Nielsen Shields' lawyers have collectively practiced maritime law in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska for over 70 years. Ours is primarily a maritime trial practice, fully devoted to the defense - we will not represent personal injury plaintiffs. Although we have handled all varieties of maritime claims over the years, we principally represent vessel owners/operators and other maritime employers in the defense of personal injury and death claims arising in at-sea, territorial waters and shoreside waterfront environments. We represent vessel owners from crabbers and cruise ships, to tugboats and trawlers, and other maritime interests in various fields, such as marine construction, commercial diving, tourist services, stevedoring and shipbuilding/breaking. We also do transactional work, risk assessment and loss control, insurance coverage, employment law in maritime contexts and the occasional collision, allision, hull, cargo and salvage claims.

As detailed in our individual biographies, our lawyers bring outstanding academics, wide-ranging personal experience and unique personal histories to Nielsen Shields. We combine a practical and dedicated team approach with the assurance that each client will receive legal advice and services of the highest caliber, creative solutions to problems and our full respect and attention.

At Nielsen Shields, we believe that lawyering is about service, commitment, common sense and results - and that these come, more often than not, with a combination of intelligence and hard work. One without the other will not suffice. We guarantee that we bill what we work and we work what we bill. Honest and accurate billing should be assumed, but we believe our written commitment is warranted in this market, in this time, and that doing so will mean something to people looking for an honest and open approach to providing legal services. We make that commitment.

Beyond the breadth and depth of our legal experience, we bring unique talent, energy and focus to our work. We zealously represent the interests of our clients with efficiency, passion, drive and responsiveness unparalleled in the maritime defense bar. We hold our clients in the highest regard; we work with each other and with our clients on a cooperative and collaborative basis. We address the broad expanse of our clients' needs, protecting their interests and representing each of them, one at a time, with singular focus. Losses, claims and cases are not fungible commodities and we do not provide cookie-cutter lawyering.

In providing our clients the highest quality work and sincere partnership, we deliver our commitment with our wallets as well as our mouths. We accept, as overhead, cost items typically passed to clients by other lawyers and law firms. We do not bill clients the on-line costs of Lexis-Nexis research. We do not bill routine copy charges or long distance phone or fax. We do not bill for extraordinary staff services or overtime. This policy saves our clients, on average, hundreds of dollars per billing cycle. We charge reasonable rates applied to time efficiently utilized and honestly recorded. We encourage our clients, current and prospective, to compare not hourly rates, but results and the full and final cost of dispute resolution. We treat our clients as we would hope and expect to be treated by service professionals working for us.

In support of our commitment to efficiency, cost-effectiveness and accessibility, we have invested in technology to facilitate our practice. We utilize fully integrated technology, office-wide, and we encourage email transmission (communication and documentation), direct telephone access to our lawyers and staff, and around the clock accessibility via cell phone. If you need help, we are ready, willing, able and available.

Nielsen Shields delivers results. Clients do not hear at the end of the road that "witnesses went South" or "experts fell apart at deposition" as excuses for unexpected payouts to plaintiffs on the courthouse steps. At the outset of every assignment, we analyze the file, develop a strategy and outline a defense budget; on an ongoing basis as the cases develop, we collaboratively report and confer with our clients. Whether we develop solid defenses or we discover significant problems with them, our clients are advised and consulted on an ongoing basis. We work together to solve problems.