“There are many doors to maritime recovery, and, very often, only a single guard before them.”
– John Hillsman
John Hillsman
John Hillsman has tried more than 100 maritime cases to verdict or judgment and is perennially listed in such publications as The Best Lawyers in America, Northern California Super Lawyers, and the San Francisco Business Times’ Best Lawyers in Northern California. He was named “San Francisco’s Lawyer of the Year for Admiralty and Maritime law” in 2024, 2023, 2019, and 2016 by The Best Lawyers in America. In 2018, Mr. Hillsman and McGuinn, Hillsman & Palefsky firm were selected as the “Admiralty & Maritime – Law Firm of the Year” by Finance Monthly and received a Legal Elite Award as the “Best Admiralty & Maritime Law Firm-The Bay Area” from U.S. Business News.
Mr. Hillsman earned his undergraduate degree from U.C. Berkeley, received his J.D. from U.C. Law San Francisco (formerly “Hastings College of the Law”), and became a member of the California Bar in 1976. He was admitted to the Bar of the United States Supreme Court in 1990 and by 2011 was named among the “Top One-Hundred Lawyers” in Northern California by Super Lawyers Magazine. He has long held an “AV Preeminent” rating (highest available) from Martindale-Hubble and has been repeatedly profiled in “The Recorder,” San Francisco’s legal newspaper.
Mr. Hillsman is a Member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL), and a “Proctor” Member of the Maritime Law Association (MLAUS). He is active in the Admiralty Section of the American Association for Justice (AAJ) and belongs to the Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC) and the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association (SFTLA).
He has lectured on admiralty practice and maritime tort law for organizations such as the American Bar Association, the Maritime Law Association, the United States Department of Labor, the Rutter Group, the National Business Institute, the American Association for Justice, and the Louisiana Trial Lawyers Association at seminars, conventions, and classes in California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Louisiana, and New York. He has likewise authored several law review articles including: “The Last Tango in Pasadena,” 43 Tul. Mar. L.J. xi, xii-xvi (2019);“Navigating the ‘Zone of Uncertainty’ in Stewart’s Wake,” 3 Ben.Mar.Bull. 158 (2005); “Still Lost in the Labyrinth: The Continuing Puzzle of Seaman Status,” 15 U.S.F.Mar.L.J. 49 (2003); “Have All the Recent Twists and Turns in the Jones Act Left Deep Sea Divers High and Dry?” 11 U.S.F.Mar.L.J. 47 (1999); “Looking for a Lodestar Among the Rocks and Shoals of Longshore Coverage,” 3 U.S.F.Mar.L.J. 227 (1991); “The Plaintiff’s Perspective on Expert Witnesses,” 18 The Brief 51 (1988).
In 2007, Mr. Hillsman was appointed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal to help rewrite that Circuit’s Model Jury Instructions for “Jones Act and Other Admiralty Claims” (Ninth Circuit Manual of Model Jury Instructions (2007 ed.) §§ 7.1-7.12), has served as a member of the Federal District Court for the Northern District of California’s Admiralty Advisory Committee since 2012, and has been a Mediator and Early-Neutral-Evaluator for that District’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Program since 1999. He has also sat as Judge pro tem for the San Francisco Superior Court, served on the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association and the Board of Trustees for the San Francisco Maritime Museum, and been a proud member of the Piledrivers, Divers, Bridge, Wharf & Dock Builders Union, Local 34, the Sailors Union of the Pacific, and the Inland Boatmen’s Union.
KGO News interview with John Hillsman April 8, 2024:
John Hillsman argues Ranger vs Alamitos Bay Yacht Club before the California Supreme Court December 4, 2024:
John Hillsman argues Williams Sports Rentals Inc. vs Willis June 8th, 2023 (CLICK BELOW FOR AUDIO):
