller wash, dock damage).

We selected the lawyers included through a robust nomination process. A special salute to all of you who nominated lawyers for this edition! We also conduct independent research and vetting through clients and peers.