Jerry Dodson’s collection of maritime memorabilia started in 1977 when the LSU Law graduate bought an antique ship wheel and compass in Greece and brought it to his Baton Rouge office.
Forty years later, the collection has grown to paintings, a ship bell, ship figureheads, and a set of shipping passports signed by 18 of the first 19 United States Presidents.
“Collecting these items has just been fun,” the Baton Rouge-based maritime lawyer said.
But now, Dodson said, it’s time to pass these items on to the public. The 1966 grad is donating a maritime art collection to the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center, where they will soon adorn the first-floor lobby.
Dodson said it’s his way to give back to LSU Law, a school that he credited with much of his legal success.
Dodson studied admiralty and maritime law at LSU and started working in the area immediately after graduation. With more than 20 percent of the local economy dependent on shipping from the Mississippi River and oceans that harbor more than half a million vessels, Dodson said the concentration has allowed him to see the world.
In his professional career that spans more than four decades, he has had offices in the Philippines, traveled to Greece and Eastern Europe more times than he can count, and has gone around the world at least five times. And it was the one area of legal education special to LSU Law that gave him the first step into these international cases.
“I was very fortunate to go to a civilian law school,” said Dodson, noting that most of the international maritime cases he works are structured around civilian law. “It’s been a fun career, and it’s all thanks to being able to get a law degree at LSU and study maritime law there.”
Dodson has represented seamen of more than 30 nationalities in cases of working conditions, personal injury, and wage disputes.
Working with clients of various nationalities and shipping companies headquartered in countries around the world brings its own challenges, such as deciding in which country to adjudicate the case. Dodson accepts this challenge with glee, because he says to him it’s like a puzzle that gives him a lot of joy to solve.
Add to that Dodson’s ability to visit countries many people never get to see, and he said his career has been a perfect choice for the adventurous lawyer.
“I’ve been very fortunate to see the world. It’s been fun and its thanks to a great education,” he said. “The law faculty at that time were so supportive and so helpful. We would not have been able to do what we did but for them.”
Dodson credits two professors in particular — A.N. Yiannopoulos and Saul Litvinoff — as being the most influential during his time at LSU. He said the two professors guided him during him time at school and continued to work with him in a professional setting long after he graduated.
“I’ve been successful beyond my wildest imagination and that would not have taken place but for LSU and the help of my friends like Professor Yiannopoulos and Professor Litvinoff,” he said. “I feel like I have a moral obligation to (give this collection to LSU).”
Dodson said his hope is that these items will create a resurgence in maritime law education at LSU and will inspire LSU Law students to consider the maritime field.
“I’m hoping that these ship passports and maritime antiques will get someone’s interest in this. It got mine,” he said.
In the meantime, while the LSU Law Center works to move the collection into the lobby and secure the passports and ship figurehead to their permanent location, Dodson offered some advice for current legal scholars who are looking at their next step after graduation.
“If you find an area of the law that you’re interested in — I don’t care if it’s tax law or corporate law or maritime law, whatever it may be — if you find an area that you like and that you’re interested in, I promise you that you will do very well. If you find something you enjoy doing, you’re going to be very successful at it,” he said.
It’s a statement that Dodson takes to heart. While he doesn’t travel to foreign countries as much now and instead his partners have taken on most of the trips, after more than 40 years, he said he still enjoys coming to work every day.
“I continue to practice because I enjoy it,” he said. “I look forward to coming in here every day. This isn’t work, this is fun.
“If you can do that — if you can say this is really fun what I’m doing — then you’ll do really well at it.”
