Justice at the Water’s Edge: Part of the Francis Scott Key Bridge Settlement
May 25, 2026 · By Charles F. Herd Francis Scott Key wrote his most famous lines of the poem that would become “The Star-Spangled Banner” while watching cannon fire light up Baltimore Harbor — a lawyer turned poet, scribbling verse by the glow of battle from the deck of the HMS Tonnat, a British sloop. It seems fitting that the bridge bearing his name has now given rise to one of the most significant developments in American maritime law in a generation. The First Settlement: $2.25 Billion and What It
Tehran’s Toll Booth: What the Persian Gulf Strait Authority Means for Shipping
Tehran has launched a formal permission regime over the Strait of Hormuz. Here’s what it means for shipowners, operators, and seafarers — and why the legal risks may outlast the geopolitics. The Strait of Hormuz has always been a chokepoint — a narrow neck of water, barely 21 miles wide at its tightest, through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply must pass. But Tehran has now taken deliberate steps to make it something else entirely: a “toll booth”, staffed by Iranian officials, where
Don’t Be a Statistic: A Texas Boater’s Guide to National Safe Boating Week
Don’t Be a Statistic: A Texas Boater’s Guide to National Safe Boating Week National Safe Boating Week is May 16–22, 2026! Safety can be simple, and summer is almost here. Every May, right before Memorial Day weekend turns Texas lakes into a beautiful, chaotic maze of pontoons and jet skis, the National Safe Boating Council runs its annual safety wake-up call, and this year, it’s May 16–22. I look forward to it annually as a reminder of why we love the water, and of what it asks in return.The Stat YOU
Strait Talk: Uranium, Iran, and What’s Really at Stake in the Gulf
Iran has enriched uranium to 60%, a level with no credible civilian purpose, and perilously close to weapons-grade. Here’s what every mariner, client, and concerned citizen needs to know. I spend much of my days thinking about admiralty law — cargo and vessel disputes, Jones Act claims, and the ever-changing tides of maritime commerce. But right now, the whole world is watching a geopolitical drama that touches one of the most consequential locations in global shipping: the Strait of Hormuz. At the