Alexander T. Gruft

Alexander Gruft, Esq.  has dedicated himself to the law as noticed by the client service he delivers.  A boating enthusiast for as long as he can remember, Alex is committed to his maritime clients and handles their transaction, commercial, general business, and litigation needs.  Most importantly, Alex provides his clients peace of mind.  Alex’s goal is to ensure his clients spend more time doing what they want, and less time engaging in legal matters.  A native of Los Angeles and a former resident of San Diego, his primary network of clients resides throughout Southern California.

For the past fifteen years, Alex has gained extensive experience in maritime matters involving recreational vessels, including lien disputes, foreclosures, purchases and sales of yachts, yacht insurance, repair of yachts, property and sales and use taxes assessed on yachts, business and entity formation, manning and crewing of yachts, documenting and flagging of yachts, financing of yachts and various environmental issues involving yachts.  He feels advantageous to be working in a field that gives him great gratification.

In Alex’s maritime practice, he represents vessel owners in partition actions, marine employers in Jones Act/Longshore Act personal injury and employment-related disputes, charter companies in passenger injury disputes, recreational boaters in collision cases and marine repair shops in personal injury and contract disputes.

In his real estate practice, Alex represents marinas, yacht clubs and residential and commercial landlords in lease negotiations, unlawful detainer actions and premises liability matters.

In his transportation practice, Alex represents drayage and interstate trucking companies in employment disputes before the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, Employment Development Department and in state court.

As a stepping stone to founding his own firm, Alex was recruited to the maritime and transportation firm of Cox Wootton Lerner LLP (CWL), which is headquartered in San Francisco.  At that firm he helped launch their LA office while honing his transaction and litigation skills for maritime and transportation clients.  Prior to CWL, Alex lived in San Diego and worked at the law firm of Wright & L’Estrange.  At that firm he represented corporate and individual clients in a wide range of state and federal cases involving unfair competition, trade secrets, products liability, antitrust, corporate, banking, real estate, trust and estate, and employment law.  His legal experience is wide and his breadth of knowledge is deep.