Leadership in Law 05 - New Orleans City Business

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C O N T E N T S
Introduction 5
Donald Abaunza 7
Robert Acomb Jr. 8
Judy Barrasso 9
Hilton Bell 10
Edward B. Benjamin Jr. 11
Virginia Boulet 12
Kim Boyle 13
Alan Brackett 14
C. William Bradley 17
James A. Brown 18
Paula A. Brown 19
Joseph Bruno 20
Peter J. Butler Sr. 21
McChord Carrico 22
Roy Cheatwood 23
James Coleman 24
Keith Colvin 25
E. Howell Crosby 26
Howard Daigle Jr. 27
Christopher Dicharry 28
Anthony DiLeo 29
J. Kelly Duncan 30
Ernest L. Edwards Jr. 31
Michael Ellis 32
Frank Fontenot 33
George J. Fowler III 34
James Garner 35
William Grace Jr. 36
Mat Gray III 37
Harry S. Hardin III 38
Russ M. Herman 39
Bill Hines 40
John Houghtaling 41
Richard Ieyoub 42
Donna Klein 43
Roselyn Koretzky 44
Cheryl Kornick 45
Steven J. Lane 46
J. Dwight LeBlanc Jr. 47
Wayne Lee 48
Jonathan McCall 49
Michael A. McGlone 50
Robert Mouton 51
Antonio Rodriguez 52
Dionne Rousseau 53
Leopold Sher 54
Mark Surprenant 55
Robert Vosbein 56
David Ware 57
Scott Whittaker 58
Photographer: Cheryl Gerber
2005
Published by the NOPG LLC
111 Veterans Memorial Blvd.,
Suite 1440, Metairie, La. 70005
504-834-9292; Fax: 504-837-2258.
Publisher and president: D. Mark Singletary
Associate Publisher: Lisa Blossman
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The Smart Business Decision.
Congratulations McGlinchey Stafford Attorneys
Donna Guinn Klein
&
R. Keith Colvin
Winners of the 2005 Leadership in Law Award
McGlinchey Stafford: Leaders in Law and the New Orleans Community
New Orleans
643 Magazine Street | New Orleans, Louisiana 70130 | Phone: (504) 586-1200 | Fax: (504) 596-2800
New Orleans • Jackson • Baton Rouge • Houston • Cleveland • Monroe • Dallas • Albany
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NO PG
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extend our
sincerest congratulations to the
2005
Leaders in Law
C H A F F E M c C A L L
L. L. P.
Community Leaders – Exceptional Lawyers
Chaffe McCall is proud of its tradition of providing
effective client representation and community leaders
for over 175 years. We are especially proud of our
attorneys who are honored with the
Leadership in Law Award
E. Howell Crosby
William F. Grace, Jr.
J. Dwight LeBlanc, Jr.
Jonathan C. McCall
C H A F F E M c C A L L
L. L. P.
Broad knowledge • Deep Understanding
Effective Representation
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LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2005 5
LEADERSHIPinLAW
Introducing the top
New Orleans lawyers
The melange of inhabitants that originally
settled New Orleans is often credited with
producing the world-class cuisine that is
today the city’s trademark.
A similar blend has taken place in the
legal profession, where a variety of specialties
has flourished in the local diversity. For
example, the same waterways early settlers
traversed to reach the city have been involved
in precedents within the maritime law field.
New Orleans attorneys are regularly in the
forefront of hallmark admiralty decisions.
Louisiana’s system of law, rooted in the
Napoleonic Code, distinguishes it — and its
practitioners — from those in the other 49
states. When established in 1821, it was widely
considered a forward-thinking doctrine.
Although it has been melded into common
law practiced elsewhere, Louisiana’s civil law
roots still distinguish those who practice and
issue judgments based on its statutes.
In that spirit, CityBusiness has embarked
upon its inaugural effort to distinguish the top
50 lawyers in New Orleans in its Leadership
in Law issue.
The number of nominations made it a
particular challenge to settle on the best of
the best. Calling upon the resources of our
Dolan Media Co. family of publications,
editors with Lawyers Weekly pored over
the finalists to help produce the 2005
Leadership in Law honorees.
Those selected have also demonstrated
leadership in the community. They have
offered years of pro bono service and
attached their status to countless philanthropic
and charitable endeavors. They are
advocates of the indigent and tireless volunteers
for church and school fund-raisers.
Please join us in honoring their career
achievements and impact on the world.
— Greg LaRose, Associate Editor
We congratulate and recognize
KIM M. BOYLE
Partner in the New Orleans
Labor and Employment Practice Group
for receiving the
2005 CityBusiness
Leadership In Law Award
Canal Place
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NEW ORLEANS BATON ROUGE JACKSON TUPELO GULFPORT TAMPA HOUSTON LONDON

