Kevin Thornton Elected to Board of MLA

Kevin J. Thornton, partner at Cooper Levenson, has been elected to the Board of Directors of the United States Maritime Law Association (MLA). The MLA is a 3,000 member professional organization, founded in 1899, that seeks reforms and uniform enactment and application of domestic and international shipping and maritime laws.

Thornton chairs the Maritime Law Practice Group at Cooper Levenson in Atlantic City, N.J. and is a member of the firm’s Commercial Litigation Group as well. He has been a member of the MLA since 1990.  Thornton was named a Proctor in Admiralty in 2004 and is the Immediate Past Chair of the MLA’s Fisheries Committee, having served for four years as Chairman. He also is a member of the MLA’s Recreational Boating Committee. In his newest role, he will serve a three-year term on the Board of Directors. 

“I’m thrilled to take my involvement in the MLA to the next level,” said Thornton. “I look forward to working with MLA officers, directors and members from ports around the United States on important issues affecting the shipping, commercial fishing, and offshore industries.”

Thornton has a wealth of experience in maritime law. Since 1999, he has served as counsel for the Garden State Seafood Association whose members engage in all aspects of the commercial fishing and seafood processing and merchandising industries throughout New Jersey and far beyond. He also is an active member of the Marine Trades Association of New Jersey. Its members include the owners of marinas, boat yards, boat and boat engine sales companies, and scores of other businesses serving the recreational boating community.

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Rutgers College (Economics and Spanish 1980) and Rutgers University School of Law Camden (J.D. 1983), Thornton is a member of the Atlantic County, Cape May County and New Jersey State Bar Associations.  Formerly fluent and currently conversant in Spanish, he has represented clients from Central and South America on various matters. He resides in Cold Spring, N.J.