The first piece of litigation Daniel Pipitone handled as a young associate in 1982 was a federal Jones Act suit for King Fisher Marine Service Inc. of Port Lavaca. Thirty years later, Pipitone still represents the company, now the Orion Marine Construction subsidiary of Houston-based Orion Marine Group.

It’s a long-term business relationship that illustrates how a lawyer can provide the level of service that keeps a client coming back again and again. To learn about his client’s business in the 1980s, Pipitone worked on a dredge; 24 years later, he helped organize a lobbying group to make venue laws more defendant-friendly in Jones Act cases.