John R. Hillsman
Top rated Transportation & Maritime attorney in San Francisco, California
McGuinn, Hillsman & Palefsky
Practice areas: Transportation & Maritime, Personal Injury, Products Liability
Licensed in California since: 1976
Education: University of California College of the Law, San Francisco
Languages spoken: English, Spanish
Selected to Super Lawyers: 2004 - 2026 McGuinn, Hillsman & Palefsky
220 Jackson StSuite 350
San Francisco, CA 94111 Phone: 415-421-9292 Email: John R. Hillsman Visit website
John Hillsman is a highly accomplished maritime trial attorney who has tried more than 100 cases to verdict or judgment. He is consistently recognized among the top lawyers in the field, including repeated listings in The Best Lawyers in America, Northern California Super Lawyers, and the San Francisco Business Times' Best Lawyers in Northern California. He has been named “San Francisco Lawyer of the Year for Admiralty and Maritime Law” multiple times.
He earned his undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley and his J.D. from UC Law San Francisco, and has been a member of the California Bar since 1976. He is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and holds an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell. He has also been named among Northern California’s Top 100 Lawyers.
First Admitted: 1976, California
Professional Webpage: https://mhpsf.com/attorneys/john-hillsman/
Bar / Professional Activity
- At the request of the California State Bar, Mr. Hillsman served on the advisory committee which established the criteria for Bar certification as a maritime specialist. , 2007
Verdicts / Settlements (Case Results)
- Since has admission to the Bar in 1976, Mr. Hillsman has tried more than one hundred maritime personal injury cases to judgment or verdict, has appeared in State and Federal courts from Seattle to San Diego and Honolulu to Fort Lauderdale, and recovered more than 100 million dollars in judgments and settlements for his clients.
Representative Clients
- Over the years, Mr. Hillsman has represented a wide variety of individual maritime clients over the years -- including marine construction workers, dredgermen, divers, merchant seamen, tugboat hands, fishermen, longshoremen, shipyard workers, and cruise ship passengers -- in cases arising under the Jones Act, the Death on the High Seas Act, the Longshore Act, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, the General Maritime Law, and the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. He has also submitted Amicus Briefs on important maritime issues to the United States Supreme on behalf of the Seaman's Union of the Pacific, (Atlantic Sounding Co., Inv. v. Townsend, ___U.S.___, 129 S. Ct. 2561 (2009), the National Fisheries Institute ( Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker, 554 U.S. ___, ___ , 128 S. Ct. 2605 (2008)), and the United Brotherhoold of Carpenters and Joiners of America (Stewart v. Dutra Constr. Co., 543 U.S. 481 (2005), Harbor Tug Harbor Tug & Barge Co. v. Papai, 520 U.S. 548 (1997), and Southwest Marine, Inc. v. Gizoni, 502 U.S. 81, 86-87 (1991)., 1976
Pro bono / Community Service
- Mr. Hillsman has been a member of the Board of Advisors of the U.S.F. Maritime Law Journal since 1992 and was a member of the Board of Trustees for the San Francisco Maritime Museum in 2002-2003. He served on the Amicus Committee of the CTLA between 1981 and 1990 and wrote the organizations amicus briefs to the California Supreme Court in Tameny v. Atlantic Richfield Co., 27 Cal. 3d 167 (1980) and Foley v. Interactive Data Corp., 47 Cal. 3d 654 (1988). He served as an SFTLA board member in 1997-98. , 1981
Scholarly Lectures / Writings
- Mr. Hillsman is deeply committed to continuing legal education, and addresses seminars and conventions up and down the West Coast, and as far afield as Hawai’i and Louisiana on subjects relating to maritime tort law and insurance bad faith for such organizations such as the Rutter Group, CEB, the Pacific Admiralty Seminar, the MLA, and the National Business Institute. He is the author of several law review articles including: "Navigating the ‘Zone of Uncertainly’ 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)., Author and Lecturer, Several Titles, see summary below, 1978
Industry Groups
- AAJ
- ABOTA
- ACTL
- CAOC
- MLA
Office location for John R. Hillsman
220 Jackson St
Suite 350
San Francisco, CA 94111
Selections
- Super Lawyers: 2004 - 2026