Mariner Law, PLLC is proud to celebrate Of Counsel attorney Jack Poulson’s featured contributions to the September 2026 issue of Alaska Business magazine’s article, “Air and Sea Specialty: Aviation, Maritime, and Transportation Law in Alaska.”
For clients, credibility matters. In maritime law, credibility often comes from experience. Jack Poulson brings something increasingly rare to the legal profession: decades of maritime legal experience combined with real-world time spent working aboard vessels.
As the article highlights, Poulson’s perspective is shaped not only by more than forty years of legal practice, but also by firsthand experience working on tugboats in Alaska before entering the legal profession. That background allows him to understand maritime disputes not merely from a courtroom perspective, but from the wheelhouse, deck, and engine room as well.
Many attorneys handle maritime cases. Few have worked in theindustry they represent.
According to the Alaska Business profile, Poulson worked aboard tugboats on the Yukon River system and throughout Southeast Alaska before becoming an attorney. Those experiences gave him practical insight into the challenges faced by commercial fishermen, vessel owners, offshore workers, and maritime businesses operating in some of the world’s most demanding marine environments.
The article also notes Poulson’s extensive maritimecredentials, including:
· U.S. Coast Guard Inland Operator License forInspected Towing Vessels
· U.S. Merchant Mariner’s Document
· Designation as a Proctor in Admiralty by the Maritime Law Association of the United States
These credentials reflect a career built around the maritime industry long before courtroom advocacy entered the picture.
In the article, Poulson explains why maritime law in Alaska differs from maritime law practiced elsewhere in the United States.
Alaska has more coastline than the rest of the country combined. Communities depend heavily on vessels for transportation, commerce, fishing, resource development, and daily life. According to Poulson, while federal maritime law is generally uniform across the United States, Alaska’s unique geography, weather conditions, remoteness, and regulatory environment create distinct legal challenges.
As he explains in the article, Alaska’s economy depends upon maritime transportation. Commercial fishing, resource extraction, tourism, cargo movement, and military operations all rely upon safe and efficient marine commerce. When accidents occur, the consequences can be significant for workers, families, and businesses alike.
One quote from the article captures the extraordinary natureof Poulson’s career:
“My cases have taken me to remote locations throughout Alaska. From iced-up crab boats rolling over in the Bering Sea to at-sea vessel collisions, man overboard situations, salvage operations, and winch entanglements. Even a maritime claim for a bear mauling death.”
Those cases illustrate the remarkable variety of legal issues that can arise in maritime practice. Unlike many areas of law, maritime attorneys often deal with incidents occurring hundreds of miles from shore, in extreme weather conditions, and under a complex web of federal maritime statutes, Coast Guard regulations, international conventions, and state laws.
For injured seamen and maritime workers, having counsel whounderstands those realities can make a meaningful difference.
At Mariner Law, our practice is focused on representing maritime workers and their families. Maritime injury claims often involve specialized laws that do not apply to land-based workers, including:
· The Jones Act
· General Maritime Law
· Unseaworthiness claims
· Maintenance and Cure benefits
· Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Actclaims
· Commercial fishing vessel injuries
· Tugboat and towing vessel accidents
· Wrongful death claims arising at sea
Success in these cases requires more than knowledge of statutes and court decisions. It requires understanding how vessels operate, how accidents occur, how crews function, and what life is actually like aboard a working vessel.
The Alaska Business article also highlights Poulson’s observations regarding the future of maritime law. He points to changing environmental regulations, increased commercial activity in Arctic waters, growth in maritime transportation, and evolving dispute resolution practices as trends likely to shape the next decade.
The maritime industry continues to evolve, but the need for experienced maritime counsel remains constant. Whether the issue involves a serious injury aboard a fishing vessel, a towing accident, a vessel casualty, a man-overboard incident, or a complex commercial maritime dispute, the legal and operational realities of life at sea require specialized knowledge.
Jack Poulson serves as Of Counsel to Mariner Law, PLLC. He is a highly respected maritime attorney with more than four decades of experience representing maritime clients throughout Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. His combination of legal experience, Coast Guard credentials, and firsthand maritime employment provides clients with a rare level of industry insight.
His inclusion in Alaska Business magazine’s discussion of leading aviation, maritime, and transportation attorneys reflects a career dedicated to serving the maritime community and advancing safety throughout the industry.
If you or a family member has been injured while working aboard a vessel, contact Mariner Law. Our team focuses on maritime and admiralty law and represents seamen, commercial fishermen, longshore workers, and maritime families throughout the United States.