Spotlight on Matthew J. Thomas the rules for shipping at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and World Trade Organization. Those experiences were the foundation for my private practice career over the last 25 years.
WHAT ISSUES WITHIN THE MARITIME INDUSTRY ARE YOU FOCUSED ON RIGHT NOW? Right now, I’ m focused on the intersection of shipping and geopolitics, especially in areas such as trade sanctions and the recent Section 301 case on China’ s shipping and shipbuilding sectors.
MATTHEW J. THOMAS Partner
HOW DID YOU BEGIN YOUR CAREER IN THE MARITIME INDUSTRY, AND WHAT EARLY EXPERIENCES SHAPED YOUR PROFESSIONAL PATH? I started in the maritime industry in the early 1990s, right out of law school, as a staff attorney and international affairs head at the Federal Maritime Commission. As a young person I was thrown into the thick of a number of major shipping regulatory and policy issues, including liner competition law; ports regulation; bilateral trade fights over market access with Japan, China, and other countries; and multilateral efforts to rewrite
CAN YOU SHARE SOME OF YOUR RECENT SUCCESSES? The Blank Rome Maritime group has successfully defended several of the most notable maritime sector targets of U. S. trade sanctions. This has only been possible due to the extraordinary depth of talent and extensive experience demonstrated by the Blank Rome team. I’ m very proud to be part of a group that can provide such excellence and breadth of U. S. legal service to the shipping and trading sectors— everything ranging from the most complex and sensitive regulatory and political issues to the most challenging casualties and disputes, to the most complex transactions.
p – 2026 BLANK ROME LLP
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