About Wyatt Law

WYATT LAW OFFICES was founded on the belief that excellence in legal representation in the transportation and maritime industry can be provided to all clients, large and small. Our experience and knowledge of the transportation, logistics, and commercial maritime industry, and the legal issues confronted by industry members, is combined with hands-on supervision of investigators, surveyors and adjusters. We believe the best time to engage in legal representation is not when you are served with a summons or when you decide to file suit—but early, when a casualty or a commercial dispute first occurs. The best way to avoid costly and time consuming litigation is to consult your lawyer before evidence is lost, facts become disputed -- while memories are fresh and witnesses remain cooperative. If litigation is inevitable, our representation in this early phase of the dispute will ensure the preservation of important evidence and testimony.

Education

She graduated magna cum laude from Tulane University in 1983, and graduated two years later from Tulane Law School. In 1985, Ms. Wyatt began a federal clerkship with the Hon. Donald E. Walter, a United States Judge serving the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. She first began to learn the practice of law in Monroe, Louisiana serving as a law clerk to Judge Walter and then moved to Baton Rouge where she served as a law clerk to Judge Melvin Shortess, first a Judge of the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal and later a Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court. While serving Supreme Court Justice Shortess as a law clerk, Ms. Wyatt returned to Tulane Law School’s Maritime Program and obtained a Master of Law in Admiralty degree. Upon graduating with this LLM in Admiralty, Ms. Wyatt earned the highest Grade Point Average in the 1991 graduating class, and was awarded the Edward A. Dodd Award for Excellence in the Study of Maritime Law. In addition to earning the Dodd Award, she authored The Ocean Marine Exclusion: LSA-R.S. 22:1377, 38 Louisiana Bar Jour. 167 (October 1990).

In 1991, Ms. Wyatt won the Admiralty Writing Competition at Tulane Law School, with a second article, subsequently published in the Tulane Maritime Law Journal, entitled Contract Terms in International Transport: COGSA Comes Ashore, 16 Tulane Maritime Law Journal 177 (Fall 1991). Ms. Wyatt has since published articles ranging from Maritime Injuries and Remedies, Cruise Passenger Claims, Maritime Commerce, Oil Spill Legislation, Port Funding and Administration, Shipping Act Regulations, and Anti-Suit Injunctions: High Crimes on the High Seas, 20 University of San Francisco Maritime Law. Journal 147 (2008), The Loss of Loss of Society in the Ninth Circuit: Should State Courts Follow Suit, 18 University of San Francisco Maritime Law Journal 201 (Summer 2006); Ports, Politicians and the Public Trust: The Los Angeles Port Funds Controversy Comes Face to Face With Federal Law, 9 University of San Francisco Maritime Law Journal 357 (1997); COGSA Comes Ashore . . .And More: The Supreme Court Makes Inroads Promoting Uniformity and Maritime Commerce in Norfolk Southern Railwayu v. Kirby, 30 Tulane Maritime Law Journal 101 (Spring 2006); Financing the Clean-up: Cargo Owner Liability For Vessel Spills, 7 University of San Francisco Maritime Law Journal 353 (Spring 1995); Navigating the Limits of State Spill Regulations: How Far Can They Go? 8 University of San Francisco Maritime Law Journal 1 (Fall 1995); Ports, Politicians and the Public Trust: The Los Angeles Port Funds Controversy Comes Face to Face With Federal Law, 9 University of San Francisco Maritime Law Journal 357 (Spring 1997); Farrel Lines, Inc. v. Ceres Terminals, Inc., Availability of Anti-Suit Injunctions in Admiralty. 1999 International Law Journal of Shipping Law 252 (September 1999).

Experience

Ms. Wyatt has taught courses at Loyola Law School and the University of San Francisco Law School on admiralty and maritime matters, including Admiralty, Carriage of Passengers by Sea and Carriage of Goods by Sea. Ms. Wyatt is currently teaching as a visiting professor at Tulane Law School in New Orleans.

Ms. Wyatt has served as a member of the Attorney Settlement Officer Panel for the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Her Mediation and Alternative Dispute Resolution training includes 42 hours of dispute resolution training at the Pepperdine Law School’s Strauss Institute. She is also the former chair of the Admiralty Maritime Law Committee appointed by the California Bar Association to develop the standards and testing requirements for certification of attorneys as specialists in admiralty and maritime law.

Ms. Wyatt has considerable practical experience, both in the courtroom and on the waterfront, attending to a variety of maritime casualties, including collisions, personal injuries, allisions, oil and hazardous chemical spills, cargo damage, and vessel arrests. She is admitted to practice in both the Louisiana and California and has been admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. Ninth District Court of Appeals, the U.S. District Courts for the Western, Middle and Eastern Districts of Louisiana as well as the Southern, Central and Northern Districts of California.

Publications

Farrel Lines, Inc. v. Ceres Terminals, Inc., Availability of Anti-Suit Injunctions in Admiralty, 1999 int'l Jour. of Shipping Law 252 (September 1999)

Financing the Clean-Up: Cargo Owner Liability for Vessel Spills, 7 U.S.F. Mar. Law Jour. 1 (Fall 1995)

The Ocean Marine Exclusion: LSA-R.S. 22:1377, 398 Louisiana Bar Jour. 167 (Oct. 1990)

United States Solicitor General files amicus brief with the US Supreme Court citing Marva Jo Wyatt - Contract Terms in Intermodal Transport: COGSA Comes Ashore, 16 Tul. Mar. L.J. 177, 180 (1991)

USF Maritime Law Journal - Marva Jo Wyatt (Board of Advisors) - Ports, Politicians and the Public Trust: The Los Angeles Port Funds Controversy Comes Face to Face with Federal Law Citation: 9 U.S.F. mar. Law Jour. 357 (Spring 1997)

Supreme Court Briefs - Cites Marva Jo Wyatt's Article - Navigating the Limits of State Spill Regulations: How Far Can They Go?, 8 U.S.F. Mar. L.J. 1, 26 (1995) VIEW