In the Media
McGlinchey Hires 3 Maritime Attys In New Orleans
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The following article was published on Law360 on Monday, December 5, 2022, and is reprinted with permission.
McGlinchey Stafford PLLC announced Monday that it has hired two members and an associate who specialize in maritime law to its enterprise litigation and investigations practice group in New Orleans.
Members Marcelle Mouledoux and Kevin Frey, along with associate Morgan Kelley, joined McGlinchey in November from local firm Salley Hite Mercer & Resor.
Mouledoux, who spent a decade at Salley Hite, told Law360 on Monday that McGlinchey’s collegial nature and the resources it has to support its attorneys and clients were some of the main factors behind the group’s decision to join the firm.
“McGlinchey’s reputation as outstanding litigators, as well as their representation of the broader transportation and insurance industries, are what drew us to the firm,” she said in a statement. “We look forward to joining this group of hardworking, impressive attorneys, and using the firm’s full suite of capabilities on behalf of our clients.”
Mouledoux added that one of the main benefits of joining a new firm as an existing group is the ability to seamlessly integrate the work from their prior firm into the new one immediately upon arrival.
“The real advantage is continuity for our cases,” she said. “We’re already familiar with each other and I don’t have to get anybody new up to speed on what’s going on. We’re able to just pick things up without a pause and keep going.”
Mouledoux graduated from Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law, and her practice focuses on representing both vessel owners and facility owners on a wide range of issues such as collision, allision, property damage and personal injury cases.
Frey, who was with Salley Hite for six years and graduated from Tulane University Law School, represents tugboat owners, marine facilities and grain, barge fleeting, and midstream buoy terminals on admiralty, maritime, and insurance defense litigation, the announcement said.
Kelley also graduated from Tulane and brings a practice that complements the incoming members, working on a variety of maritime-related negotiations, transactions and contracts, according to the firm’s announcement. She practiced at Salley Hite for two years.
“Marcelle, Kevin, and Morgan make strong additions to our New Orleans office,” office managing member Mag Bickford said in a statement. “The energy and experience they bring to the table, paired with their focused industry expertise, make them a great fit for McGlinchey.”
Mouledoux said that the team’s maritime clients are currently dealing with the constantly changing nature of the Mississippi River, adding that navigation becomes especially difficult when the river is at its high point in the spring and that the current drought period drying up stretches of the river is one of the main issues clients are facing right now.
The new maritime law hires continue McGlinchey’s wave of expansion in its home base, with the firm having previously added member Angie Christina in October and member Allyson Byrd in June, both to the enterprise litigation practice.
Outside of New Orleans, McGlinchey hired financial litigation of counsel Aleksandr Altshuler in New York in October and Nicole Johnson in Orange County in September.
According to its website, McGlinchey currently has around 140 attorneys in 17 offices across 12 states and Washington, D.C.