John Poles is a founding member of the firm. With more than 50 years of practice in maritime law, his expertise spans maritime corporations, contracts, torts, charter parties, arbitration and litigation. He has lectured on maritime law at the World Trade Institute, on maritime arbitration and the U.S. Oil Pollution Act, and served as an adjunct professor of admiralty law at New York University Law School.

Mr. Poles graduated from Ohio University in 1950 with a Bachelor of Science degree, and in 1953 he received an L.L.B. from the University of Michigan. He was admitted to the New York Bar in 1954 and to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1970. He is a member of the Panel of Arbitrators for the American Arbitration Association, the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, the Maritime Law Association of the United States, and is a former chairman of the Arbitration Committee. In addition to English, he speaks, reads and writes in Greek.