Louisiana

Adams and Reese is well established throughout the South. Headquartered in New Orleans, the firm also maintains a strong presence in Baton Rouge; Birmingham and Mobile, Alabama; Columbia, South Carolina; Houston, Texas; Ridgeland, Mississippi; Jacksonville, Sarasota, St. Petersburg, Tallahassee, and Tampa, Florida; Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee; and Washington, DC. Just shy of 200 attorneys make up the litigation department, 100% of whom act on the defense side. “Adams and Reese have become what could be considered a regional firm,” ventures a peer. “They have grown well beyond Louisiana. They have a large broad footprint.”

Appellate team leader Martin Stern triumphed for Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a unit of Johnson & Johnson, when he won a reversal of a $330 million judgment when the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that the company’s marketing of the antipsychotic drug, Risperdal, did not violate the Louisiana Medical Assistance Programs Integrity Law, as the Attorney General had alleged. Stern also triumphed at the Supreme Court of Louisiana in December 2014 when the court reversed a $2.4 million judgment for exemplary damages against ExxonMobil in favor of a former pipeyard employee who claimed the oil giant had negligently exposed him to radioactive material that caused his cancer, finding the man had already unsuccessfully litigated the claim in a previous suit. Mark Beebe joined Adams and Reese 25 years ago and has since developed a celebrated general practice that encompasses director and officer liability, education, health care, and, in particular, antitrust and securities. Beebe is representing Lloyd’s of London at the Fifth Circuit, where he argued that the court should affirm the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by the founders of Safeguard Self Storage against the insurer and a Morgan Stanley unit for allegedly conspiring to block a $350 million insurance claim following Hurricane Katrina. William Gaudet is the firm’s class-action leader as well as the head of the New Orleans Bar Association’s class actions capacity. Commercial and real estate litigator Philip Franco is championed by peers as “a terrific lawyer, he’s a pain in the neck but he’s great.” Leslie LaNusse in the firm’s employment law group is also acknowledged for “handling a case that made it into the papers - an EEOC charge against the [New Orleans] Saints [football team] brought by a former ‘Saintsation’ cheerleader.”

New Orleans-based Barrasso Usdin Kupperman Freeman & Sarver is a litigation boutique with a penchant for sophisticated multidistrict and national litigations, having served as counsel on a number of class actions for a variety of claims. Self-touted as a firm of “trial lawyers first and foremost,” Barrasso Usdin boasts an impressive company of attorneys experienced in handling matters efficiently while maintaining an eye on favorable results for clients. “Barasso Usdin are normally at the top of the food chain around here,” asserts a New Orleans peer, “and they have excellent people like Judy Barrasso, Minor Pipes and Rick Sarver.” A client vouches for this review: “Barrasso Usdin offers all of the quality of a mega firm at a fraction of the costs. I receive personalized, responsive service. they are my go-to firm for all major cases. They are excellent trial lawyers who secure tremendous results.”
Name partner and co-founder Barrasso led a team that was retained to defend Liberty Mutual and Safeco in two lawsuits brought by the Attorney General for the State of Mississippi, seeking recovery of millions of dollars allegedly owed by each insurer on hundreds of homeowner claims from Hurricane Katrina. Barrasso also represents Homesite in a putative class action brought by 20 separate homeowners against 23 insurance providers. The claims seek coverage for the deterioration of the plaintiffs’ basement walls, which were constructed with defective concrete and are allegedly in a state of “collapse” within the meaning of the insurance policies. The plaintiffs claim that defective concrete was used to construct hundreds if not thousands of homes in northeastern Connecticut, will eventually cause these homes to fall down, and that the only remedy is to replace the basement walls entirely. The plaintiffs further assert claims under the Connecticut Unfair Insurance Practices Act and common law bad faith based on the insurers’ denial of coverage and the revision of insurance policies over time to limit the additional coverage of collapse. Craig Isenberg has particular expertise in toxic torts, having been defense counsel for manufacturers in the first civil penalty action brought by the DoJ under the Oil Pollution Act. Recently, he represented SWN Production Company in a litigation involving several property owners suing oil and gas operators that conducted activities alleged to have led to property contamination. The plaintiffs are seeking millions of dollars in damages and for environmental remediation. Isenberg also represents CITGO Petroleum in multiple civil actions arising out of an oil spill and air release from CITGO’s Lake Charles Manufacturing Complex in June 2006. The cases involved over 1,100 plaintiffs alleging personal injury, property damage, and economic losses. The firm has tried nine cases since 2016, with five more trials set for 2018. Isenberg is also working with Stephen Kupperman defending Praxair in a commercial contract dispute.

