Jeffrey S. Moller

Biography

Jeffrey Moller is a member of our Maritime Emergency Response Team (“MERT”).

Jeffrey is an experienced maritime law practitioner who has parlayed his tort litigation experience into successful representations in shoreside toxic tort and environmental contamination cases. Over the course of his 30+ year career as a litigator in private practice, he has developed extensive capabilities in the following areas:

  • Maritime casualty, cargo, and contract litigation
  • Marine construction disputes
  • Maritime lien and ship mortgage enforcement
  • Marine insurance coverage matters
  • USCG license suspension and revocation
  • Mass tort and product liability litigation
  • Environmental litigation

Jeffrey is an honors graduate of the United States Coast Guard Academy. His commissioned Coast Guard career included service afloat as a qualified deck watch officer aboard the Coast Guard’s largest class of High Endurance Cutters, and ashore as a marine pollution and casualty response officer in the port of Philadelphia.

Jeffrey has been a proctor member of the Maritime Law Association since 1988 and is the past-chairman of the MLA’s Committee on Regulation of Vessel Operations. He is the business editor of the Journal of Maritime Law and Commerce. He was a contributing writer to the current edition of The Law of Tug, Tow, and Pilotage, published by Cornell Maritime Press. He has contributed articles on maritime security, criminal prosecution, and the Jones Act to such publications as Bender’s Maritime Law Advisory and Marine News, and spoken before such organizations as the Society of Maritime Arbitrators, the American Bar Association’s Environmental Litigation section, and the Association of Commercial Finance Attorneys.

Jeffrey was appointed by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to the federal Navigation Safety Advisory Council (“NAVSAC”) on June 25, 2012.

He is an adjunct professor at Drexel University’s School of Law, teaching admiralty law. In May 2018, Jeffrey was elected to the Board of Directors of the Maritime Law Association of the United States.

Experience

Jeffrey has advised and represented prominent petroleum and chemical manufacturers, tankship and tank barge owner/operators, towing vessel companies, marine insurers, commercial lending institutions, and individual licensed pilots and officers. He has also served as a maritime arbitrator. Representative matters include:

  • Countless Jones Act, cargo damage, collision, grounding, allision, and oil spill investigations and litigations
  • National coordinating counsel service to a global chemical manufacturer in a national multidistrict litigation pertaining to environmental resource damage
  • Protracted litigation and arbitration of a dispute between a dredging subcontractor and general contractor involving both contract and vessel damage claims
  • Trial verdict on behalf of the owner of a Philadelphia tank terminal against a mechanical contractor and its foundation subcontractor for catastrophic structural damage to the facility

News & Views

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Recognitions

  • 2023, Admiralty and Maritime Law and Banking and Finance Law in Philadelphia, PA, listed in Best Lawyers in America©
  • 2019, 2021–2022, listed in The Legal 500 United States

Affiliations

Memberships

  • Philadelphia Bar Association
  • Defense Research Institute
  • East Norriton Township (PA) Planning Commission
  • Maritime Law Association of the United States
  • Pennsylvania Bar Association
  • US Coast Guard Academy Alumni Association
Professional Activities

Jeffrey's primary volunteer and pro bono interests include long-time service to the Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts. He has served on the board of directors of the Public Interest Law Center since January 2013. He has been a member of the East Norriton (PA) Planning Commission since 2011.

Credentials

Admissions

  • Pennsylvania
  • New Jersey
  • U.S. District Court - Eastern District of New York
  • U.S. District Court - Southern District of New York

Education

  • U.S. Coast Guard Academy, BS, cum laude
  • Temple University School of Law, JD