A Maritime, Trade & Civil Litigation Practice
– based in Charleston, South Carolina –
Hines & Gilsenan LLC is an innovative maritime, trade and civil litigation practice based in Charleston, South Carolina. The firm was established in 2021 by Julius “Sam” Hines and Ryan D. Gilsenan, both proctors in admiralty and alumni of an iconic Charleston admiralty practice. Our attorneys represent steamship lines, ship owners and charterers, towing companies pilot associations, and parties to marine insurance contracts. We respond around the clock to maritime emergencies in Charleston and elsewhere in the Southeastern United States, including collisions, oil spills, MARPOL investigations, machinery failures, fire, cargo damage, personal injuries, and vessel arrests, to investigate and protect our clients’ interests. The firm serves as correspondent for many of the world’s major protection and indemnity clubs. We also represent sellers, buyers, and yards in contracts for the construction and sale of commercial and recreational vessels. In addition to maritime work, the firm maintains a robust practice in international trade, construction law, premises liability, and commercial litigation.
Hines & Gilsenan LLC is committed to leveraging technology to deliver high-quality legal services at reasonable rates. Our physical space is at the Charleston Navy Yard, central to all of Charleston’s container, dry bulk, and tanker terminals, shipyards, tugboat companies, warehouses, and other waterfront businesses.
Meet the Team
Julius H. “Sam” Hines | PARTNER
hines@hinesandgilsenan.com // 843.972.3948
Julius “Sam” Hines has been practicing law since 1992. He attended law school at the University of Virginia, where he served on the Virginia Law Review. After law school, Hines joined Buist Moore Smythe & McGee, where he handled maritime, commercial and appellate matters. He has tried many cases and argued appeals in several courts, including the South Carolina Supreme Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Expand for additional background
After his original firm merged with what is now Womble Bond Dickenson, Hines moved to the international firm of K&L Gates, LLP, where he practiced for six years. In 2019, Hines formed Hines Law LLC, which, with the addition of a new partner, became Hines & Gilsenan LLC. In addition to his private law practice, Hines serves as an adjunct professor at the Charleston School of Law, where he teaches courses in maritime law and international trade.
Education
- J.D., University of Virginia School of Law, 1992
Virginia Law Review, Notes Editor
Order of the Coif - M.A. English, University of Virginia, 1989
- B.A. English, College of William & Mary, 1985
Bar Admissions
- United States Supreme Court
- United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
- United States District Court, District of South Carolina
- United States District Court, Southern District of Texas
- South Carolina Supreme Court
Professional Activities
- South Carolina District Export Council, 2016
- South Carolina International Trade Conference
Counsel to the Board - Maritime Law Association of the United States
Proctor in Admiralty, 2008 - Southeastern Admiralty Law Institute
Chairman 2015 - Maritime Association of South Carolina
Board Member 2012-2016 - Charleston Port and Seafarer’s Society
Board Member - Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Association of Charleston
Achievements
Named to Charleston Business Magazine’s 2018 Legal Elite in maritime and international law
Ryan Gilsenan | PARTNER
gilsenan@hinesandgilsenan.com // 843.847.8003
Ryan attended the United States Merchant Marine Academy and worked as a marine engineer before going to law school at the University of South Carolina. As a litigator representing international and domestic clients alike, Ryan solves problems with creativity and diligence. With a maritime practice serving ship owners, charterers, pilot associations and underwriters in casualty response and litigation, Ryan also drafts and negotiates transportation agreements and charter parties. In other aspects of his law practice, Ryan represents contractors and building supply manufacturers in construction cases and litigates a variety of tort cases and contract disputes.
Expand for additional background
As a former seagoing engineer in the United States Merchant Marine, Ryan has firsthand experience in the technical design, operation, maintenance and repair of general cargo ships, product tankers, container ships, bulk carriers, and pure car/truck carriers, and articulated tug-barges. Ryan is on-call 24/7 to investigate and protect vessel interests in connection with machinery failure, groundings, collisions, wet and dry cargo claims, pollution incidents, dock damage, personal injuries to longshoremen and crew, as well as to provide immediate response in MARPOL criminal defense matters, and to handle vessel arrest and casualty response. In this regard, Ryan has capably represented vessel owners and charterers alike hailing from Bermuda and the Caribbean, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, New York, Russia, Scandinavia, Singapore and the United Kingdom.