6 LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2005
Women of the Year
Recognizing exceptional achievement among local professional women
October 28, 2005
Help us identify the city’s most successful working women
Nominee:
Title:
Company/organization:
Business address:
City, state, zip:
Company phone number:
Nominee’s E-mail address:
Birthdate:
In a special supplement coming up in CityBusiness, we’ll name Women of the Year from the local area.
We will identify, profile and honor these professional women, whose successes in business and
contributions to the community have set the pace for the future of our region. We are looking for
innovative leaders who are making waves with their energy, ideas, achievements and commitment to
excellence. Nominations are welcomed from all business sectors.
Education (dates/type of diplomas, degrees, technical training):
Business accomplishments (job responsibilities, special projects, business-related affiliations):
Community involvement (nonprofits, civic, state and national organizations):
Achievements and awards:
Nominated by:
Business address:
Name/title:
Phone number:
Three ways to submit a nomination form:
1) Fax it to Women of the Year at 504-832-3550
2) E-mail it to tommy.santora@nopg.com
3) Mail it to Women of the Year, CityBusiness, 111 Veterans
Memorial Blvd., Suite 1440, Metairie, LA 70005
Deadline: July 28, 2005
Feel free to attach additional sheets if necessary.
A panel of judges will use nomination forms and independent research to make final selections.
Self-nominations are accepted. The Women of the Year will be profiled in CityBusiness and honored at a special event.

LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2005 7
LEADERSHIPinLAW
Donald Abaunza
Position: shareholder, Liskow & Lewis
Family: wife, Carolyn; son, Richard
Education: bachelor’s degree, political science and history, Vanderbilt University, Nashville,
Tenn.; juris doctorate, Tulane University Law School
Now a shareholder for Liskow & Lewis, Donald Abaunza was the firm’s president and managing
partner for almost nine years. As head of the firm’s admiralty section, he handled a wide
variety of maritime cases involving complex litigation and international disputes.
For 17 years, Abaunza has been involved in a case involving the 1987 collision between the
passenger ferry Dona Paz and the oil tanker Vector off the coast of the Philippines. Although
only 275 bodies were recovered, the death toll is believed to top 4,000 because of the undocumented
passengers on the ferry.
“This case has been to the Supreme Court in the Philippines and many courts here,”
Abaunza said. “The main issue is which country (United States or the Philippines) should be
handling the case.”
The outcome may define the standard for how other maritime issues involving different
countries will be handled.
“It’s a very significant case and probably the largest loss of life ever (in a maritime incident),”
Abaunza said.
Admiralty law is important in New Orleans because of all of the offshore oil rigs and the
tremendous amount of vessel traffic on the Mississippi River, he said. Among his many highprofile
cases, Abaunza acted as lead counsel for the defendants in the 1988 Piper Alpha disaster
involving a fire on an offshore oil rig in the North Sea, and the 1982 sinking of the oil rig Ocean
Ranger off the coast of Newfoundland.
Abaunza was recently selected to chair the state bar’s Professional Assessment Committee.
“We are to look at the profession and the judiciary and determine what is working and
what needs some change. Then we will make recommendations to the bar governance,”
Abaunza said.
As chair, Abaunza oversees the 24 federal and state judges, attorneys and law school deans
who serve on the committee.
Abaunza chaired the committee on federal uniform rules and won the Louisiana State Bar
Association’s President’s Award. He is a member of the Louisiana Bar Foundation Grants
Committee, a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a member of the Legislative
Process Review Committee for the state bar.
He now serves as a member of the Tulane Admiralty Law Institute Planning Committee;
vice chair of the Tulane Latin American Law Institute and is an arbitrator for the American
Arbitration Association.
Abaunza has practiced for 36 years and intends to practice many more but he laments some
of the changes in the profession.
“Almost any lawyer will tell you the profession has changed in many ways, but probably
the biggest change is that it’s not as congenial an atmosphere as it used to be,” he said. “Still,
much of it is good. Honors like this are the things that make you want to keep going.”
— Angelle Bergeron