Chaffe McCall has established itself a solid presence in the Pelican State through offices in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Lake Charles. White-collar crime practitioner Walter Becker and served as local trial counsel for Kurt Mix, who was one of the BP employees indicted for felony offenses after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This was a very high-profile jury trial in U.S. District Court in New Orleans, which received national coverage. After three years of complex litigation, the case was resolved very favorably in 2015 for the client with a misdemeanor plea and no fine or jail time imposed. Walter Becker also served as trial counsel for Dennis Neville, who was acquitted in a bench trial in Orleans Parish in 2016 of the charge of issuing worthless checks.

In the mid-1990s, three business and litigation lawyers left prestigious Louisiana law firms to found Fishman Haygood Phelps Walmsley Willis & Swanson. Its litigation department handles matters relating to securities, media, class actions/mass actions, contracts, product liability and property tort, arbitration, insurance, and tax in addition to the firm’s pro bono commitment.

James Swanson serves as the firm’s managing partner. Others consider him a specialist in general commercial, securities, tort, and tax litigation. He recently acquired a $22 million award in a widely publicized NASD arbitration against Securities America. A client weighs in on Swanson’s behalf, “Jim Swanson’s performance is most impressive. [He is] a professional performing at the highest level amongst his peers. I would highly recommend him without hesitation. His integrity, commitment and effectiveness is unlike anything I’ve experienced by any attorney over 30 years.” Lori Mince practices media law, commercial litigation, and tax litigation. She has defended well-respected publications including The New York Times and New Orleans’ Times-Picayune in defamation lawsuits. In her tax practice, she has represented the Louisiana Department of Revenue in a variety of state corporate income and franchise tax suits against many large international conglomerates. A peer also notes, “Jim Swanson and Lance McCardle the two most prominent plaintiff securities counsel in Louisiana. They are terrific.”

New Orleans plaintiff boutique Herman Herman & Katz is primarily known - and feared - as a personal injury shop. “They are a great plaintiff firm. If they bring a claim, you know it’s going to be a fight. And they’ve hit it really big lately, they have been in loads of big-ticket litigation. They’re on just about everything, and they are very prominent in MDLs for Chinese drywall, oil and gas, you name it,” Most notably, the firm is the leading firm for an entire class of plaintiffs in the Louisiana litigation against BP concerning the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010.

While firm figurehead Russ Herman still enjoys a presence in the state, it is his son Stephen Herman is, by one opponent’s assessment, “our mortal enemy, we get knocked around by him all the time. He is one of the leading plaintiffs in the state.” Leonard Davis attends to a practice includes corporate law, commercial litigation, complex business litigation, multi-district litigation, mass torts, class actions and railroad crossing matters.

Formed in 2000 by six partners from one of New Orleans’ oldest firms, litigation boutique Irwin Fritchie Urquhart & Moore is noted by peers for its “heavy presence in the products MDL stuff, a real niche that they’ve developed and in which they are heavily involved. They do a lot of work on cases for J&J.” Founding partners James Irwin and Quentin Urquhart are identified as leaders in the practice area, largely thanks to years of first-hand experience leading contentious matters. One competitor, speaking of the pair’s reputation for success, offered that “they have seen every trick in the book and are ready to handle anything that may come up over the course of litigation.”

With offices in New Orleans, Lafayette, and Houston, Texas, Liskow & Lewis has become a formidable name in the oil and gas industry. The firm, which devotes 80% of its practice to litigation, which 60 dedicated practitioners attending to this, further provides clients with a broad range of legal services that include appellate, aviation, environmental law, business law and litigation, energy and natural resource law, governmental law, labor and employment law, maritime law, and real estate law. Peers note, “They are very involved in the oil patch, doing energy litigation. They are BP’s Louisiana counsel. They work with Kirkland & Ellis on this - it’s one of the largest civil litigation in the country. They have the admiralty practice, criminal, oil and gas practice, so they are ideally positioned for this.”

Keith Jarrett is the firm’s primary contact with BP. James Brown, who was inducted into the Amercian College of Trial Lawyers three years ago, is a shareholder in the New Orleans office where he serves as head of the commercial litigation section and its professional liability practice group. His work concerns business litigation; wills, trusts, and estates; and appellate. Also based in New Orleans is his colleague John Anjier, who focuses on business law and litigation. Anjier attends to a case in which he represents the FDIC regarding a bank failure in Puerto Rico. “John has developed a real specialty in that kind of work,” confirms a peer. 

Phelps Dunbar maintains a vibrant presence in the Southeast with offices in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Florida, Alabama, and North Carolina with an additional location in London. With more than 270 attorneys internationally, its abilities cover antitrust, appellate, bankruptcy and creditors’ rights, commercial litigation, environmental law, gaming, health care, intellectual property, labor and employment, product liability, professional liability, real estate, tax, toxic torts, and white-collar criminal defense. Peers confirm, “Phelps Dunbar has very deep ties to maritime work, financial institutions, [and] contract matters. They have an international presence in insurance coverage work as well as a fairly robust employment practice.”

In New Orleans, Kim Boyle’s practice involves commercial, tort, and general litigation as well as labor and employment, civil rights, and constitutional law. She has represented employers against discrimination claims and workplace harassment. “Kim has kind of a ‘double-dip’ practice, she straddles the commercial and employment world and has a strong presence in each.” Peers observe, “Harry Rosenberg has been representing the City of New Orleans regarding the conditions at the county jail. He would be on any shortlist - he’s in his late sixties but he is still active!” A peer notes that “Stephen Hall is someone I’ve been working with. He does toxic tort cases and is very good at this.” The firm’s Baton Rouge-based managing partner Michael Hunt appears on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants in complex litigation disputes and those regarding design and construction. This includes contract disputes, civil and criminal antitrust matters, environmental claims, and issues involving business torts, trade secrets, and alleged unfair trade practices. Also in Baton Rouge, Dennis Blunt is said to have “been involved in some really high-profile cases over the years. He is very well known throughout the bar, despite being only about 47 years old.”

A Gulf-area institution, with offices in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Houston, Stone Pigman Walther Wittman is another firm that makes the jump into the “highly recommended” category in this edition. “They are a venerable, excellent top-notch firm,” sums up one peer, echoing the sentiment of many. A full-service firm, litigation weighs heavily into its offerings, and one peer notes, “They have a reputation for fighting the good fight and keeping the respect of everyone in the market, which is somewhat rare.”

Speaking specifically to its array of practitioners, peer feedback is particularly resounding for Wayne Lee. “Wayne was one of the first Afro-American partners in the New Orleans market,” confirms a peer. “[He has] integrity out the wazoo and is extremely well respected by judges and peers. He also has excellent analytical skills. I’ve been in evidentiary hearings with him in which the judges have literally gone off on a tangent that the rest of us didn’t get but Wayne was able to bring the case back around.” Phil Wittman is also referenced as “obviously one of the top that we’ll ever have in the state of Louisiana.” On the younger end of the spectrum, peer enthusiasm is strong for Leslie Harris.