Seth Holbrook has been a well-known member of the New England admiralty law community for many years. Before law school, he worked as an underwriter in the Ocean Marine division of a prominent insurer. A graduate of the University of Miami School of Law, where he specialized in Ocean and Coastal Law matters, Mr. Holbrook is admitted to practice in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Maine. He has tried cases, both jury and non-jury, before courts in those jurisdictions and in Connecticut. He has also appeared before the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit on several occasions.
Mr. Holbrook has been involved in important cases affecting the New England maritime community, including cases involving the loss of the fishing vessel that was the centerpiece of The Perfect Storm and the largest boatyard fire in recent Massachusetts history. His practice is focused primarily on litigation, but he is also involved with transactional and administrative law work in the maritime arena.
Mr. Holbrook served as Skipper of the Mariners Club of Massachusetts and is a long time Proctor member of the Maritime Law Association of the United States. An avid boater, he keeps current on developments in the maritime field and recently completed requirements for his United States Coast Guard Captain’s license.
His clients range from multinational insurance companies to small boat owners. Mr. Holbrook has spoken before various maritime industry groups over the years and his advice is frequently sought by practitioners throughout New England.
Robert J. Murphy's practice is quite broad, leveraging numerous areas of expertise for his clients' benefit. He represents domestic and international clients and their insurers in a wide variety of commercial and maritime matters. In over 15 years of practice, Bob has extensive experience defending personal injury and death claims under the Jones Act, DOHSA and the general maritime law. He has advocated for his clients in the areas of maritime collisions, property damage, demurrage, cargo losses, charter party disputes, salvage, oil pollution and regulatory matters. He has litigated many of the leading Massachusetts cases concerning admiralty and maritime matters.
Bob also represents and advises underwriters and brokers in all aspects of insurance coverage disputes and first party claims. On the transactional side, Bob represents and counsels commercial institutions, vessel owners and vessel operators in negotiating and drafting agreements and in connection with financing.
Bob was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on July 13, 1964. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Plymouth State College in 1986, where he was on the President's List and played second row for the rugby team. He received his J.D., cum laude, from New England School of Law in 1990. In law school, Bob served as a Judicial Intern in the Suffolk, Middlesex and Essex Superior Courts. He was also a Senior Editor of the New England Law Review and a New England Scholar. He won the American Jurisprudence Award for Trial Competition, the American College of Trial Lawyers Medal for Excellence in Advocacy and the Trustees Award for Service.
Bob is a Proctor Member of the Maritime Law Association of the United States and a frequent writer and lecturer on commercial and maritime topics.
Brad Gandrup, Jr. is of counsel to the firm. He was born in Norwalk, Connecticut on October 26, 1955. He received his B.A., cum laude, from the University of Connecticut in 1978, and his J.D., cum laude, from Suffolk University Law School in 1983.
In nearly 25 years in practice, Brad has represented oil, shipping, insurance, manufacturing and construction interests in litigation and arbitration of a wide variety of disputes. He has substantial experience in international litigation involving foreign parties before U.S. courts, having been involved in numerous cases including parties from Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia. He has frequently been asked by clients overseas to advise them concerning developments in and compliance with federal and state maritime environmental law. Over the years, Brad has acquired particular knowledge as to the defense of large-scale malpractice claims against marine classification societies, having represented both Bureau Veritas and the American Bureau of Shipping in major cases. Brad is currently part of the team defending the American Bureau of Shipping in a $1 billion suit brought against it by the Kingdom of Spain in the United State District Court for the Southern District of New York in connection with the casualty to the tanker PRESTIGE off the northwest coast of Spain in 2002 and the major oil spill that subsequently occurred. He was one of the draftsmen of ABS' motion for summary judgment based on the Civil Liability Convention, which the Court granted on January, 2, 2008, dismissing Spain's claims.
Brad began the practice of law with Phelps Dunbar in New Orleans in 1983, and later spent ten years as a litigator in New York, lastly as a partner with Nourse & Bowles and with Holtzmann, Wise & Shepard. In 1991, Brad co-wrote a successful petition for a writ of certiorari and the briefs on the merits in Exxon Corp. v. Central Gulf Lines, Inc., 500 U.S. 603 (1991), which the U.S. Supreme Court decided 9-0 in favor of his client, petitioner Exxon Corporation, overruling prior Supreme Court precedent and expanding the federal courts' admiralty jurisdiction. Later, with Exxon's permission, he acted for the plaintiff native Alaskan regional corporation and several native villages in the EXXON VALDEZ oil spill litigation. He received Martindale Hubbell's highest “AV” rating in New York in 1995. He continues to practice actively in New York, where he is also of counsel to John Grimmer & Associates (see www.jgrimmer.com).
Since relocating to Boston, Brad has acted in connection with marine pollution, insurance, personal injury, cargo and wreck removal litigation. He has also represented major oil companies in shore-side environmental litigation and administrative proceedings, a German manufacturing company in products liability litigation, and commercial property owners in real estate litigation.
Admitted to Practice: States - Massachusetts, New York and Louisiana. Federal courts - Supreme Court of the United States; United States Courts of Appeals for the First and Fifth Circuits; United States District Courts for the District of Massachusetts, the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the Northern District of California, and the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Louisiana.
Areas of Practice: Maritime, commercial, environmental and products liability litigation and arbitration.