Seth Bonneau featured in Boston Business Journal

Seth Bonneau was featured in the article entitled Legal Interest: From maritime to museums, area lawyers carve unique niches for themselves, written by Mary K. Pratt:

Gaining his sea legs

Dartmouth native Seth M. Bonneau grew up on Buzzards Bay and has long had a love of sailing.

So it’s not too surprising he is building a specialty in maritime law, even if he himself didn’t expect to.

“Getting into the maritime industry was a product of where my firm was located,” explained Bonneau, who is a recent arrival at Ruberto, Israel & Weiner PC in Boston.

Bonneau, who graduated from Suffolk University Law School in 2004, joined Halloran, Lukoff & Smith PC in New Bedford after working for a year at a downtown law firm. He said he took the New Bedford job in part for the opportunity to work more closely with clients.

He said working in that city opened up his path within the legal profession.

During his four years in New Bedford — the country’s largest grossing port in dollar value thanks to the local scallop harvest — Bonneau represented sellers, buyers and lenders in transactions involving the sale of fishing vessels and commercial fishing permits.

Such deals, he explained, involved some impressive figures; consider, for example that a scalloping permit from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration goes for $3 million to $4 million.

Bonneau, whose overall practice focuses on banking, finance and lending as well as commercial real estate, said his work in maritime law crosses those disciplines, adding extra layers of complexity that require added due diligence.

For example, he says, banks that finance maritime vessels longer than 100 feet in length must register with the U.S. Department of Transportation. And because most commercial fishing vessels are owned by corporations and not individuals (because of liability), researching titles are often more complex than title searches on other types of assets.

Handling bad loans required a trip to federal court in Boston, because maritime issues are federally regulated.

Bonneau, who joined Ruberto, Israel & Weiner about three months ago, said he’d like to build up a maritime law practice with his new firm. It’s an area that already has some established local firms, including Latti & Anderson LLP and Regan & Kiely LLP.

Bonneau also hopes to buy a new sailboat, upgrading to a 35-foot one, to replace the 27-foot Catalina he sold earlier this year.