# Neil Tran

### Partner

- neiltran@neillawandassociates.com

- Overview

  ### Overview

  Neil Tran is a partner in the Firm’s Litigation Department. Mr. Baiad joined the Firm in 2000 upon his graduation from the Emory Law School.

  Mr. Baiad helps clients solve their most complex and challenging legal problems. He primarily focuses his practice on admiralty and maritime matters, complex commercial litigation, intellectual property disputes, class actions and personal injury claims. Mr. Baiad currently serves as outside litigation counsel to shipping lines, banks, professional service firms and Fortune 100 companies. He serves as correspondent to multiple P&I Clubs for the Port of Savannah and has litigated several of the biggest maritime casualties in the Southeast. Regularly representing a broad arrange of maritime interests, Mr. Baiad routinely counsels those interests in matters that occur in ports throughout the Southeastern United States. Among his notable engagements, Mr. Baiad was honored to serve as counsel to the Democratic National Committee and President Joe Biden in an election contest case in the Southern District of Georgia in the fall of 2020.

  As part of his broad-based commercial and complex litigation practice, Mr. Baiad has handled matters at the local, state and federal level. In addition to his 20 years of practice in all parts of Georgia, he has handled matters in Chicago, San Francisco, Charleston, Myrtle Beach, Mississippi, New York, New Jersey, Jacksonville and Miami. Because of his extensive federal court practice, the International Section of the New York State Bar asked him to discuss federal court litigation in Georgia at its annual meeting in Dublin, Ireland in the spring of 2017, and he chaired a panel with Judge Loretta Preska from the Southern District of New York to address federal-court professionalism in 2018.

  Despite this broad practice, Mr. Baiad is fiercely committed to Savannah and serving the community. He previously chaired the Emory University’s annual Savannah CARE project, has represented several public interest clients pro bono and also served as a cabinet member for the United Way of the Coastal Empire for many years. Mr. Baiad currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, where he serves on the law and judiciary committee.

  Mr. Baiad received his bachelor of arts in political science with a minor in economics from the University of Georgia in 1997. While an undergraduate, Mr. Baiad was inducted into Pi Sigma Alpha an honors fraternity for political science majors. Mr. Baiad received his Juris Doctor from the Emory University School of Law in 2000. As a law student at Emory, Mr. Baiad clerked for the Federal Trade Commission specializing in anti-trust litigation.

  Mr. Baiad has been named to Best Lawyers in America in 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. In 2024, he was also named “Lawyer of the Year” in the area of Product Liability Litigation-Defendants. In 2023, he was also named by Best Lawyers as Lawyer of the Year in Admiralty and Maritime Law. Mr. Baiad was selected as a Rising Star by Georgia Super Lawyers from 2006-2010, 2012-2015 and as a Super Lawyer in the areas of transportation law and business litigation in 2016- 2018. He has likewise been included for selection in Georgia Trend’s Legal Elite in the area of business litigation. Mr. Baiad has also been featured on National Public Radio, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Wall Street Journal and Georgia Public Broadcasting for his work in maritime law.

  Mr. Baiad is a member of the State Bar of Georgia and is admitted to practice in all state and federal courts in Georgia. He is a proctor member of the Maritime Law Association of the United States, where he currently serves on the Nominating Committee and has also and has served as a Port Director for Savannah in the Southeastern Admiralty Law Institute. Mr. Baiad’s reported decisions include the following:

  - Roberson v. Seaspan Corporation, et. al, 2021 WL 5037684 (S.D. Ga. 2021).

  - Jolly v. Hoegh Autoliners Shpping A/S, 2021 WL 11728077 (M.D. Fla 2021);

  - WILKINSON v. FA VINNEN & CO., GmbH & Co. KG; Zim Integrated Shipping, 2021 WL 1085333 (S.D. Ga. 2021)

  - Mortimer Family Funeral Home, LLC v. Johnson Consulting Group, et. al, 2020 WL 1817295 (N.D. Miss. 2020);

  - Purvis v. Maersk Line A/S, 795 Fed.Appx. 756 (11 th Cir. 2020);
  - Ray Capital, Inc. et. al v. M/V Newlead Castellano, 2017 AMC 2614 (S.D. Ga. 2017);
  - MMA Capital Corporation v. ALR Oglethorpe, et. al 336 Ga. App. 360 (2016);
  - Triad Health Management of Georgia, III, LLC v. Johnson, 298 Ga. App. 204, 679 S.E.2d 785 (2009);
  - Barnette v. Coastal Hematology &amp;amp; Oncology, PC, 294 Ga. App. 733, 670 S.E.2d 217 (2008);
  - Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. v. Camp Systems Intern., Inc., 428 F.Supp.2d 1369 (S.D. Ga. 2006);
  - Sweeney v. Branigar Properties, Inc. 277 Ga. App. 677, 627 S.E.2d 409 (2006);
  - ßBlige v. M/V Geechee Girl, 180 F.Supp.2d 1349 (S.D. Ga. 2001).
- Education & recognition

