SKILL SHARPENER

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Tulane Admiralty and Maritime LL.M. Alumnus Navigated Circuitous Route to His Goal
[by Erica Winter] David Savidges voyage to Tulane Law School and receiving his LL.M. in Admiralty and Maritime Law in 2002 started when he was very young.

I grew up being regaled with tales of Greek ship captains, says Savidge, whose grandfather was in the ship-repair business in Hoboken, NJ. Years later in law school at the City University of New York, Savidge was in a first-year contracts class when an obscure admiralty term surfaced, and the professor told the class not to worry about it. That got me going, says Savage. He researched the obscure term and came to believe that the most interesting fact patterns in the law come from maritime cases. He was hooked. Now Savidge is an associate in the Los Angeles office of Coudert Brothers, practicing an even split of maritime law and insurance law. His route to Tulane and practicing maritime law shows theres more than one path to reaching a desired shore. Having discovered the specialty for him in his first year, there was only one catch: City University did not offer maritime classes. Savidge traveled up river to the State University of New York Maritime College in the Bronx to take classes there. In his second summer, he went on Tulanes summer program in Greece and had his first taste of Tulane Laws admiralty and maritime program. Later that same summer, and into his third year, Savidge had an internship with the Department of Justices Civil Branch, Tort Division, Admiralty Branch Office, in Manhattan. Savidge got to work with some very experienced maritime attorneys there, he says.

While interning at the DOJ, Savidge saw an attorney argue adroitly against the government on behalf of Cunard Lines, which brought a suit saying their boat had run aground due to improper sounding (depth determination) of a United States channel. Cunard was not successful in the case, but the attorney had made an impression on Savidge. After receiving his J.D. from City University, Savidge moved to Albany, NY. His wife, who had also just received her J.D., had a two-year clerkship there. Savidge worked far away from the maritime field--as a staff attorney with Prisoners Legal Services of New York. There he did not work on prisoner appeals but on defending their rights while incarcerated.

Tulane also brings in adjunct faculty with exceptional practical experience, he says. For example, the professor teaching his class in maritime personal injury and death has been practicing in that field for more than 30 years. It doesnt get much better than that, Savidge says. Rounding out the program is a strong connection between the school and the maritime legal community in New Orleans, a major port and hub for worldwide admiralty and maritime legal practice. While in the LL.M. program, Savidge interned at a local maritime firm--an opportunity any Tulane maritime LL.M. student can take. Savidge was also a member of the Tulane Maritime Law Journal. Overall, with all the theoretical and practical

Then, his wifes clerkship over, she found a job at a firm in Washington, DC, and he went to Tulane. They became the jet-setting couple for the eight months of the school year, Savidge says, traveling to see each other on weekends. In Tulanes premier Admiralty and Maritime program, Savidge found his niche. The program and its flagship Maritime Law Center prepared me very well for the practice of maritime law. Its the best, says Savidge. While at Tulane, I tried to take every class possible, says Savidge. Tulanes maritime faculty members, including Professors Robert Force and Martin Davies, are excellent and often quoted by the courts. These are the people teaching you on a daily basis, says Savidge.

learning opportunities available in the program, for the proactive student, its a gold mine, he says. Skill at his field, plus some serendipity and a good memory, lead Savidge to Coudert Brothers. Savidge remembered the attorney who had argued the Cunard case back in New York and wrote him a letter expressing his interest in maritime law. That attorney had joined Coudert Brothers as a partner in the Los Angeles office. Savidge was invited to interview there and is now an associate. I thoroughly enjoy practicing maritime law, he says, noting his education at Tulane gave him an accurate picture of what the real practice of this specialty would be like.

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