Austin P. Olney

Partner

Mr. Olney resides in the firm's Boston office. During his 32-year career with the firm, 20 years of which were spent in the Washington office, he has represented international and domestic ship owners, marine insurers, P & I Clubs, oil companies, oil terminals, spill response organizations and chemical companies on a wide variety of corporate, maritime, regulatory and environmental matters. He has represented clients in enforcement proceedings, major pollution cases, agency rule makings and legislative projects. He has served as lead counsel in several major marine casualty and pollution cases involving maritime, environmental, civil and criminal issues. He also advises energy clients on the marine aspects, including vessel charters, of LNG projects.

Mr. Olney routinely advises clients on compliance with requirements for vessels and facilities that arise under international conventions, federal legislation and state laws, drawing on his prior experience as a Congressional committee counsel tasked with drafting environmental legislation, and as the Secretary of Natural Resources and Environmental Control for the State of Delaware.

Representative Matters

  • US v. Styga Compania Naviera SA (2009)
  • US v. MSC Ship Management (HK) 2006
  •  Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill (2005)
  • Point Wells (WA) Oil Spill (2004)
  • Sea-Launch Project
  • Buzzards Bay Oil Spill (2003)
  • Staten Island Explosion (2003)

Selected Activities

  • Member, Maritime Law Association
  • Member, American Bar Association
  • President, Board of Trustees, Middlesex School
  • Former Member, Board of Trustees, Connecticut College

Publications

  • "Oil Spills And The Environment: Strategies For Natural Resource Damage Assessments Under The U.S. Oil Pollution Act Of 1990," CorporateLiveWire.com (August 2011).
  • "Environmental Enforcement," Seaways - International Journal of the Nautical Institute (October 2007).
  • "Finding a Way out of the Environmental Enforcement Wilderness," Marine Money International (May 2007).
  • Co-Author, "Cooperative Natural Resource Damage Assessments: Lessons Learned from the Oil Pollution Act of 1990," Harris Martin's Natural Resource Damages & Environmental Claims Report (September 2006).
  • "Regulatory Update," University of San Francisco Maritime Law Journal (February 2001).
  • "Oil Pollution Act," Environmental Law Handbook (21st ed. 2011).
  • "Oil Pollution Act of 1990 Regulatory Developments," Survey of Maritime Administrative Law (June 1992).

Awards and Recognitions

  • Named one of the world's 25 leading shipping and maritime lawyers by Euromoney, in its "The Best of The Best" guide of legal experts in 2003 and in 2007.

Education

  • Georgetown University Law Center, 1975, J.D.
  • Harvard University, 1970, B.A., cum laude

Bar Admissions

  • Massachusetts
  • District of Columbia

Court Admissions

  • U.S. Supreme Court
  • Other federal courts