How Tulane Law Helped Launch a Global Maritime Law Career

For Daniel Stein (L’20), a career in maritime law has carried him far beyond the Gulf Coast. 

After graduating from Tulane Law with a certificate in Admiralty Law, Stein’s path has taken him from New Orleans to the Arctic, India, and now Malta, where he serves as a lecturer at the International Maritime Organization International Maritime Law Institute (IMO IMLI).

Before law school, Stein spent five years working in Washington, D.C. on Capitol Hill and another five on political campaigns throughout the country. Over time, he found himself drawn to a field where global comity and collaboration, rather than political division, was the norm. Maritime law offered that opportunity. 

“Shipping is not only a constant of international trade for millennia,” said Stein, who lectures in international maritime law, “but it is one of the few areas where there is generally a lot of international cooperation for harmonization.” 

Once at Tulane, a wide range of experiences helped solidify his interest in maritime law. During law school, Stein completed an externship at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in London, an experience that later proved pivotal to his career. He also worked with the University of Lapland’s Arctic Centre, helping edit and publish materials highlighting cooperation among Arctic states on issues such as search and rescue, emergency response, and fishing moratoriums. 

Stein was also deeply engaged in Tulane’s academic community. He served as executive chair of the 24th Annual Tulane Environmental Law & Policy Summit, was a member of the Tulane Maritime Law Society and was Senior Articles Editor of the Environmental Law Journal. His scholarship earned recognition when he received the Tulane Center for Environmental Law prize for an outstanding student comment published in the Tulane Environmental Law Journal, titled “Protecting the Arctic Environment from Northwest Passage Shipping in an Era of Climate Change.” 

He credits faculty with shaping his approach to legal scholarship and teaching. When he began his first teaching position at O.P. Jindal Global Law School outside Delhi, those lessons stayed with him. 

“I remembered not just learning material from Professors Catherine Hancock, Keith Werhan, Kristin Johnson and Mark Wessman,’ he said, “but recognized how much I appreciated their methods for making things stick. Without lots of those minor but important classroom moments, I don’t think I would have developed my own teaching style.” 

Today, Stein is based in Malta, where he continues to lecture at the IMO International Maritime Law Institute and helps guide students as they draft national legislation implementing International Maritime Organization conventions aimed at strengthening maritime safety and environmental protection.  

Reflecting on the impact of his work, Stein said, “I still get emotional walking home from the office, seeing the beautiful sunset, and thinking about how a long day at work can mean safer conditions for fishermen worldwide.”