Tetley Lecture in admiralty law hosts UK professor, expert in maritime insurance

Liability insurance and global shipping is the topic of the Tulane Tetley Memorial Lecture in Maritime Law which takes place April 5.

The guest lecturer is D. Rhidian Thomas, Professor Emeritus of Maritime Law and Founder Director of the Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law at Swansea University, Wales, U.K., and the editor-in-chief of the Journal of International Maritime Law.

The lecture will take place at 5 p.m. in Room 110 of law school’s John Giffen Weinmann Hall with a reception to follow.

Thomas lecture is titled, “P & I Insurance: Perceptions and Conundrums,” and will focus on the International Group of P & I Clubs that provide third party liability insurance to global shipping while also making significant contributions to the development of international public policy relating to shipping and the marine environment. The lecture highlights the nature, breadth, and characteristics the coverage and its relation to the internal management structure of Group Clubs.

Thomas’ principal teaching and research interests are in the fields of maritime and shipping law, marine insurance law, international trade law and commercial arbitration. He has written, edited, and contributed to many books and published widely in academic and professional journals. He has authored books on maritime liens, appeals from commercial arbitration and default powers of arbitrators. He is also editor and contributor to the “Modern Law of Marine Insurance” series of volumes. He was a member of the UK Departmental Advisory Committee on Arbitration Law which drafted the UK Arbitration Act 1996.

Prior to his teaching at Swansea University, Thomas previously held academic positions at other universities in the UK, and visiting positions at universities in Europe, Scandinavia and Far East. He has held the Francqui Chair at the University of Leuven and received an Honorary Doctor of Law from the University of Gothenburg.