Christopher R. Nolan

Christopher R. Nolan is a litigation attorney in Holland & Knight's New York and Chicago offices and serves as co-chair of the firm's Transportation and Infrastructure Group comprising 225 colleagues in the U.S. and around the world, including Mexico City, Monterrey, Bogota and aviation finance in London. Mr. Nolan is an international dispute resolution and arbitration lawyer whose practice concentrates on complex commercial litigation with an emphasis on maritime, contract and insolvency matters.

From the start of his career, Mr. Nolan has represented a broad range of transportation clients from shipping owners, charterers, shippers, consignees of cargo, supply chain logistics providers, traders and foreign instrumentalities who have sought his business judgment in order to resolve shipping disputes arising from charterparties, bills of lading, fire and explosion, total loss, limitation, demurrage and detention invoicing and insolvency. He is regularly instructed on behalf of Hull underwriters and protection and indemnity (P&I) Clubs on marine insurance matters.

Mr. Nolan acts as national counsel for a major ocean carrier, and as such is frequently instructed in cargo disputes, logistics challenges and contamination claims. The scope of claims necessitates resolving disputes with regularity that concern proceedings in the key transportation hubs of California, Florida, Illinois, the New York Tri-State area and Texas, as well as the Washington, D.C., metro area before the Federal Maritime Commission involving the U.S. Shipping Act and Ocean Shipping Reform Act matters. In the last decade, as risk tolerances differ from dispute to dispute, he has assisted companies with developing aggressive early resolution programs for thorny matters.

Mr. Nolan is the only American lawyer to be included three times on the "Top 10 Maritime Lawyers" by Lloyd's List, a ranking of the most influential lawyers in the global maritime industry, in 2018, 2019 and 2023. He was also featured in a 2020 Lloyd's List article in connection with his frequent representation of non-U.S. based transport companies, including his client's spring 2020 U.S. Supreme Court amicus brief victory on behalf of amici curiae INTERTANKO, BIMCO and INTERCARGO.

Independent legal directories noting client testimonials have said:

Christopher Nolan is a standout maritime lawyer.

– Legal 500 USA 2022

He is a smart attorney who writes well and is smooth in a tribunal setting. He promptly attends to requests, provides opinions and recommendations in a timely manner, and has a calm, positive and decisive way of handling of cases.

– Chambers USA 2021

Clients describe him as "a great attorney who is very knowledgeable, deeply experienced, diligent, dedicated and produces fantastic results." Active on charter party and total loss cases, among others, he is further applauded as a "very skilled and effective lawyer with strong commercial and tactical understanding."

– Chambers Global 2021

'Chris has expertly guided us through the pitfalls in the litigation process,' [lauded a client to the guide], adding 'I trust his judgement and ability to lead others on his team.'

– Chambers Global 2018

In 2014, Mr. Nolan served as delegate for the Comité Maritime International (CMI) at the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law – Working Group IV on the pending convention on electronic shipment documentation to determine its impact on the proposed new ocean cargo liability convention (the "Rotterdam Rules"). In 2020, he co-authored an American Bar Association (ABA) book chapter on "Damages in Cargo Cases and General Average," which includes Rotterdam Rules considerations.

Mr. Nolan is active in the legal community. He is the current chair of the American Bar Association (ABA), Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section (TIPS). Mr. Nolan was elected 2018-2024 as an officer of the 10,000-plus member ABA Section, the 2011-2012 ABA TIPS Admiralty Committee Chair, and as a Maritime Law Association of the United States (MLAUS) Proctor in Admiralty and its 2021-2025 Chairman of its 90-year-old Arbitration & Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) committee. He has been quoted in maritime publications Lloyd's List, TradeWinds and the like on a wide range of topics.

In 2016, Mr. Nolan was one of two partners to receive Holland & Knight's inaugural Living the Commitment Award recognizing his work as the New York office's community service chair in connection with the firm's 9/11 Day of Service commitment. He also is the New York office's representative for pro bono work with Kids In Need of Defense (KIND), and he has handled pro bono cases for journalists on First Amendment grounds in defamation suits and a workers' compensation proceeding arising out of the Sept. 11 tragedy.