31 min
Attorney David Heffernan talks Maritime Law with Robert (Chip) Birthisel First Off, Let's Kill All the Lawyers
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- Business
Welcome to another episode of First off, let's kill all the lawyers. That phrase Shakespeare wrote back in the 15th century that was uttered by Dick the butcher to raucous laughter and applause, which today still people kind of go…. not a bad idea. Although one of the things I love about it now this show is getting a little bit of traction, I get all these calls from lawyers saying “you know, that was actually a flattering thing”. I think today, they still might laugh and think killing all lawyers is a good start. I'm David Heffernan and I've been practicing personal injury law here in South Florida for the past 30 years now, which is scary to think about.
The goal behind these shows is to bring in lawyers from varying walks of life and fields of practice, and talk about different areas of law, get to know some of these lawyers a little bit, and maybe one by one, we'll just start checking a few of these people off of the kill list. And my guest this morning, and I'm just absolutely thrilled to have because we had dinner with a lot of our classmates last night from 1991, graduating class at UVM Law School, which is where I met this gentleman. We've been friends for 30 years, one of my best friends, and one of the top maritime and Admiralty lawyers in the country. Chip Birthisel.
Thanks, Dave, that's awfully nice stuff to say. And I wouldn't come on before because I didn't want to be killed.
Well, the goal here today is maybe we get you moved off that list, one at a time. So, one of the things that I think is fascinating about you, and I want to get into what maritime and Admiralty law is, and everything else, and again, that's, we could spend a week talking about it. But one of the things I think is amazing about you is your story. And I and I want to go back, I want to go way back to a 17-year-old kid that wasn't quite sure where he was going in life. Was he going to be a dropout surfer? What was he going to do and, and made a pretty critical decision? So, talk about the decision you made at 17. And then I want to talk about the benefits that came out of that.
Well, it's kind of funny, I at 17, I was dropped out of high school. I didn't see myself really going anywhere. My parents, I was fifth-generation Floridian my parents made the mistake to move me to Fort Worth, Texas, which was a long way from the coast that was a young surfer kid who lived up in Cocoa Beach, Florida. So, we went out to Texas, I didn't like it a whole lot, I figured the best way to get out of there would be to join the service. So, I joined the Coast Guard, which actually got me a wide goal to go to California and surf and get around the country. Every place there was a coast and surf. And so that's how I've gotten
out now at least we know the motivation was I'll join somewhere where I can go surf. That was
part of it. The other part of it was that the drummer for my band that I had back then in Texas, we broke up, he went back to Florida because he had some family issues. And so, the band broke up and I had to go and get a real job.
All right, well, we're going to look at a long-storied career with the Coast Guard. But one of the things I think is amazing is the way you took advantage of the opportunities. So, you're a near high school dropout. But while you're in the Coast Guard, you're afforded the opportunity to get an undergraduate degree.
Yeah, you know, I got to tell you back then it was a, I joined I wanted to boot I went to boot camp in January of 1975. It's a different world back then entirely. The military was a was a land of opportunity. I went in as a high school dropout made rate as fast as I possibly could move up, you know, enlisted ranks as fast as I possibly could. So, I started out as an E one. And then I retired 21 years later, as a lieutenant commander with a law degree. So, during that time that I was in, I was able to finish high school number one. Number two, went to University of San Francisco and got an undergraduate
Welcome to another episode of First off, let's kill all the lawyers. That phrase Shakespeare wrote back in the 15th century that was uttered by Dick the butcher to raucous laughter and applause, which today still people kind of go…. not a bad idea. Although one of the things I love about it now this show is getting a little bit of traction, I get all these calls from lawyers saying “you know, that was actually a flattering thing”. I think today, they still might laugh and think killing all lawyers is a good start. I'm David Heffernan and I've been practicing personal injury law here in South Florida for the past 30 years now, which is scary to think about.
The goal behind these shows is to bring in lawyers from varying walks of life and fields of practice, and talk about different areas of law, get to know some of these lawyers a little bit, and maybe one by one, we'll just start checking a few of these people off of the kill list. And my guest this morning, and I'm just absolutely thrilled to have because we had dinner with a lot of our classmates last night from 1991, graduating class at UVM Law School, which is where I met this gentleman. We've been friends for 30 years, one of my best friends, and one of the top maritime and Admiralty lawyers in the country. Chip Birthisel.
Thanks, Dave, that's awfully nice stuff to say. And I wouldn't come on before because I didn't want to be killed.
Well, the goal here today is maybe we get you moved off that list, one at a time. So, one of the things that I think is fascinating about you, and I want to get into what maritime and Admiralty law is, and everything else, and again, that's, we could spend a week talking about it. But one of the things I think is amazing about you is your story. And I and I want to go back, I want to go way back to a 17-year-old kid that wasn't quite sure where he was going in life. Was he going to be a dropout surfer? What was he going to do and, and made a pretty critical decision? So, talk about the decision you made at 17. And then I want to talk about the benefits that came out of that.
Well, it's kind of funny, I at 17, I was dropped out of high school. I didn't see myself really going anywhere. My parents, I was fifth-generation Floridian my parents made the mistake to move me to Fort Worth, Texas, which was a long way from the coast that was a young surfer kid who lived up in Cocoa Beach, Florida. So, we went out to Texas, I didn't like it a whole lot, I figured the best way to get out of there would be to join the service. So, I joined the Coast Guard, which actually got me a wide goal to go to California and surf and get around the country. Every place there was a coast and surf. And so that's how I've gotten
out now at least we know the motivation was I'll join somewhere where I can go surf. That was
part of it. The other part of it was that the drummer for my band that I had back then in Texas, we broke up, he went back to Florida because he had some family issues. And so, the band broke up and I had to go and get a real job.
All right, well, we're going to look at a long-storied career with the Coast Guard. But one of the things I think is amazing is the way you took advantage of the opportunities. So, you're a near high school dropout. But while you're in the Coast Guard, you're afforded the opportunity to get an undergraduate degree.
Yeah, you know, I got to tell you back then it was a, I joined I wanted to boot I went to boot camp in January of 1975. It's a different world back then entirely. The military was a was a land of opportunity. I went in as a high school dropout made rate as fast as I possibly could move up, you know, enlisted ranks as fast as I possibly could. So, I started out as an E one. And then I retired 21 years later, as a lieutenant commander with a law degree. So, during that time that I was in, I was able to finish high school number one. Number two, went to University of San Francisco and got an undergraduate
31 min