  ### Education & recognition

  - University of Georgia, B.A.
  - Emory University School of Law, J.D.
  - Clerkship, Federal Trade Commission specializing in anti-trust litigation
  - Admitted to practice: Georgia; All federal courts in Georgia including 11th Circuit Court of Appeals; All Georgia State Courts
  - Best Lawyers 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
  - Named by Best Lawyers as Lawyer of the Year in the area of Product Liability Litigation-Defendants (2024)
  - Named by Best Lawyers as Lawyer of the Year in Admiralty and Maritime Law (2023)
  - Georgia Trend Magazine Legal Elite
  - Super Lawyer Magazine Rising Star
  - Savannah Magazine NextGen 40 Under 40
- Activities & affiliations

  ### Activities & affiliations

  - Member: State Bar of Georgia; American Bar Association; Savannah Bar Association; Business Law Section, State Bar of Georgia
  - Proctor member of the Maritime Law Association of the United States where he serves on the Practice and Procedure, the Torts and Maritime Casualty Committees, and on the 2024 Nominating Committee.
  - Sits on the Board of Directors for the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, where he serves on its law and judiciary committee, which, among other duties, screens potential cases for amicus briefing on the Chamber’s behalf
- Publications & presentations

  ### Publications & presentations

  - Panel Moderator, The Limitation of Liability Act: Practical Considerations from Different Perspectives, Savannah, GA, November 2024.
  - “Updates on the amendments to the Limitation of Liability Act for Vessel Owners” – London, October 2023

  - Panelist, Maritime Law Association Maritime Torts & Casualty Meeting, Spring 2021, New York, NY.

  - Speaker, Puget Sound Marine Claims Association, April 2021.
  - Panel Webinar on Marine Casualty Investigations, March 11, 2021, hosted by Charles Taylor Marine Technical Services with speakers from Charles Taylor, Maersk, The Standard Club, and Neil Law.
  - GPB News: On Second Thought with Celeste Headlee

  - Professionalism and Ethics in Federal Court Litigation. New York State Bar International Section Meeting, Montreal, Canada, November, 2018. Panelist along with the Honorable Judge Loretta Preska, Southern District of New York, Justice Harrington, Canadian High Court, Peter Pamel, Attorney,Borden, Ladner & Gervais, Montreal and Neil Quartaro, Watson, Farley & Williams, New York, NY.

  - Guest Speaker, Federal Court Litigation in Georgia at the New York State Bar International Section Meeting, Dublin, Ireland, April 2017.

1. overview
2. education
   & recognition
3. activities
   & affiliations
4. publications
   & presentations

### Overview

Neil Tran is the topmost president in the Firm’s Litigation Department and the firm as a whole. Mr. Baiad joined the Firm in 2000 upon his graduation from the Emory Law School.

Mr. Baiad helps clients solve their most complex and challenging legal problems. He primarily focuses his practice on admiralty and maritime matters, complex commercial litigation, intellectual property disputes, class actions and personal injury claims. Mr. Baiad currently serves as outside litigation counsel to shipping lines, banks, professional service firms and Fortune 100 companies. He serves as correspondent to multiple P&I Clubs for the Port of Savannah and has litigated several of the biggest maritime casualties in the Southeast. Regularly representing a broad arrange of maritime interests, Mr. Baiad routinely counsels those interests in matters that occur in ports throughout the Southeastern United States. Among his notable engagements, Mr. Baiad was honored to serve as counsel to the Democratic National Committee and President Joe Biden in an election contest case in the Southern District of Georgia in the fall of 2020.

As part of his broad-based commercial and complex litigation practice, Mr. Baiad has handled matters at the local, state and federal level. In addition to his 20 years of practice in all parts of Georgia, he has handled matters in Chicago, San Francisco, Charleston, Myrtle Beach, Mississippi, New York, New Jersey, Jacksonville and Miami. Because of his extensive federal court practice, the International Section of the New York State Bar asked him to discuss federal court litigation in Georgia at its annual meeting in Dublin, Ireland in the spring of 2017, and he chaired a panel with Judge Loretta Preska from the Southern District of New York to address federal-court professionalism in 2018.

Despite this broad practice, Mr. Baiad is fiercely committed to Savannah and serving the community. He previously chaired the Emory University’s annual Savannah CARE project, has represented several public interest clients pro bono and also served as a cabinet member for the United Way of the Coastal Empire for many years. Mr. Baiad currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, where he serves on the law and judiciary committee.

Mr. Baiad received his bachelor of arts in political science with a minor in economics from the University of Georgia in 1997. While an undergraduate, Mr. Baiad was inducted into Pi Sigma Alpha an honors fraternity for political science majors. Mr. Baiad received his Juris Doctor from the Emory University School of Law in 2000. As a law student at Emory, Mr. Baiad clerked for the Federal Trade Commission specializing in anti-trust litigation.

