Chelsea served as Associate Counsel to CMA CGM (America) LLC from 2021 to 2025, through the height of the pandemic-era supply chain chaos. She had the opportunity to jump into the deep end of almost every corner of the container shipping business during this time. Regardless of whether her title was commercial or litigation, Chelsea’s scope was wide and varied throughout her time at CMA.
During that eventful time, she drafted, negotiated, and shepherded contracts (customer service contracts, rail contracts, terminal service agreements, husbandry agreements, agency agreements, motor carrier agreements, motor carrier broker agreements, intra-company agreements, joint venture agreements towage contracts, SaaS agreements, bespoke contracts of carriage, and more) from the concept state to execution. On the litigation side, Chelsea did everything from directly representing the company as counsel of record to managing outside counsel in FMC cases, cargo claims, on-terminal injuries, road accidents, EPA compliance reporting, labor disputes, other business disputes, and class actions. Throughout her time at CMA CGM, Chelsea provided general legal support, training, and tools to her clients across operational, finance, commercial, and all other business units.
Litigation
- Supported the deputy general counsel all aspects of claims (totaling >$200M) pending before the Federal Maritime Commission arising out of ocean carriage and/or intermodal shipment of goods, including formulation and implementation of a robust legal strategy for dealing with the novel pandemic-era detention and demurrage claims;
- Primarily led the year-long investigation and response to a nine-figure demand arising from alleged Shipping Act violations, parsing data and documents related to over 100,000 shipments and formulating a recommended legal strategy for same;
- Obtained favorable rulings in three FMC proceedings where outside counsel was not hired, which involved: leading the initial internal investigation, coordinating across business units and agencies around the world to gather responsive documents for discovery, and legal research and drafting of filings
- Managed defense against onerous third party subpoena from a union requiring coordination with subsidiary in Dutch Harbor, Alaska and its corporate predecessor going back decades;
- Obtained favorable outcome in decade-long suit by motor carrier association, after extensive and granular data collection and analysis involving thousands of individual charges over a twelve year period
- Supported the deputy general counsel in management of cargo claims and litigation, seafarer and longshoremen injury claims, road accidents, business disputes with rail carriers and marine terminal operators, and other supply chain-related disputes
Contract Drafting and Negotiation
- Drafted and negotiated an amendment to a multi-million dollar, long-term rail carrier contract
- Drafted and negotiated terminal services agreements covering multiple ports and multiple cargo operations (RoRo, container, and bulk)
- Drafted and negotiated connecting carrier agreements for services in Alaska and Hawaii
- Worked with top shipping line management at the head office in France to design and implement a new type of long-term customer contract designed to adapt to the volatile freight market at the height of the supply chain congestion; these contracts covered millions of TEUs and governed shipping commitments with some of the world’s largest companies on three-year bases
- For two years in a row, had primary responsibility for negotiation and drafting of all custom FMC-filed service contracts, with some of the world’s largest NVOCCs and retailers
- Held dozens of negotiation meetings with customers’ counsel to advice on niche maritime and/or FMC points of law which resulted in successful negotiation of volume commitment agreements
Labor Relations
- In discrimination lawsuits brought by union-member longshoremen, on behalf of a marine terminal affiliate, Chelsea coordinated with the relevant association of employers to formulate and manage defense
- In personal injury claims brought by and between motor carriers and union-member longshoremen on terminal, Chelsea assisted with deposition and discovery coordination where a group “employee” was also a union member
- Drafted responses to union grievances and official requests for information under applicable collective bargaining agreements
- Represented the employer in hearings and mediations with opposing union parties and the National Labor Relations Board to resolve grievances, taking into account the nuances of the different unions that should be considered when evaluating legal strategy
- Prepared extensive settlement recommendation memoranda for management regarding four inter-related grievances during sensitive collective bargaining negotiations
Corporate
- Designed the structure and drafted all relevant documents for new business venture in Chicago aimed at relieving railhead congestion at the height of the supply chain crisis; arrangement involved creating two new U.S. subsidy entities, setting up a container yard operation, and creating a joint venture with a third party logistics compay and rail carrier;
- Complex commercial lease negotiations for terminals and office facilities in Alaska, Chicago, and Nashville;
- Drafted corporate formation agreements as well as corporate resolutions for the appointment of officers and other functions;
- Obtained relevant authorities such as FMCSA operating authority to stand up one new subsidiary entity with domestic carrier authority and another with motor carrier broker authority
Regulatory and Miscellaneous Proceedings
- Review and draft settlements with regulatory authorities such as the Environmental Protection Agency;
- Led internal response to requests from the FMC for documentation and deposition testimony in multiple investigations;
- Guided custodians on document retention and collection in response to request from the DOJ for documentation;
General Legal Advice to Non-Lawyer Business Units
- On a daily basis, provided real-time advice to internal clients facing operational issues laden with legal risk tailored to the client’s background knowledge, familiarity with legal processes, concerns about the specific implications for her role, and organizational structure on matters such as:
- Shipments for which a business unit is instructed by a foreign port authority to take action that may create Jones Act penalty exposure
- How to resolve long-dwelling cargo with complicating commercial factors and many parties involved
- Options for releasing cargo when the original bill of lading has been lost
- Whether a new customer offering in development complies with all applicable regulations
- Questions of U.S. law from any of the group’s offices in 159 other countries
- Drafted and reviewed customer documentation requests on bills of lading and vessel certificates to ensure compliance with all applicable laws and alignment with group policies and legal interests
- Designed and conducted training to an audience of hundreds of internal stakeholders (sales, finance, and others) on their role in civil litigation and best practices for their respective scopes given the relevant litigation risks
Internal Management of Legal Requests
- For marine terminal subsidiary that had not yet formed a legal team of its own: trained the claims manager on who and how to notify upon receipt of new claims and cases;
- For the same subsidiary, created a standard operating procedure for third party subpoenas;
- Using low-to-no cost tools most businesses already have access to, for the same subsidiary, created a comprehensive but user-friendly case management tool for internal reporting and oversight of all matters
- Using low-to-no cost tools most businesses already have access to, designed a comprehensive vendor contract review system, trained all key stakeholders on its use, and implemented it with 100% success for all new vendor agreements
Prior Law Firm Experience
- For insurer client, drafted and filed complaint for declaratory judgment, managed discovery and prepared motion for summary judgment on coverage in train-truck fatality case with multiple state law claimants, a deceased insured, and bad faith claims by additional insured co-defendant; granted and later upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- On a novel issue of Louisiana law, for insurer client drafted successful motion for summary judgment on coverage for COVID-19-related loss of revenue under business interruption policy
- For insurer client, substantially assisted with drafting and meticulously documenting motion for summary judgment on both coverage and bad faith claims (motion granted, case dismissed)
- For law firm client, drafted amended civil R.I.C.O. complaint that resulted in favorable resolution
