John Hughes Cooper, Attorney, Cooper & Bilbrey, Mount Pleasant, SC

John Hughes Cooper brings 45 years of admiralty and maritime law experience, specializing in maritime lien enforcement through vessel arrest. His background as a commercial fisherman and shrimp boat owner, operator and captain provided practical foundation for his legal practice in admiralty matters.

An early experience led him to the field.

“Before law school I made a living as a commercial fisherman and shrimp boat owner, operator, captain,” Cooper says. “During law school, I studied admiralty and maritime law and decided to pursue employment in that practice area.”

His memorable cases include representing a longshoreman whose legs were both amputated during cargo operations aboard the M/V Oswego Planter in Savannah, Georgia, and the permanent injury of a commercial diver off Morgan City, Louisiana, who decompressed on carbon monoxide fumes.

Complementing his practice, he serves as a proctor member of the Maritime Law Association of the United States and is a former port director of the Southeastern Admiralty Law Institute. Cooper also maintains extensive court admissions, including federal district courts, appeals courts and the Supreme Court.