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James C. Arnold
Of Counsel
Tel: 713-402-7643
email: jcarnold@brlpc.com
Mr. Arnold was in private practice in Houston from 1979-1994 specializing in admiralty and maritime matters, marine insurance, collision, salvage, chartering, Jones-Act litigation and marine contracts. He subsequently served from 1995 to 2010 as Senior Counsel for the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) based in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, during which time he also acted as Associate General Counsel/Secretary and principle Attorney for Saudi Aramco’s wholly-owned tanker subsidiary, Vela International Marine Limited based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, operating a fleet of 50+ owned and chartered VLCCs and MR/Aframax Product Tankers worldwide.
While with Saudi Aramco, Mr. Arnold also served as principal legal advisor to the Saudi Aramco Marine Department which operated a fleet of 90+ owned and chartered offshore support vessels and docking tugs in the inland waters of Saudi Arabia; principal legal advisor to the Saudi Aramco Global Oil Spill Response Organization and Crisis Response Team, responsible for planning and maintaining oil spill and crisis response organizations in the U.S., Western Europe, Middle East and Far East; principal legal advisor and head negotiator for 19 VLCC newbuilding contracts and 2 offshore heavy lift and drilling rig construction contracts; principal legal advisor and negotiator for 15 second hand single hull VLCC sales; and legal advisor to the Saudi Aramco Contracting and Project Management organizations for numerous offshore energy infrastructure construction projects in the Arabian Gulf and Red Sea. During this period Mr. Arnold also acted as principle legal advisor in two major crisis response efforts involving a crash of an FAA registered helicopter in the Arabian Gulf with multiple loss of life and seizure of a Liberian flagged VLCC by Somali pirates, as well as numerous emergency response drills conducted in the Middle East, Africa and Western Europe and responses to various other minor emergency incidents worldwide.
Mr. Arnold’s practice focuses upon all aspect of inland, ocean and offshore shipping operations and the offshore energy industry, with emphasis on international/domestic tanker and barge operations, chartering, ship and drilling rig newbuilding and sale and purchase contracts, vessel/rig financing and documentation, international regulatory compliance, onshore and offshore energy infrastructure project transactions and oil spill and emergency disaster coordination and response.
Military
Mr. Arnold is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and served for 7 years as an officer in the United States Navy, including 4 years of sea duty as a Surface Warfare Officer with sea duty in Viet Nam and the Western Pacific and 3
years as an Instructor and Asst. Professor of Naval Science at the Department of Naval Science, California Maritime Academy.
Education
J.D., University of Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, 1979; Board of Editors Pacific Law Journal,1978-79.
B.S., United States Naval Academy 1970
Professional Activities and Memberships
Member, State Bar of Texas, 1979 - Present; Maritime Law Association of the United States 1981 - Present; Saudi Aramco Representative to the Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF) Legal Committee, 2002 - 2010; Principal Legal Advisor to the Arabian Gulf Regional Clean Seas Organization (RECSO) 2000 - 2005; and Principal Legal Advisor to International Tanker Owners Human Resources Forum (ITORF), 2008 - 2010.
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