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Personal
Narrative
Rivers
was commissioned in the U.S. Navy as a deck officer
and transferred to the JAGC to attend law school.
Upon graduation, he served as a county prosecutor
and then spent five years on active duty, first
serving as Head of the U.S. Foreign Claims
Commission in North Africa, and then working in the
United Kingdom as a Staff Judge Advocate.
Thereafter, Rivers pursued two advanced legal
degrees, receiving a Masters in Marine Law from the
University of Washington Law School (1982), and a
Masters in International Law, Cum Laude, from the
University of Brussels, Belgium (1993). Rivers then
joined the Maritime Litigation group of Lane Powell,
Seattle. He left to join the national firm Cozen
O’Connor as a Senior Member in 1999, departing to
form Nicoll Black Misenti & Feig PLLC in 2004.
For the past 25 years, Rivers has focused his
practice on representation of vessel owning and
insurance interests, including maritime PI and death
defense, products liability, hull claims, marine
insurance coverage disputes, and claims involving
the tanker, cruise line, fishing and recreational
vessel industries. He is past chairman of the
Maritime Law Section of the Seattle King County Bar
Assn. and past chairman of The Maritime Law
Committees of both the Inter-Pacific Bar Assn. and
Asia Pacific Lawyer’s Assn., two of the largest bar
associations in Asia.
A past member of the Editorial Board of the Maritime
Law Reporter, Rivers currently serves as a member of
the Board of Directors of Pacific Marine Research.
He is a Proctor member of the Maritime Law
Association of the U.S. and a frequent lecturer on
marine claims and defense topics. Also experienced
in the practical side of the industry, prior to law
school Rivers was a deck hand on the fishing vessel
BOUNTY HUNTER. He is also an avid racing and
cruising sailor with a significant number of ocean
miles under his belt. Rivers recently retired with
30 of service from the U.S. Naval Reserve with the
rank of Captain. He is AV Peer Rated.
Education
University of
Mississippi School of Law (“Ole Miss”), Juris
Doctor, 1977
University of Washington School of Law, LL.M.
(Marine Law) 1982
University of Brussels, Belgium (Vrije Universiteit),
LL.M. (International Law) 1983
Prior
Professional Experience
U.S. Navy, Judge
Advocate General’s Corps, 1977-1981
Instructor in Business Law, University of Maryland ,
1979-1981
Lane Powell Moss & Miller / Lane Powell Spears
Lubersky, Seattle, 1983-1999; Partner
Cozen O’Connor, 2000-2004; Senior Member
Honors
and Civic Activities
Washington Law &
Politics Magazine, named
as Washington Super Lawyer (8 years)
Board of Trustees, Seattle Children’s Theatre
Associates Board, Corporate Council for the Arts /
Arts Fund
Boy Scouts of America – Eagle / Adult Leader
Bar Memberships
Washington, Oregon
and Mississippi (all courts)
International Court of Claims
U.S. District Court, Western District of
Washington U.S. Court of Appeals,
Ninth Circuit
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Representative
Matters |
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Legal
correspondent for London and Norwegian based P &
I Clubs representing interests of owners and
charterers of ocean going vessels - casualty
investigations, claims & litigation defense |
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Represented
excess underwriters in sinking of large Bering
Sea seafood processing vessel with loss of all
15 crewmembers; largest fishing vessel casualty
in the U.S in fifty years at the time |
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Appointed by GCL
insurer to defend drug product manufacturer from
numerous personal injury and wrongful death
product liability claims (Ephedra litigation)
over a multi-state geographic area |
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Defense counsel
appointed by vessel owners or their insurers in
many hundreds of lawsuits to defend personal
injury or wrongful death claims involving
crewmembers and passengers. |
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Represented port
district and port liability underwriters in
claims involving the destruction of hundreds of
yachts due to marina fires or collapse of marina
structures |
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Litigated product
liability and subrogation actions on behalf of
vessel owners and hull interests to recover for
total losses of multi-million dollar mega and
supper yachts due to fire. |
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Representation of
Asian yacht manufacturer and large Russian ocean
carrier regarding general corporate and
transactional matters, casualty/risk counseling
and general litigation. |
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Represented the
State of Washington in multi-million dollar
property subrogation recoveries from third
parties due to vessel propulsion failures and
resulting damage to terminal facilities and
docks; Represented interests of subrogated
cargo underwriters in recovery actions for
multi-million dollar losses of refrigerated
seafood shipments. |
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Represented
London property and casualty insurers in
property claims following the destruction of a
multi-million dollar seafood processing plant in
Alaska. |
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Insurance Panel
Counsel representing several yacht and
recreational vessel P&I and hull insurers
involving a wide variety of liability and hull
claims related to pleasure and recreational
vessels. |
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Retained by
numerous foreign and domestic commercial hull
and P&I underwriters for coverage opinions and
in defense of marine insurance coverage denials
and bad faith claims. |
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