William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor | Mar 07, 2012 11:47AM EST
Industrial law firm Wilcox Savage is expanding its maritime practice in the port city of Norfolk, Va., adding attorneys Christopher A. Abel and Leonard L. Fleisig as partners and recent law school graduate Melissa A. Hamann as an associate.
Abel, who will lead the firm’s maritime group, and Fleisig join Wilcox Savage from law firm Troutman Sanders. Hamann, a former U.S. Navy officer, is a 2011 graduate of Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law.
Abel is a specialist in admiralty and maritime law, maritime insurance and employment law. He teaches courses in both admiralty and employment law at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., and has been named the school’s 2011-2012 St. George Tucker Adjunct Professor of Law.
He served 16 years as an officer and law specialist in the U.S. Coast Guard before becoming an attorney.
Fleisig, an admiralty lawyer for more than 20 years, focuses on shipping transactions, cargo claims and maritime litigation.
He counsels shippers on regulatory and transactional matters, representing companies before U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Department of Commerce, the Federal Maritime Commission and in courts.
Fleisig spent 12 years in the international container shipping business before becoming an attorney.
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