Freehill partner Dan Fitzgerald was advised on August 24, 2016 that he has been selected for promotion to the rank of Captain in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserves. A 1996 graduate of the State University of New York Maritime College, with distinction, Dan served five years on active duty in the Coast Guard and during that service attended law school in the evening at New York Law School. He has remained active in the USCG Reserves. In the wake of the DEEPWATER HORIZON blowout in the U.S. Gulf, Dan spent two months on active duty as the Senior USCG Liaison Officer for the State of Florida, where he worked closely with the governor’s office and with senior BP personnel. He currently serves at Base Portsmouth as the Senior Reserve Officer and was the former Senior Reserve Staff Judge Advocate at the Seventh District in Miami, Florida.