Admiralty and Maritime
Appellate Practice
Catastrophic Personal Injury
Complex Civil & Business Litigation
Insurance & Reinsurance Coverage
Premises Liability Defense
Massachusetts
United States Supreme Court
District of Columbia Superior Court
Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts
United States Courts of Appeals for the First and Second Circuits
United States District Courts for the Districts of Massachusetts and Vermont
University of Virginia School of Law
J.D., 1986
University of Chicago
B.A., 1970
Michael Rauworth is a partner in the Boston office of Chartwell Law, where he concentrates his practice in maritime and admiralty matters, lawsuits, business transactions, and regulatory matters. He also handles construction and surety bonding suits and other business litigation.
Mr. Rauworth's maritime practice reaches to nearly every sort of maritime claim, and business matters ranging from maritime film contracts to the purchase and sale of commercial vessels to maritime festival events. He developed arguments that made their way to the United States Supreme Court in the Sky Reefer case and made a nationwide change in the law of cargo disputes. His clients include pilot organizations, ship-owners, port authorities, marine insurers, yards, marinas, and other maritime businesses and individuals.
Mr. Rauworth's practice builds on a life-long association with seagoing pursuits, including some 200,000 nautical miles as a professional; deck officer and master of twenty plus commercial and military vessels. He maintains a U.S. Coast Guard license to command vessels of any tonnage, from supertankers to sailing ships. In nearly 30 years of service with the Coast Guard and Coast Guard reserve, he rose to the rank of Captain and served in command of one Navy unit and five Coast Guard units, involving deployments to protect overseas ports of supply for U.S. forces. He taught Marine Insurance in the International Maritime Business Program at Massachusetts Maritime Academy for many years.
He is board chair of Tall Ships America, and active in civic affairs and historic preservation in Nahant, Massachusetts, where he lives with his wife Nancy, whom he met while working as a chief mate of a four-mast square rigger. He enjoys sailing, but strictly confines it to other people’s boats.
Maritime Association of the United States
American Bar Association
Captain, U.S. Coast Guard Reserve (retired)(1970-2000)
Active Duty 1970-1975
Commander Naval Forces and Harbor Defense Commander
Operation Uphold Democracy- Haiti 1994
MT “Baltic Commander” Schiffahrtsgesellschaft MbH & Co. KG v. Massachusetts Port Authority, 918 F.Supp.2d 105 (U.S.D.C. Mass. 2013)
Northern Ins. Co. of New York v. Point Judith Marina, LLC 579 F.3d 61 (1st Cir. 2009)
Jain v. Cape Ann Whale Watch, Inc., No. 05-11267 (U.S.D.C. Mass. 2007); https://ecf.mad.uscourts.gov/doc1/09512297376
Fortis Bank (Nederland) N.V. v. M/V Shamrock, 2005 WL 763265 (D.Me. 2005)
Citrus Marketing Bd. Of Israel v. M/V Ecuadorian Reefer, 754 F. Supp. 229 (D.Mass. 1990)
Michael Rauworth is a partner in the Boston office of Chartwell Law, where he concentrates his practice in maritime and admiralty matters, lawsuits, business transactions, and regulatory matters. He also handles construction and surety bonding suits and other business litigation.
Mr. Rauworth's maritime practice reaches to nearly every sort of maritime claim, and business matters ranging from maritime film contracts to the purchase and sale of commercial vessels to maritime festival events. He developed arguments that made their way to the United States Supreme Court in the Sky Reefer case and made a nationwide change in the law of cargo disputes. His clients include pilot organizations, ship-owners, port authorities, marine insurers, yards, marinas, and other maritime businesses and individuals.
Mr. Rauworth's practice builds on a life-long association with seagoing pursuits, including some 200,000 nautical miles as a professional; deck officer and master of twenty plus commercial and military vessels. He maintains a U.S. Coast Guard license to command vessels of any tonnage, from supertankers to sailing ships. In nearly 30 years of service with the Coast Guard and Coast Guard reserve, he rose to the rank of Captain and served in command of one Navy unit and five Coast Guard units, involving deployments to protect overseas ports of supply for U.S. forces. He taught Marine Insurance in the International Maritime Business Program at Massachusetts Maritime Academy for many years.
He is board chair of Tall Ships America, and active in civic affairs and historic preservation in Nahant, Massachusetts, where he lives with his wife Nancy, whom he met while working as a chief mate of a four-mast square rigger. He enjoys sailing, but strictly confines it to other people’s boats.
Maritime Association of the United States
American Bar Association
Captain, U.S. Coast Guard Reserve (retired)(1970-2000)
Active Duty 1970-1975
Commander Naval Forces and Harbor Defense Commander
Operation Uphold Democracy- Haiti 1994
MT “Baltic Commander” Schiffahrtsgesellschaft MbH & Co. KG v. Massachusetts Port Authority, 918 F.Supp.2d 105 (U.S.D.C. Mass. 2013)
Northern Ins. Co. of New York v. Point Judith Marina, LLC 579 F.3d 61 (1st Cir. 2009)
Jain v. Cape Ann Whale Watch, Inc., No. 05-11267 (U.S.D.C. Mass. 2007); https://ecf.mad.uscourts.gov/doc1/09512297376
Fortis Bank (Nederland) N.V. v. M/V Shamrock, 2005 WL 763265 (D.Me. 2005)
Citrus Marketing Bd. Of Israel v. M/V Ecuadorian Reefer, 754 F. Supp. 229 (D.Mass. 1990)
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