Gene graduated from the United States Coast Guard Academy in 1952 with a Bachelor of Science.  After several years of sea duty in the Coast Guard, Gene received his Juris Doctorate, with Honors, from George Washington University Law School, where he served as Legislation Editor of the George Washington University Law Review, Captain of the National Moot Court Team and was elected to Order of Coif.

Following an assignment as legal officer for the Eleventh Coast Guard District in Long Beach, California, Gene returned to sea until 1965, when he entered the private practice of law.  He remained in the Coast Guard Reserve, retiring as a Captain.

Gene specializes in admiralty law, with an emphasis on passenger and seamen personal injury claims; the chartering and sale of vessels; Coast Guard inspection requirements for new and retrofit vessels; environmental, pollution and OSHA matters; and proceedings before the U.S. Coast Guard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other government agencies.  He also serves as an arbitrator, mediator and expert witness in maritime cases.

Gene has been a Proctor in Admiralty in the Maritime Law Association since 1968 and is admitted to practice before all state courts in California, the federal courts in California, Arizona and the District of Columbia, and the United States Supreme Court.  He also is a member of the The Association of Trial Lawyers of America and the Propeller Club of the United States. He was named " Lawyer of the Year" by the Long Beach Bar Association in 1991.  Gene serves as a vice-president and national director of the Coast Guard Foundation.  He is rated "AV" in Martindale-Hubbell and is listed in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers.