Richard V. Singleton II

Richard V. Singleton II
Senior Counsel
Maritime

Biography

Richard Singleton is a member of our Maritime Emergency Response Team (“MERT”).

Richard concentrates his practice in the areas of commercial law, litigation, and arbitration, with particular emphasis on the maritime industry. He has over 25 years’ experience counseling clients, both domestic and international, in areas such as:

  • Maritime casualties such as collisions, groundings, fires, and sinkings, as well as damage to undersea electric cables and pipelines
  • Tug and tow
  • Charterparty and bill of lading issues and disputes
  • Maritime insolvency and restructuring
  • Maritime environmental law
  • U.S. Coast Guard and other governmental maritime investigations
  • Insurance and reinsurance
  • General commercial disputes, including litigation and arbitration

Richard is ranked in Chambers USA as a leading attorney for shipping litigation in New York. Chambers states that he is an “experienced figure who handles matters such as bills of lading, maritime casualty, and insurance disputes” and notes that clients say they admire that he is “hugely experienced; his knowledge of general maritime law in the U.S., in particular to casualty claims, is profound.” Richard is the immediate past co-chair of the Maritime and Transport Law Committee of the International Bar Association.

Experience

  • Represented natural gas utility and its insurers in two separate litigations for damage to undersea electric transmission cables that occurred during construction of a natural gas pipeline in Long Island Sound.
  • Defended vessel owner and its insurers in suit by electric utility seeking for damages to seven undersea electric transmission cables.
  • Defended tugboat owner against $115 million pollution claim by an oil major for clean up and damages arising out of the largest oil spill in New York harbor, and obtained judgment in client’s favor after trial.
  • Represented vessel owners that issued bonds to institutional investors in a $110 million suit by bondholders and indenture trustee seeking to accelerate payment and foreclose on security.
  • Defended reinsurance brokerage in a suit brought by cedents and reinsurers  alleging fraud and misappropriation of funds.
  • Representation of vessel owner in litigation against shipyard for negligent/improper design and construction of six vessels.

News & Views

See all News and Views

Recognitions

  • 2019–2025, Admiralty and Maritime Law in New York, listed in Best Lawyers in America©
  • 2015–2024, Transportation: Shipping/Maritime: Litigation Law, listed in Chambers USA
  • 2019–2022, listed in The Legal 500 United States
  • 2018–2019, listed in Euromoney’s Shipping and Best of the Best USA Expert Guides
  • 2019, listed in Euromoney’s Best of the Best Expert Guide
  • 2023–2025, Thought Leader: USA in Shipping, listed in Lexology Index (formerly Who’s Who Legal)
  • 2023–2025, Thought Leader: Global Elite in Shipping, listed in Lexology Index (formerly Who’s Who Legal)
  • 2019–2023, Global Leader in Shipping, listed in Who’s Who Legal
  • 2017–2018, listed in Who’s Who Legal – Shipping
  • Shipping and Maritime Law, listed in Who’s Who Legal
  • AV-Preeminent®, listed by Martindale-Hubbell®

Affiliations

Memberships

  • American Bar Association
  • International Bar Association
  • Maritime Law Association of the United States

Credentials

Admissions

  • Supreme Court of the United States
  • New York
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

Education

  • Guilford College, AB
  • Gonzaga University School of Law, JD, magna cum laude
  • University of Michigan Law School, LLM

A description of the standard or methodology on which the accolades are based can be found here.

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