JoAnne Zawitoski
Principal
jzawitoski@semmes.com

Baltimore Office
Suite 1400
25 S. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
410.576.4899
410.539.5223 (Fax)

Washington Office
Suite 1100
1001 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, D. C. 20036
202.822.8250

Ms. Zawitoski has more than 26 years of experience helping businesses of all kinds resolve their disputes, through counseling, mediation and, where necessary, litigation. She has handled complex matters involving covenants not to compete, intellectual property matters and claims of unfair competition, defamation cases, securities litigation, contract disputes, and many others. She has special expertise in representing individuals and businesses in maritime-related matters, both of a transactional nature and of a litigation nature. On the transactional side, she has helped clients with the sale and purchase of vessels, including vessel documentation problems, given advice regarding marine insurance coverage issues, and drafted maritime contracts, including leases of maritime real property, slip rental agreements, charterparties, and stevedoring and marine terminal agreements. On the litigation side, she has represented individuals and businesses in maritime matters before the Federal Maritime Commission, the U.S. Coast Guard, and in the Federal and State Courts. In her many years of practice, she has handled virtually every kind of maritime dispute, including suits on marine insurance policies, suits involving maritime lien claims and claims of cargo damage, suits involving breaches of maritime contracts, such as ship repair and supply contracts, cases involving collisions and allisions, suits for maritime personal injuries under the Jones Act and Longshore Act, administrative suits under the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, license suspension and revocation proceedings before the Coast Guard, oil spill claims under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, and matters involving passenger vessel claims.

Ms. Zawitoski achieved an A/V® rating from Martindale Hubbell®, the highest possible peer review rating for ethics and legal ability.

Admitted

• 1997, United States District Court for the District of Columbia;
• 1989, Superior Court for the District of Columbia;
• 1986, Supreme Court of the United States;
• 1985, United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit;
• 1981, United States District Court for the District of Maryland;
• 1981, Court of Appeals of Maryland;
• 1981, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

Education

• Georgetown University Law Center, Wash., D.C. (J.D., 1980)
  Law Review: The Tax Lawyer, Lead Articles Editor (1979)
• University of Maryland, College Park, cum laude, with Honors in English (1977)
• Honorary Societies: Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Alpha Lambda Delta

Affiliations, Associations & Special Achievements