Tulane Law School is known internationally for its admiralty and maritime law program. Our program comprises full-time faculty and active practitioners and scholars of maritime law from throughout the world.
Tulane’s renowned strength in international law adds to the exceptional experience we are able to provide our students. The city of New Orleans, located near the mouth of the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico, is a significant maritime center, and the lower Mississippi River is one of the largest ports in the world. New Orleans itself has the second largest admiralty bar in the United States. As a result of the natural focus on maritime issues in New Orleans, Tulane Law School has become an important center for the study of admiralty and maritime law.
Curriculum
Tulane Law offers an exceptionally rich curriculum for J.D. and graduate students concentrating in admiralty & maritime law. The LLM Program in Admiralty brings a cohort of U.S. and foreign lawyers to Tulane each year to pursue advanced study in maritime law. The Certificate in Maritime Law allows J.D. candidates to pursue advanced study in maritime law.
Our curriculum offers basic, advanced, and specialized courses, and students have access to experts in the whole array of maritime issues. Students seeking to specialize in maritime legal affairs may also enroll in Tulane's Summer Abroad program in Rhodes, which is dedicated to maritime law and law of the sea.
Centers & Institutes
Tulane's Maritime Law Center, endowed by prominent admiralty law and shipping firms, coordinates the many maritime programs operating at the Law School and fosters legal scholarship in the field. The biennial Admiralty Law Institute brings hundreds of practitioners to New Orleans and to Tulane each year, providing valuable networking opportunities for students. The John E. Sims Distinguished Admiralty Practitioner-in-Residence program brings a distinguished maritime attorney or shipping executive to Tulane to spend one week each year exchanging ideas with students and faculty. The Tulane Law Library contains one of the most extensive maritime collections in the United States.
Extracurricular Activities
The Maritime Law Society is an active student organization at Tulane, arranging field trips to maritime industry sites and speaker programs on campus. Tulane Maritime Law Journal is a student-edited law review devoted to admiralty issues. In addition, Tulane co-sponsors the John R. Brown Maritime Moot Court Competition each year.
Career Development
A credit-bearing maritime law externship is available with the US Department of Labor, and a summer position with the Center for Seafarers' Rights in New York is reserved for a Tulane student each year. The Maritime Law Center also coordinates several additional continuing legal education programs and conferences each year.
