Maritime Law / Maritime Litigation
Established as a transportation nexus between the Atlantic, the Great Lakes and the heartland of America, Chicago is one of the world's leading centers of maritime trade and recreation. According to the Port of Chicago, 26 million tons of goods and resources pass through the port annually. The city is the third largest intermodal container handler in the world, according to the U.S. Coast Guard's Marine Safety Unit in Chicago, and over 25 million passengers take to area waterways each year.
Safety is of paramount importance, given the tremendous amount of maritime traffic in the Chicago area, and negligence on the part of those operating on and around the city's waterways can lead to incidents of personal injury and wrongful death. In 2011, the Coast Guard MSU Chicago completed 185 investigations related to marine casualties and alleged violations of maritime laws or regulations and acts of misconduct or negligence.
Ranked as a first-tier firm by U.S. News-Best Lawyers, Clifford has extensive experience in handling transportation-related personal injury and wrongful death cases.
Mass transportation disasters are especially complex. Because of our extensive experience, Clifford Law Offices has not only represented individuals affected, but often is appointed as lead counsel to head the litigation effort in the courts.
Clifford Law Offices works closely with lawyers from around the world in representing victims of mass disasters. For example, the firm represents a number of families who were injured in the Turkish Airlines plane crash that skidded off the runway at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. Clifford Law Offices and AKD Prinsen Van Wijmen, a law firm in The Netherlands, have been retained by 17 families who lost loved ones or some who survived with severe injuries in the crash of Turkish Airlines Flight 1951 on Feb. 25, 2009.
The cruise line disaster off the coast of Italy is another mass disaster familiar to the attorneys at Clifford Law Offices. The parent company of the Costa Concordia is based in Miami, Florida, a venue in which Clifford Law Offices has frequently litigated. The thousands of passengers on that ship never thought they would face the alleged recklessness and danger they encountered on what was to be a pleasure cruise. A thorough investigation into the tragedy, which must be undertaken quickly because of the one-year limitation common in cruise line contracts, will uncover the facts which led to this disaster.
U.S. News-Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms” ranked Clifford Law Offices as a first-tier firm. It also recognized Robert A. Clifford as the 2012 Lawyer of the Year in Personal Injury Litigation in Chicago. It also named him the 2010 Lawyer of the Year in Medical Malpractice in Chicago and the 2009 Lawyer of the Year in Personal Injury in Chicago. Best Lawyers is the oldest and most respected peer-review organization in the legal profession in America. For more than a quarter of a century, Best Lawyers has been designating “Lawyers of the Year” in high-profile specialties in large legal communities. Only a single lawyer in each specialty in each community is honored as “Lawyer of the Year.”