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As a litigator, I have both prosecuted and defended numerous complex international claims. I take a hands on and collaborative approach with clients. My aim is to identify the key issues at the heart of any dispute early on and then focus on these so that we can prepare a plan for dispute resolution in the most efficient and effective way to achieve the best possible result for the client.

Primary Practice:

Matt Guy is the practice team leader of the Adams and Reese Maritime, Insurance, and Business Immigration practices and serves as the New Orleans office Co-Partner in Charge. He litigates matters stemming from marine construction, maritime, marine, construction and energy insurance and all aspects of worldwide oil and gas operations. He handles brown water and blue water maritime disputes. His representation encompasses domestic and international marine construction companies, drilling contractors, offshore service vessel owners, ship owners, shipyards and rig repair facilities, naval architects, marine engineers and designers, and construction companies as well as their insurers on coverage questions, defense of claims, and subrogation.

Matt Guy litigates matters stemming from marine construction, maritime, marine, construction and energy insurance and all aspects of worldwide oil and gas operations. With a truly global focus, Matt handles a great deal of work connected to oil and gas production centers, including the Gulf of Mexico, West Africa, and Europe. He also handles brown water and blue water maritime disputes. His representation encompasses domestic and international marine construction companies, drilling contractors, offshore service vessel owners, ship owners, shipyards and rig repair facilities, naval architects, marine engineers and designers, and construction companies as well as their insurers on coverage questions, defense of claims, and subrogation.

Matt also frequently arrests or attaches vessels on behalf of shipyards, bunker suppliers, or other providers of necessaries or seeks to have such arrests or attachments vacated. He recognizes that time is of the essence in maritime arrest proceedings and is used to undertaking such cases on an urgent basis.

Matt started his career in London working for a large firm representing clients in the insurance market there, making him one of a very rare breed of attorneys who are licensed to practice in Texas, Louisiana, and England. He is very familiar with how both the London insurance market and the marine and energy companies insured there operate. His extensive international maritime litigation experience uniquely qualifies him to marshal and manage responses to disasters and accidents and then to adeptly deal with government entities, insurers, other parties, and the resulting legal actions in their aftermaths.

Using a hands-on, boots-on-the-ground approach to his clients’ inquiries and issues, Matt keeps a hard hat, steel-capped boots, and safety equipment in a duffel bag packed in the back of his car for the times he needs to respond quickly and get on-site as soon as possible whether that is to a shipyard, a drilling rig, a ship, or some other place he did not expect to find himself.

Given his international background, Matt also assists clients (ranging from the energy, maritime, and insurance companies he usually represents to tech companies, schools, and universities) and their employees in obtaining, strategizing, and complying with work visas, investor visas, employment-based green cards, permanent residence for talented individuals, and other immigration documentation.

Matt also serves as an adjunct faculty member at Tulane Law School as an instructor with the Civil Litigation Boot Camp, and teaching a course on Energy Law, Policy, and Regulation.

Education

  • Tulane University Law School, LL.M., 2005, Admiralty Law
  • Inns of Court School of Law (London, England), 1999, Barrister
  • The City University (London, England), Diploma in Law, 1998
  • University of Oxford, B.A. / M.A., 1997, Modern History

Bar Admissions

  • Louisiana
  • Texas
  • England and Wales (Unregulated Barrister)

Court Admissions

  • United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana
  • United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana
  • United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana
  • United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas
  • United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
  • United States Supreme Court
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Areas of Practice

Acknowledgements

  • Leadership Louisiana, Class of 2021
  • Louisiana Super Lawyers® (by Thomson Reuters) – Transportation & Maritime, 2013-2019, 2021-2024
  • Best Lawyers® – Personal Injury Litigation-Defendants, Construction Law, Since 2018
  • New Orleans CityBusiness Leaders in Law, 2017, 2021

Professional Affiliations & Memberships

  • The Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn 
  • State Bar of Texas 
  • Louisiana State Bar Association 
  • Maritime Law Association of the United States, Proctor 
  • New Orleans Bar Association, Chair of International & Maritime Law Section
  • International Society of Barristers 
  • Tulane Law School Civil Litigation Boot Camp, Faculty Member, 2013-Present 
  • Tulane Inn of Court, President, 2020-22 
  • Court Watch NOLA, Board of Directors Chair, 2016-2018

Related Knowledge

News

  • Represented drilling contractors in multiple Jones Act personal injury and death suits. Obtained three defense verdicts and litigated the leading Fifth Circuit case on what constitutes “course and scope of employment” in Jones Act cases.
  • Representing drilling contractor and its insurers in proceedings arising out of blowout in the Gulf of Mexico in 2013, the first blowout case after Deepwater Horizon. Retained as soon as client became aware of the blowout with representation including taking crew statements, initial company investigation, Coast Guard and BSEE investigation, prosecution of insurance claim, and defense of drilling contractor in subsequent proceedings.
  • Obtained $36 million judgment in vessel owner’s favor on behalf of Nigerian vessel owner in charter party payment guarantee claim.
  • Conducted internal investigation and represented shipyard in relation to claims arising out of a crane collapse, including handling shipyard’s response to OSHA investigation and citation.
  • Represented bunker supplier in pursuing in rem claims against vessels for unpaid bunkers when the ultimate purchaser defaulted and filed for bankruptcy.
  • Represented subrogated insurers in pursuing claims for damage to large air conditioning units that were dropped while being unloaded from a ship.

Maritime

Energy / Oil & Gas

Insurance

Crisis Response and Preparedness

Privacy, Cybersecurity and Data Management

Presentations

  • Notifying Parties, Insurers, and Government Entities about Workplace Incidents, Construction Management Association of America Gulf Coast Chapter, November 2018