Crew and passenger injuries afloat, fatalities at sea, cargo loss and damage claims, charterparty and carriage disputes, ship arrests and maritime liens, collisions and groundings, salvage, marine insurance coverage arguments, and pollution incidents. Fishing vessel and ferry work features heavily on both coasts. A firm will usually be strong on injury work or on commercial shipping, not equally on both.

The starting question is whether your situation falls under provincial workers compensation or under federal maritime law, because the answer decides where a claim goes and what can be recovered. Vessel owners also owe duties around seaworthiness and safe systems of work that have no exact equivalent ashore. A lawyer sorts that jurisdiction question before anything else happens.

Injury claims are commonly handled on a contingency arrangement, which is available in most provinces. Cargo, charter and insurance work is billed hourly, often with an estimate for each stage. Ask how disbursements such as surveyor reports and translated documents are funded and when they are repaid. Get the answer in the engagement letter rather than over the phone.

Vessel name and registered owner, the incident report, the log, a list of crew and passengers, photographs of the scene and any equipment involved, weather conditions, and all medical documentation. Keep every letter or message from the owner, the operator or the insurer. Written notes made soon after the event carry more weight than a memory produced months later.

Frequently it does. Pleasure craft collisions, injuries on chartered boats and personal watercraft incidents can come under federal maritime law rather than ordinary provincial negligence rules. Insurance for pleasure craft also has its own wrinkles. A lawyer who works on marine files will tell you quickly which set of rules your situation sits under.