About Keith S.
Keith S. Brais trained first as an engineer and then as a lawyer. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Marine Engineering from Massachusetts Maritime Academy in 1981. He returned to school and received his J.D. from New England Law | Boston in 1990. The combination of technical and legal training informs much of his work on the water and in court.
He began his legal career at Fowler White Burnett immediately after law school in 1990. Two years later he became a partner at Keller & Houck, P.A., joining the firm in 1992. He was part of Mitchell, McAlpin & Brais, P.A. in 1997 and moved to McAlpin & Brais, P.A. as a partner in 1999. In 2007 he opened his own firm, Brais Law Office, where he remains a founding partner. Over three decades he has moved between private firm settings and his own practice, building a practice that operates in federal and state forums.
Brais is a Board Certified Admiralty & Maritime Lawyer through the Florida Bar Board of Legal Specialization. He maintains membership in The Florida Bar and in several maritime and local bar organizations. Those include the Maritime Law Association of the United States, the Southeastern Admiralty Law Institute, the Ft. Lauderdale Mariners Club and the Propeller Club of the United States (Port of Miami), as well as the Dade County Bar Association. He has lectured for the Southeastern Admiralty Law Institute and for the Ft. Lauderdale Mariners Club, speaking on topics that arise in admiralty practice.
He is admitted in multiple federal and state jurisdictions. Those admissions include the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts; the Southern, Northern and Middle Districts of Florida; the Eastern, Northern and Southern Districts of Texas; the U.S. Supreme Court; and the Fifth and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeal. He is also admitted to practice in the states of Florida and Massachusetts. His court admissions support both trial and appellate work in maritime and admiralty cases.
At Brais Law Office he handles matters that draw on his engineering background and his maritime law credential. He appears in federal district courts and in appellate courts when cases require further review. He also engages with professional groups and continuing legal education programs that address developments in admiralty law. His current practice concentrates on admiralty and maritime matters at Brais Law Office.
