Maritime & Admiralty
Collision, salvage, charter and crew-injury matters for the working waterfront — from Jones Act claims to vessel arrest and limitation actions.
Vessel casualty · Crew injury · Charter disputesTrial & counsel · Pensacola, Florida · Est. 1987
Measured counsel for
consequential matters.
For thirty-nine years, Whitmore Gray has represented the people and businesses of the Gulf Coast in the matters that shape their lives — in negotiation when possible, at trial when necessary.
Florida & federal courts
Maritime & admiralty
Two generations of partners
Palafox Place, downtown
§ 01 · The Firm
A firm built the way
cases are won — carefully.
Whitmore Gray was founded in 1987 above a Palafox Place bookshop, on a conviction that has not changed: a small firm of serious lawyers, each carrying few enough matters to know every page of the file, will out-prepare a larger one. We still take fewer cases than we are offered, and we still try the ones that deserve a courtroom.
The Gulf is in our docket — shipyards and charter fleets, waterfront estates and family businesses, the storms that test every policy written here. When you retain the firm you are not handed to a department; you sit with the partner who will stand up for you.
- 0Years on Palafox
- 0Attorneys, by design
- 0Practice areas
- IIGenerations of partners
§ 02 · Practice
Five disciplines,
practiced deeply.
Civil & Commercial Litigation
Contract, partnership and business-tort disputes, tried to judges, juries and arbitrators across Florida state and federal courts.
Contract · Business torts · AppealsBusiness & Corporate Counsel
Formation, governance, succession and sale for closely-held companies — the quiet work that keeps our clients out of the first two practice areas.
Formation · Succession · TransactionsEstates, Trusts & Probate
Wills, trusts and estate administration for Gulf Coast families, including contested probate and fiduciary litigation when it cannot be avoided.
Planning · Administration · ContestsCoastal Property & Insurance
First-party storm and casualty claims, coverage disputes and coastal real-estate matters — the recurring litigation of living where we live.
Storm claims · Coverage · Real estateNot sure where your matter sits?
Most consequential problems cross at least two of these lines. Start with a confidential call; we will tell you plainly whether we are the right firm.
Request a consultation →§ 03 · Matters illustrative matters — demo content
A ledger of
representative work.
- 2025 Charter fleet limitation action Defense of a six-vessel charter operator following a Santa Rosa Sound casualty. Maritime Limitation granted
- 2025 Hurricane coverage dispute First-party claim for a Palafox hospitality group after a denied wind-loss claim. Property $2.4M recovery
- 2024 Partnership dissolution at trial Three-week bench trial over control of a family shipbuilding supplier. Litigation Judgment for client
- 2024 Sale of a third-generation marine services company Counsel to sellers through diligence, escrow and a two-year earn-out. Business Closed · confidential
- 2023 Crew-injury claim, offshore supply vessel Jones Act claim for a deckhand injured in a heavy-weather transfer. Maritime Confidential settlement
- 2023 Contested probate of a waterfront estate Will contest between siblings over a Gulf Breeze homestead and trust. Estates Resolved at mediation
- 2022 Defense of a construction-defect suit Claims against a regional builder across four coastal condominium projects. Litigation Defense verdict
- 2022 Succession plan for a family restaurant group Governance and buy-sell architecture across eleven entities and two generations. Business Plan executed
Outcomes shown are invented for this demonstration. Past results never guarantee a future outcome — any lawyer who implies otherwise is selling something.
§ 04 · Attorneys
Six lawyers.
No hand-offs.
Eleanor V. Whitmore
Managing Partner · Trial Practice
Second-generation partner; has tried maritime, probate and commercial cases for twenty-six years. Keeps her father's docket book on her desk.
Admitted 2000 · Florida
Daniel R. Gray
Partner · Business & Coastal Property
Counsel to closely-held companies and their owners; leads the firm's coverage and first-party storm practice after every named storm since Ivan.
Admitted 2004 · Florida
Amelia Ríos
Senior Associate · Litigation
Briefs the firm's appeals and second-chairs its trials; before law school, ran deck crews on her family's charter boats out of Pensacola Bay.
Admitted 2018 · FloridaThree of six attorneys shown — fictional people for a portfolio demonstration.
§ 05 · Heritage
Thirty-nine years,
one address.
-
1987
Founded above a bookshop. Arthur Whitmore opens a two-room office on Palafox with one associate and a borrowed typewriter.
-
1996
The maritime docket arrives. A shipyard casualty case sets the firm's admiralty practice — still its deepest bench.
-
2008
Eleanor Whitmore makes partner. The firm's second generation takes over the trial calendar.
-
2015
Suite 400. The firm moves two floors up in the same building — the only move it has ever made.
-
2026
Six attorneys, by design. Small on purpose; every matter still carries a partner's name.
“We would rather tell you a hard truth
than an easy story.”
— The firm's first principle, unchanged since 1987
§ 06 · Engagement
How an engagement
begins.
-
I
A confidential call
Thirty minutes with a partner — not an intake form. We listen first, and nothing you tell us leaves the room.
-
II
Conflicts, scope & candor
We run conflicts, size the matter honestly, and tell you if another firm — or no lawyer at all — serves you better.
-
III
An engagement letter in plain English
Scope, staffing and fees on two pages. You will always know who is working and what it costs before it happens.
§ 07 · Contact
Start with a
confidential call.
-
120 South Palafox Place, Suite 400
Pensacola, FL 32502 -
(850) 555-0146
Monday – Friday, 8:30a – 5:30p -
inquiries@whitmoregray.com
Replies within one business day
Submitting this form does not create an attorney–client relationship, and no fee is charged for the first call.