A New Orleans-based law firm best known for Gulf Coast energy and maritime work has planted its flag on the New Bedford waterfront, opening its first Massachusetts office and bringing on three attorneys to build out a fisheries and regulatory practice in the nation's top-grossing fishing port. Liskow announced Thursday that Samuel P. Blatchley, Patrick J. O'Connor and Michael J. Pluhowski have joined its maritime team, giving the firm a new foothold along the Northeast coast.
The move was first reported by New Orleans CityBusiness, which noted that the New Bedford office expands Liskow's presence beyond its existing New York location, adding to a footprint that now spans Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York and Texas. The firm traces its roots back to 1935, when it was founded in Lake Charles, Louisiana, as Liskow & Lewis before growing into a premier Gulf Coast practice in energy, mineral, oil and gas, and offshore maritime law, according to Meritas.
All three incoming attorneys previously ran the New England maritime practice at litigation firm Eckland & Blando LLP, working out of offices in Boston and New Bedford, including a location at 555 Pleasant Street, per Marine Link. Blatchley joined Eckland & Blando as a partner to lead its expansion into maritime law.
A Team With Deep Maritime Credentials
Blatchley brings significant professional standing to the new office. He was elected Director of the Maritime Law Association of the United States and was named the 2025 Admiralty and Maritime Law “Lawyer of the Year” in Boston by Best Lawyers, and he holds a J.D. and Maritime Law Certificate from Tulane University Law School, the trade publication's reporting shows.
O'Connor and Pluhowski each hold U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Mariner Credentials, giving them direct vessel-operating experience that feeds into maritime emergency response and regulatory work, the same report notes. O'Connor previously worked on deck and in wheelhouses aboard commercial tugboats before turning to law.
The new hires give Liskow fresh fisheries litigation and regulatory capabilities. Blatchley represented the Massachusetts Lobstermen's Association in litigation involving federal fisheries regulations and endangered-species protections.
Why New Bedford
New Bedford is not a random choice for a Gulf Coast firm's first Massachusetts outpost. The port has ranked as the nation's highest-value commercial fishing port for 23 consecutive years, according to a national report from NOAA Fisheries.
New Bedford's waterfront is also pivoting toward a second ocean industry.
Casualty Response Experience From the Gulf
Liskow's Maritime Practice Group runs a 24-hour emergency casualty response team with a track record on some of the most severe offshore industrial accidents in recent memory, including claims tied to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the 2019 Golden Ray capsizing, and the 2021 Seacor Power sinking. Casualty attorneys from the group deploy directly alongside the emergency response teams of national and international vessel operators.
The firm's maritime practice has also recently taken on one of the largest cases in the field's history. In May, Liskow served as lead maritime co-counsel for the State of Maryland in securing a $2.25 billion final settlement with the owner and operator of the container ship M/V Dali over the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, according to gCaptain. The settlement, which resolved claims for bridge destruction, environmental harm, and lost state revenues, stands as the largest single maritime property damage settlement in U.S. history.
That case underscores the scale of litigation Liskow's maritime group is capable of handling as it now extends its reach from the Gulf of Mexico to New England's working waterfront. With the New Bedford office now open, the firm is positioned to serve clients across both the commercial fishing and offshore wind sectors anchored in the port city.