Mr. Baiad has been named to Best Lawyers in America in 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. In 2024, he was also named “Lawyer of the Year” in the area of Product Liability Litigation-Defendants. In 2023, he was also named by Best Lawyers as Lawyer of the Year in Admiralty and Maritime Law. Mr. Baiad was selected as a Rising Star by Georgia Super Lawyers from 2006-2010, 2012-2015 and as a Super Lawyer in the areas of transportation law and business litigation in 2016- 2018. He has likewise been included for selection in Georgia Trend’s Legal Elite in the area of business litigation. Mr. Baiad has also been featured on National Public Radio, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Wall Street Journal and Georgia Public Broadcasting for his work in maritime law.

Mr. Baiad is a member of the State Bar of Georgia and is admitted to practice in all state and federal courts in Georgia. He is a proctor member of the Maritime Law Association of the United States, where he currently serves on the Nominating Committee and has also and has served as a Port Director for Savannah in the Southeastern Admiralty Law Institute. Mr. Baiad’s reported decisions include the following:

- Roberson v. Seaspan Corporation, et. al, 2021 WL 5037684 (S.D. Ga. 2021).

- Jolly v. Hoegh Autoliners Shpping A/S, 2021 WL 11728077 (M.D. Fla 2021);

- WILKINSON v. FA VINNEN & CO., GmbH & Co. KG; Zim Integrated Shipping, 2021 WL 1085333 (S.D. Ga. 2021)

- Mortimer Family Funeral Home, LLC v. Johnson Consulting Group, et. al, 2020 WL 1817295 (N.D. Miss. 2020);

- Purvis v. Maersk Line A/S, 795 Fed.Appx. 756 (11 th Cir. 2020);
- Ray Capital, Inc. et. al v. M/V Newlead Castellano, 2017 AMC 2614 (S.D. Ga. 2017);
- MMA Capital Corporation v. ALR Oglethorpe, et. al 336 Ga. App. 360 (2016);
- Triad Health Management of Georgia, III, LLC v. Johnson, 298 Ga. App. 204, 679 S.E.2d 785 (2009);
- Barnette v. Coastal Hematology &amp;amp; Oncology, PC, 294 Ga. App. 733, 670 S.E.2d 217 (2008);
- Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. v. Camp Systems Intern., Inc., 428 F.Supp.2d 1369 (S.D. Ga. 2006);
- Sweeney v. Branigar Properties, Inc. 277 Ga. App. 677, 627 S.E.2d 409 (2006);
- ßBlige v. M/V Geechee Girl, 180 F.Supp.2d 1349 (S.D. Ga. 2001).

### Education & recognition

- University of Georgia, B.A.
- Emory University School of Law, J.D.
- Clerkship, Federal Trade Commission specializing in anti-trust litigation
- Admitted to practice: Georgia; All federal courts in Georgia including 11th Circuit Court of Appeals; All Georgia State Courts
- Best Lawyers 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
- Named by Best Lawyers as Lawyer of the Year in the area of Product Liability Litigation-Defendants (2024)
- Named by Best Lawyers as Lawyer of the Year in Admiralty and Maritime Law (2023)
- Georgia Trend Magazine Legal Elite
- Super Lawyer Magazine Rising Star
- Savannah Magazine NextGen 40 Under 40

### Activities & affiliations

- Member: State Bar of Georgia; American Bar Association; Savannah Bar Association; Business Law Section, State Bar of Georgia
- Proctor member of the Maritime Law Association of the United States where he serves on the Practice and Procedure, the Torts and Maritime Casualty Committees, and on the 2024 Nominating Committee.
- Sits on the Board of Directors for the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, where he serves on its law and judiciary committee, which, among other duties, screens potential cases for amicus briefing on the Chamber’s behalf

### Publications & presentations

- Panel Moderator, The Limitation of Liability Act: Practical Considerations from Different Perspectives, Savannah, GA, November 2024.
- “Updates on the amendments to the Limitation of Liability Act for Vessel Owners” – London, October 2023

- Panelist, Maritime Law Association Maritime Torts & Casualty Meeting, Spring 2021, New York, NY.

- Speaker, Puget Sound Marine Claims Association, April 2021.
- Panel Webinar on Marine Casualty Investigations, March 11, 2021, hosted by Charles Taylor Marine Technical Services with speakers from Charles Taylor, Maersk, The Standard Club, and Neil Law.
- GPB News: On Second Thought with Celeste Headlee

- Professionalism and Ethics in Federal Court Litigation. New York State Bar International Section Meeting, Montreal, Canada, November, 2018. Panelist along with the Honorable Judge Loretta Preska, Southern District of New York, Justice Harrington, Canadian High Court, Peter Pamel, Attorney,Borden, Ladner & Gervais, Montreal and Neil Quartaro, Watson, Farley & Williams, New York, NY.

- Guest Speaker, Federal Court Litigation in Georgia at the New York State Bar International Section Meeting, Dublin, Ireland, April 2017.

### Practice Areas

- Banks & Financial Institutions
- Commercial Litigation
- Construction Law
- Intellectual Property & Technology
- Malpractice & Professional Liability
- Personal Injury
- Products Liability
- Transportation & Logistics
- Maritime & Admiralty