Education
- J.D., 2006, University of South Carolina School of Law, 2006
CALI award for excellence in Product Liability
First Place, J. Woodrow Lewis Moot Court Competition - M.A., 2000, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Journalism and Mass Communication - B.S. 1997, United States Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, New York
Marine Engineering Systems
Bar Admissions
- United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
- United States District Court, District of South Carolina
- South Carolina Supreme Court
Professional Activities
- Maritime Law Association of the United States, Proctor
- Southeastern Admiralty Law Institute
Long Range Planning Committee - Maritime Association of South Carolina
Board Member 2018-present
Jay Smith | Associate
smith@hinesandgilsenan.com // 203.536.2083
Prior to joining Hines Gilsenan, LLC, Jay was the Vice President and General Counsel of a national marine firefighting and casualty response company based in Charleston, South Carolina. In that role, Jay served steamship lines in developing casualty response plans, as well as with private equity investors to grow and develop the company. During his tenure, Jay also developed expertise in federal regulations of shipping, casualty response, and marine firefighting, and liaising with the U.S. Coast Guard to assure vessel compliance.
Expand for additional background
Jay has also been a member of a software company that provides event-management and claims-handling solutions to property managers. In his free time, Jay serves as a director for two non-profit organizations dedicated to conservation of natural resources and the expansion of human knowledge in the fields of ecology, botany, zoology, natural history, and archaeology. Previously, Jay worked in the General Counsel’s office at the National Audubon Society, as well as with two international private equity groups. Jay brings strong research and writing skills to the Firm, as well as experience with claims and litigation.
Education
- J.D., 2014, Charleston School of Law
CALI Award Winner - B.A., 2010, Brown University
Bar Admissions
- South Carolina Supreme Court
Professional Activities
- St. Catherines Island Foundation
Director - Edward John Noble Foundation
Director - USCG Maritime
Brendhan Thompson | Of Counsel
thompson@hinesandgilsenan.com // 504.858.0221
Brendhan is a maritime litigator who has spent his entire professional life in the maritime and transportation arenas. Prior to joining Hines and Gilsenan, Brendhan worked for a boutique maritime law firm in New Orleans, Louisiana where he represented domestic and international ship owners, maritime oil and gas industry companies, and various maritime service industry entities. His practice focused on defense and prosecution of maritime collisions and allisions, personal injury and death claims, maritime limitation of liability actions, arrest/attachment of vessels and other maritime property, contract and charter party drafting and compliance, property damage, and vessel construction matters.
Expand for additional background
Prior to attending law school, Brendhan was a civilian transportation manager and logistician for the Department of the Army where he first served at U.S. Army ports in Hawaii, Okinawa, Tokyo, and Korea training in every facet of port management and vessel operations. He then served on the Commanding General’s Operations Staff coordinating and monitoring worldwide movement of military equipment in support of global military contingencies and annual military exercises by both military and Department of Defense contractor vessels.
During a hiatus from his practice, Brendhan was employed as an able-bodied seaman and tender captain on the circumnavigational Five Deeps Expedition, the world’s first manned expedition to the deepest point in each of the five oceans. He is therefore intimately familiar with every aspect of day-to-day ship operations. He holds both a USCG Able Bodied Seaman Special License and 50 GRT Master’s License with Near Coastal endorsement.
In his spare time, Brendhan also owns and runs a local boat charter business taking clients on cruises on his 26-foot pleasure boat.
At Hines & Gilsenan, Brendhan assists clients in litigation, strategy, general advices, policy, and contractual matters and is engaged in all phases of litigation from immediate post-casualty response through discovery, trial, and appeal.
Education
- J.D., Tulane University Law School, 2007, Maritime Law Certificate
- B.A., Psychology and German, James Madison University, 1997
Bar Admissions
- South Carolina Supreme Court and all State Courts
- United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
- United States District Court, Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of Louisiana
- United States District Court for the Eastern and Southern Districts of Texas
- Louisiana Supreme Court and all State Courts
Practice Areas
Maritime
Law
International
Trade & Logistics
Commercial Law
& Litigation
Appellate
Advocacy
Construction
Law
Maritime Law
Hines & Gilsenan LLC offers a broad and diverse maritime law practice. Their lawyers have boarded hundreds of commercial ships in the Port of Charleston, South Carolina and beyond, in which they have handled a variety of shipping matters on behalf of vessel operators and other interests. The matters have included navigational accidents, cargo loss damage, pollution incidents, regulatory infractions, injuries to personnel, and MARPOL defense. The firm serves as Charleston correspondent for most of the international protection and indemnity (“P&I”) clubs that underwrite shipping risks.
Expand to read more
The firm also handles maritime-related litigation, such as ship arrests and limitation of liability proceedings, as well as arbitrations involving charter disputes, ship construction and repair contracts, and similar disputes. We also represent and counsel clients in the drafting and negotiation of such contracts.
Recreational boating incidents are often governed by maritime law. At Hines & Gilsenan LLC, we handle litigation involving boating-related accidents, whether for manufacturers or on behalf of insured boat owners. We also handle contract and warranty matters relating to boat and yacht sales, including drafting and review of contract and warranty documents and representation of parties in boat sale disputes.
International Trade & Logistics
Commercial Law & Litigation
Appellate Advocacy
Construction Law
The H&G Blog
All Posts & News