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Hickey Law Firm: The Miami Trial Lawyer Who Spent 20 Years Defending Cruise Lines Before Switching Sides for Good

Jack Hickey holds three board certifications — from The Florida Bar in both Civil Trial and Admiralty & Maritime Law, and from the National Board of Trial Advocacy as a civil trial lawyer — and he earned his insider’s knowledge the unusual way: representing cruise lines and marine insurance companies for the first 20 years of his career before switching permanently to the plaintiff’s side as a Miami personal injury attorney.

At a Glance

Origin and Background

Jack Hickey’s career divides cleanly in two. For his first 20 years, he represented cruise lines and marine insurance companies — the defense side of the exact industry that dominates Miami’s injury docket. After making the switch, he has represented only injured individuals, and his firm has brought claims against every major cruise line. Awesome Attorneys discloses that defense-side history directly rather than omitting it: it is both a fact of his record and, functionally, the source of his fluency in how cruise lines investigate, defend, and value these cases. He has since served as President of the Miami-Dade County Bar and on the Board of Governors of The Florida Bar, and has authored more than 30 papers on trial techniques and injury law while lecturing to other lawyers nationwide.

Miami Personal Injury Attorney Practice Concentration

The firm’s docket centers on catastrophic personal injury with a signature concentration in cruise ship and maritime injury — a Miami-specific practice area, since cruise passenger contracts typically require suit to be filed in the cruise line’s designated forum, which for several major lines means Miami federal court regardless of where the passenger lives or was injured. The team reports over 70 years of combined experience across personal injury and wrongful death cases. See this Miami Personal Injury directory for how this maritime-focused trial practice compares to the general-negligence firms also serving Miami-Dade County.

Notable Work / Track Record

Hickey Law Firm reports representing clients against every major cruise line operating from South Florida. Awesome Attorneys did not identify a firm-published itemized table of individual verdict and settlement figures with amounts, and discloses that directly; the firm’s checkable distinctions instead run through Hickey’s triple board certification and his Best Lawyers recognition in three separate plaintiff-side categories — an unusual breadth for a single practitioner. Past results, where reported, do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future matter.

Client Voice

Awesome Attorneys did not identify a large consolidated body of itemized platform reviews for the firm and discloses that directly rather than substituting unverifiable testimonial language. The firm’s stated client commitment emphasizes direct attorney handling of cases involving life-changing injuries.

Beyond the Courtroom

Hickey’s bar leadership is a matter of public record: he served as President of the Miami-Dade County Bar and as a member of the Board of Governors of The Florida Bar — the body that regulates the state’s roughly 100,000 lawyers. His 30-plus published papers on trial technique function as a professional resource for the plaintiff’s bar beyond his own caseload.

Recognition for This Miami Personal Injury Attorney

Hickey’s certifications are the genuine, verifiable kind this directory distinguishes from marketing awards: Board Certification by The Florida Bar in Civil Trial Law and separately in Admiralty & Maritime Law — The Florida Bar’s certification program is among the most rigorous in the country, held by a small fraction of Florida lawyers — plus National Board of Trial Advocacy certification in Civil Trial Law. Best Lawyers in America, a peer-review selection, recognizes the firm in Personal Injury–Plaintiffs, Admiralty & Maritime, and Medical Malpractice–Plaintiffs.

Florida Legal Backdrop

Florida’s 2023 tort reform law, HB 837, shortened the statute of limitations for general negligence claims from four years to two (Fla. Stat. § 95.11) and moved most negligence cases to a modified comparative negligence standard (§ 768.81), under which a plaintiff found more than 50 percent at fault recovers nothing. Cruise ship claims run on separate, shorter clocks: passenger tickets typically require written notice within six months and suit within one year, in the forum the ticket designates. None of this is legal advice; anyone injured should consult a licensed attorney promptly, as these deadlines are unforgiving.

Awesome Attorneys Assessment

Jack Hickey’s clearest differentiator as a Miami personal injury attorney is the combination of genuine credential depth — three board certifications spanning both trial law and maritime law — with two decades of defense-side insight into exactly how cruise lines fight these cases. The honest trade-offs, disclosed directly: his defense-side past is part of his record even though his practice is now plaintiff-only, and Awesome Attorneys did not identify a published verdict table or a large public review footprint for the firm. For a passenger injured at sea, or a Miami resident with a catastrophic injury case, counsel with both Florida Bar certifications and insider knowledge of the defense playbook is a strong basis for a shortlist.

Methodology and Sourcing

This profile was researched from Hickey Law Firm’s own website (hickeylawfirm.com, including its firm overview, attorney biography, and cruise line practice pages), which documents Hickey’s certifications, bar leadership history, defense-side career, and Best Lawyers recognitions.

Publisher Disclosure and Independence Notice

Awesome Attorneys is an independent legal directory and editorial publication. This profile was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed by Hickey Law Firm or Jack Hickey prior to publication. Awesome Attorneys may in the future offer sponsored placement products to attorneys and firms, including this one, but sponsorship has no bearing on the editorial content, inclusion, or findings of this profile.