Worldwide Jones Act attorneys and Maritime lawyers with over 100 years combined experience in Maritime Personal Injury Cases and Jones Act Seamen Claims. We also handle Houston Auto Accidents, Texas Truck Accidents, Houston Motorcycle Accidents and Texas Construction Injuries and Refinery Explosion cases. We have handled FELA cases nationwide for over 40 years, representing railroad workers injured on the job. The lawyers of SMSH are prepared to help you win your case. In order to better serve our clients we also offer services in Spanish (Espanol).

Timeline
Schechter, McElwee, Shaffer & Harris is the continuation of a legal practice founded by Arthur Schechter in 1964, and continued by partners Dennis McElwee and Matt Shaffer when Mr. Schechter left to become a United States Ambassador in 1998. Jonathan Harris joined the firm in 1999 and later became a partner. When Arthur Schechter returned as Senior Counsel in 2006, the firm came full circle, while also expanding its capabilities.

Reputation
Known as aggressive trial lawyers who prepare and try cases around the country

• Arthur Schechter
• Dennis McElwee
• Matthew D. Shaffer
• Jonathan Harris
• Stacey E. Burke
• Ellen H. Shaffer
• Adam J. Rosenfeld

Expertise
For over 5 decades, the lawyers of Schechter, McElwee, Shaffer & Harris have represented victims of serious personal injury including seamen, railroad workers, offshore workers, longshoremen and harborworkers from around the nation and around the world.

The firm has also had numerous outstanding recoveries in serious 18-wheeler and other commercial vehicle accidents.

Representation of victims of auto and motorcycle accidents, medical malpractice, construction and refinery accidents are also high priorities.  The firm handles refinery and workplace injuries, and successfully represented workers injured in the recent British Petroleum Texas City Plant explosion.

Compensation
Schechter, McElwee, Shaffer & Harris work on a contingency fee basis: there is no or bill for our services unless we recover for the client.

Geography
If you are injured while working offshore, we can evaluate the facts of your case even if you are injured in another country, on another continent.  We have handled maritime injury cases worldwide for over 45 years.

Our firm's primary practice area is in the state and federal courts located in Houston, Galveston, Beaumont, Angleton, Bay City, Corpus Christi and Brownsville, Texas, but our attorneys handle cases throughout Texas for catastrophic personal injury cases.

We have had clients in all 50 states, and have handled cases in almost every single state, including but not limited to Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Maryland, New York and California.

The firm has represented clients from Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Mexico, Scotland, New Zealand, Australia, Israel and other countries.

Offices
Schechter, McElwee, Shaffer & Harris maintains offices in Houston and in Galveston, where meetings are by appointment only.

Arthur L. Schechter, Matthew D. Shaffer and Jonathan S. Harris are Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

Our Newsletters

August 2010 Texas Injury Lawyer Newsletter

SMSH Maritime Lawyers July 2010 Newsletter

SMSH Maritime Lawyers April 2010 Newsletter

SMSH March 2010 Firm Newsletter

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