8 LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2005
LEADERSHIPinLAW
Robert Acomb Jr.
Position: senior partner, Jones Walker Waechter Poitevent Carrere and Denegre
Family: wife, Greta; sons, Robert III, Dwight, Ryan and John; daughter, Greta
Education: bachelor of arts, Tulane University; juris doctorate, Tulane University Law School
Robert Acomb Jr. knows collisions. After all, they take up a large chunk of a maritime
lawyer’s career.
Acomb’s most notable case was his defense of the shipyard that constructed the semi-submersible
drilling vessel Ocean Ranger, which sunk off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada,
in 1982, killing the entire 84-man crew.
The case was ultimately brought to the U.S. District Court in New Orleans, where claims
were filed in excess of $2 billion. The case was settled with the shipyard being held accountable
for less than 2 percent of the damages sought.
Acomb’s accomplishments outside the courtroom include his community service involving
religious conflicts in the Middle East.
Acomb is a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, an order formed in 1099. “Its purpose is to
protect all holy places in the Holy Land and to provide education to Christians, Moslems
and Jewish students there,” Acomb said. “The order attempts to bring together people of
various faiths in working toward a peaceful solution.”
Acomb was awarded the honor of knight in the Order of St. Gregory the Great by the
late Pope John Paul II for his efforts.
The order has built schools and provided funding for its teachers. Bethlehem University
is such a place, said Acomb, and a stepping stone to the order’s goal of peace.
“Those who study together usually can later work together,” he said.
Acomb has been heavily involved with Tulane University since the 1960s. He has served on
many of its committees,including chairman of the Tulane Law School Building Fund from 1992
to 1995 and chairman of the Tulane Law School Dean’s Advisory Council from 1978 to 1985.
But perhaps his most constant service to the university has been teaching. Acomb has
been an adjunct professor of law since 1969, usually teaching a course on maritime personal
injury and death.
His knowledge of law extends beyond the classroom as Acomb has written many books
on maritime law, including “Maritime Personal Injury and Death and Collision Law.”
— Chris Anderson

LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2005 9
LEADERSHIPinLAW
Judy Y. Barrasso
Position: founding member, Barrasso Usdin Kupperman Freeman and Sarver
Family: husband, Brent Barriere; daughters, Jennifer and Ashley
Education: bachelor’s degree in sociology, California State University, Fullerton; master of science
in social work, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tenn.; juris doctorate (summa cum
laude), Tulane University School of Law
Judy Barrasso enjoys the intellectual and the theatrical aspects of practicing law.
“It’s intellectually challenging in that you’re trying to solve a problem by looking at the law ...
and applying it to a set a facts,” Barrasso said. “Putting it all together ... is kind of like putting on
a play, if you will. It’s fun.”
Barrasso began her law career in 1981 at Stone Pigman Walther Whitman, spending 18 years
at the firm. In April 2003, she and several other partners at Stone Pigman started their own firm,
with a concentration in commercial litigation.
Class action defense work takes up a large part of Barrasso’s time. She also defends bad
faith claims against insurance companies and handles general commercial cases such as
those involving trade disputes and non-competition agreements with former employers.
For example, Barrasso recently represented the Neill Corp., the Hammond-based distributor
of Aveda beauty products, against a former employee trying to sell a facial rejuvenation machine.
A native of Memphis, Tenn., Barrasso had a previous career in social work. Her close work
with the public defense office during those years helped spark her interest in law.
She met her husband, Brent Barriere, who is a commercial litigator, in law school. The
couple has two daughters: Jennifer, a junior at the University of Texas, and Ashley, a
senior at Isidore Newman High School.
Barrasso chairs the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board, is an adjunct faculty member
for the Tulane University Law School Trial Advocacy Program and a director of the
Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel Trial Academy. She also is a member of the board
of the directors of the New Orleans Pro Bono Project, an organization she’s been involved in
for more than 10 years.
“Lots of folks who couldn’t afford lawyers otherwise wouldn’t have access,” Barrasso said.
“And they’re so appreciative of what you do — win or lose.”
Barrasso is treasurer of the Downtown Development District and a board member of the
Committee of 21. Former Rep. Lindy Boggs and other politically active and civic-minded
women founded the group in the 1970s to help increase women’s access to political office and
corporate boards.
Barrasso also serves on board of the Anti-Defamation League, Dress for Success,
Summerbridge and Isidore Newman School.
“I think it’s pretty important that everybody gives back to the community,” Barrasso said.
— Sonya Stinson

10 LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2005
LEADERSHIPinLAW
Hilton Bell
Position: managing partner, Milling Benson Woodward
Family: daughters, Allison and Charlotte
Education: bachelor of arts, Tulane University; juris doctorate, Tulane University Law School;
legum magister, Boston University School of Law
It’s a great source of pride to Hilton Bell that his two daughters have followed in his
footsteps.
“Allison practices corporate and securities law and Charlotte deals with insurance coverage
issues,” said Bell, a partner in the tax, trust and estates department at the firm of
Milling Benson Woodward.
The intellectual challenge is what makes tax law so exciting, Bell said.
“It is difficult and it takes a lot of effort for one to try to understand the Internal
Revenue (Service) code and also the clients’ instructions to achieve their goals,” he said.
“I also enjoy litigating against the IRS. It’s always fun to beat the government.”
If so inclined, the government may devote “unlimited resources” to a particular case,
which compounds the complexity, Bell explained.
Of his many landmark cases, Bell represented the railroad industry in legislation and
suits against the Louisiana Tax Commission and the state of Louisiana.
“I worked to bring the assessment ratio for railroad properties from 25 percent to 15
percent of market value, pursuant to legislation that prohibited discriminatory treatment
to railroads,” he said.
Bell also won another railroad case in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that involved
an imposed tax that was declared unconstitutional.
“My last case involved an interstate natural gas pipeline company, in which I challenged
the constitutionality of a property tax,” Bell said. “Both cases were challenging
and involved a tremendous amount of money. There was a great deal at stake, which
makes it satisfying.”
Bell advises clients in all types of federal, state and local tax matters, including corporate,
partnership, executive and deferred compensation, tax-exempt financing, exempt
organizations, tax litigation and estate planning.
He is listed in “The Best Lawyers in America” for his work with employee benefits law
and tax law. His numerous professional honors and activities include: serving on the planning
committee for the Tulane Tax Institute; teaching as an adjunct associate professor of
law at Tulane University School of Law; and sitting on the lawyers committee for the
National Center for State Courts.
Bell has chaired numerous boards and committees and is the secretary for the New
Orleans Chamber of Commerce and treasurer for the New Orleans Council for
Community and Justice.
— Angelle Bergeron

LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2005 11
LEADERSHIPinLAW
Edward Benjamin Jr.
Position: senior partner, Jones Walker Waechter Poitevent Carrere and Denegre
Family: wife, Adelaide; sons, Edward and Stuart; daughters, Mary Williamson and Ann Hill
Education: bachelor of science, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.; juris doctorate (summa
cum laude), Tulane University Law School
Edward Benjamin Jr. has been practicing tax law for more than half a century, and he’s won
more than his fair share of major trust cases.
“There’s no point in bragging about myself,” he said. “Let’s just say I’ve been lucky.”
In 1967, Benjamin joined the firm of Jones Walker Waechter Poitevent Carrere and
Denegre and headed its tax, estates and trusts section for many years. He continues to
practice in all of those areas and the business field, where he has represented a number of
corporations and partnerships.
The most exciting aspect of tax law is that it provides an otherwise unavailable perspective
into people’s private lives, Benjamin said.
“Particularly in estate planning, you get to really know people and what they value, and
it’s a very rewarding thing to have people confide in you about those things,” he said. “The
truth of the matter is it’s a great privilege to be a part of people’s plans and aspirations.”
Tax law offers similar benefits when dealing with individuals, Benjamin said. Overall,
he finds this area of law “tremendously challenging, constantly changing and highly technical.
It keeps you on your toes, to put it mildly.”
Benjamin has been listed in “The Best Lawyers in America” in each edition since its
inception, for tax and trusts and estates law. He was an original member of the Executive
Counsel of the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law, and in 1976-1978 was its
first elected president.
Benjamin has served as president of the American College of Probate Counsel (now
American College of Trust and Estate Counsel); secretary of the American Bar Association’s
section on taxation; and a member of the council of the American Bar Association’s section
on real property, probate and trust law.
Benjamin is credited with being the first of only two lawyers to serve on both councils
at the same time and is one of only three persons to ever serve on both councils at any time.
Benjamin is a life member of the American Law Institute and served on its income tax
advisory and federal estate and gift tax advisory groups.
He is listed in “Who’s Who in America,” “Who’s Who in the World,” “Who’s Who in
American Law” and “Who’s Who in the South and Southwest.”
“I hope to die with my boots on,” he said. “I’m grandfathered here in the firm, which means
I’m permitted to keep practicing even though I am old and gray. I regard that as a great privilege.”
— Angelle Bergeron

12 LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2005
LEADERSHIPinLAW
Virginia Boulet
Position: special counsel, transactions and corporate advisory services, Adams and Reese
Family: sons, Jim, Ben and Winn; daughter, Meg
Education: bachelor of arts, Yale University; juris doctorate, Tulane University Law School
Virginia Boulet doesn’t try cases. She advises people who are making deals, big deals.
As special counsel in the transaction and corporate advisory services practice group in
the New Orleans office of Adams and Reese, Boulet has represented numerous companies
doing business in the Gulf South. She has drafted and secured passage of numerous
Louisiana statutes related to corporations, securities and banking.
“A lot of the young lawyers are always asking about the difference between what I do and
litigation. I try to convey how exciting it is to actually be there when it happens,” Boulet said.
“I like being involved in the process where businessmen are making these decisions, to see
them being made and how they are made. It’s dramatic because these decisions mean a lot
to a lot of people.”
Additionally, because Boulet specializes in corporate and securities transactions, she is
usually involved in a client’s life at a happy, exciting time. “I help companies go public or
merge when they want to acquire another company. People are either buying or selling their
company and either are very excited or cashing in on their life’s work,” Boulet said. “I see a
lot of millionaires made and it’s a lot of fun to be a part of that kind of process.”
Such transactions usually represent economic growth for the community as well. “It’s
real rewarding to be a small part of that process,” Boulet said.
She works hard to keep Louisiana a jurisdiction where corporations want to do business
and has personally drafted legislation to amend the state’s banking and corporate laws, she said.
“I also get to draft the documents that become important documents to other people’s
lives,” Boulet said. “For example, I work on stock option plans and compensation plans for
employees, which is always interesting to do.”
Boulet has extensive experience in corporate, securities and banking law and nearly 20
years experience in mergers and acquisitions, equity securities offerings, general business
matters, corporate compliance and advice in matters of commercial litigation.
Boulet is also an expert in corporate governance, particularly the new rules under
Sarbanes Oxley that resulted from corporate financial scandals a few years ago. “I have to
advise clients about the rules and individual state securities law,” she said.
Boulet was recently appointed to the board of W&T Offshore, a New York Stock Exchange
company headquartered in Houston. She is also director of CenturyTel, a Monroe-based
telecommunications company.
— Angelle Bergeron

LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2005 13
LEADERSHIPinLAW
Kim Boyle
Position: partner, employment group, Phelps Dunbar
Family: single
Education: bachelor of arts, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J.; juris doctorate, University of
Virginia School of Law
Before joining the employment group with the firm of Phelps Dunbar, Kim Boyle handled
one of the most important cases in her career.
“I represented the parish of Jefferson in defending a legal challenge by a small group of
Jefferson Parish voters to the creation of a majority/minority councilman district,” she said.
“Several white Jefferson Parish voters filed a lawsuit, which asserted that by creating a councilman
district with a majority of African-American voters, Jefferson Parish had violated the
14th Amendment to the Constitution. The ruling affirmed the manner in which the district
was drawn and affirmed that the districts were not drawn in a way that violated the
Constitution.”
The case was personally significant for Boyle. “During the course of the trial, a number
of African-American voters in Jefferson Parish testified about their experiences in growing
up and living through segregation, and what the creation of this district meant to them,” she
said. “I felt that the ruling affirmed that African-American voters in Jefferson Parish had and
would continue to have a meaningful opportunity to select a council member of their own
choice, and that is very significant to me.”
Boyle has practiced in all areas of commercial litigation as well as employment litigation,
tort litigation and general litigation. She is a former Orleans Parish Civil District Court judge
pro tempore and a former assistant professor of law at Loyola University School of Law in
New Orleans. She has significant experience in managing large-scale cases as well as extensive
knowledge in the areas of unfair trade practices and alleged corporate misconduct.
Her civic and bar activities include service as a member of the board of directors of the
American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, as well as the Greater New Orleans Fair
Housing Action Center.
Boyle formerly served as president of the New Orleans chapter of the Court Appointed
Special Advocate program and served as the secretary of the New Orleans Legal Assistance Corp.
She serves as treasurer of the Louisiana State Bar Association and was formerly a member
of the Board of Governors, as well as past president of the New Orleans Bar Association
and member of the state association’s Ethics 2000 Committee.
Boyle is former co-chair of the NO AIDS Task Force, serves on the executive committee
for Committee of 21, is a board member on the Bureau of Governmental Research and is the
co-chair for the Committee for a Better New Orleans/Metropolitan Area Communities.
In her capacity in the Phelps Dunbar employment group, Boyle represents employers
in a number of issues.
“It takes a lot of counseling to ensure employers are in compliance with the law,” she said.
“I find it exciting. It’s an intellectually challenging area of the law.”
— Angelle Bergeron

14 LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2005
LEADERSHIPinLAW
Alan G. Brackett
Position: partner, Mouledoux Bland Legrand and Brackett
Family: wife, Linda; son, Austin
Education: bachelor’s degree in history, Tulane University; law degree, Tulane University
Law School
Considered one of America’s foremost experts in longshore claims and litigation, Alan
Brackett discovered an affinity for maritime law while working as a law clerk.
“Maritime law is kind of a unique body of law,” Brackett said. “There is some statutory
stuff but a lot of it is judge-made law over history. Since I’m a history buff by nature, it was
a natural fit for me.”
By the time Brackett started college at Tulane University, majoring in history, he had narrowed
his career choice down to either teaching or law. And although he picked the law as his
primary career field, he didn’t give up teaching altogether.
“I’ve participated in continuing legal education,so I guess I satisfied both goals,”Brackett said.
Immediately after graduating from Tulane University Law School in 1984, Brackett
joined Hebert Mouledoux and Bland. He and three fellow staff attorneys would later break
away to start their own firm in 1997, Mouledoux Bland Legrand and Brackett, which has
grown to nine attorneys.
Today, Brackett’s practice focuses largely on the defense of personal injury cases arising
under the Jones Act, a law established in 1920 to allow seamen and longshoremen to seek
compensation for on-the-job injuries. He also handles general casualty litigation and corporate
maritime cases such as those involving the sale or financing of vessels.
Brackett is a fellow of the Louisiana Bar Foundation and chairs the foundation subcommittee
that considers grants from the Interest of Lawyers Trust Account to Court Appointed
Special Advocates for Children. He is a general counsel and advisory board member for the
Greater New Orleans Barge Fleeting Association and advisory board chairman for the annual
Longshore Conference at Loyola University Law School.
In addition to his professional affiliations, Brackett is vice chairman at St. Martin’s
Episcopal School, which his 12-year-old son, Austin, attends, and a member of the finance
and investment committees at Christ Church Cathedral.
“Balance is the most important thing for lawyers to deal with,” he said. “Practicing law can
be all-consuming and very stressful. Doing volunteer work really helps to keep that balance.”
A native of Massachusetts, Brackett recalled he felt at home in New Orleans almost as soon
as he arrived here as a college student.
“I won’t say it was as soon as I stepped off the plane but soon afterward I knew that I fit,”
he said. “It’s like that old saying: ‘I wasn’t born in the South, but I got here as fast as I could.”
— Sonya Stinson

LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2005 15
From the courtroom
to the conference room,
Congratulations to our Leadership in Law Honorees
Robert A. Vosbein Virginia Boulet Mark C. Surprenant
Out in front.
www.adamsandreese.com
we’re leaders in today’s
complex legal arena.
One Shell Square ■ 701 Poydras Street ■ Suite 4500
New Orleans, LA 70139 ■ 504.581.3234
Baton Rouge ■ Birmingham ■ Houston
Jackson ■ Mobile ■ New Orleans ■ Washington D.C.
FREE BACKGROUND INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST. No representation is made that the quality of the legal services
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Not certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization except as noted.
A Reputation for Success
Liskow & Lewis is proud to congratulate
Locke Liddell & Sapp
proudly recognizes
Robert W. Mouton
recipient of the 2005 Leadership
in Law award.
Donald R. Abaunza
James A. Brown
Cheryl Mollere Kornick
for their selection to the 2005
CityBusiness Leadership in Law Guide
We extend our congratulations to all of this year's winners.
Austin Dallas Houston New Orleans www.lockeliddell.com
601 Poydras Street, Suite 2400
New Orleans, LA 70130-6036
504 558 5100
New Orleans Lafayette Houston www.liskow.com

16 LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2005
820 O'Keefe Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70113 Ph:504-581-4892 • Fax:504-561-6024 • www.hhkc.com
820 O'Keefe Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70113
Ph:504-581-4892 • Fax:504-561-6024 • www.hhkc.com
Proudly Representing:
Special Trial Counsel to the City of New Orleans
FedEx Corp.
Frischhertz Electric Co.
Gallo Mechanical Contractors, Inc.
Orion Refining Corporation
World Trade Center Development, LP
The premier law firm in town know for its “impressive reputation in
business, class action and personal injury litigation.”
-- Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business

LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2005 17
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C. William Bradley Jr.
Position: partner, Lemle and Kelleher
Family: sisters, Bridget, Margaret and Adrian
Education: bachelor’s degree (with honors), Brown University; juris doctorate, Tulane
University Law School
Growing up in St. John the Baptist Parish, William Bradley Jr. said he spent almost half his
time riding the Edgard Reserve Ferry across the Mississippi River.
So when Bradley was asked why he became a lawyer, he joked “Law school was a much
better alternative than working as a deck hand on the ferry.”
Bradley’s family also has a legal background. His sister, Margaret, is a paralegal and his
late father, C. William Bradley, was a state judge in the 29th and 40th judicial districts.
Bradley’s practice consists principally of the defense of medical malpractice actions,
toxic tort and occupational exposure actions in the state and federal district and appellate
courts.
Bradley’s most notable case was defending chemical manufacturers from charges filed
against them from a Baton Rouge plant worker’s family claiming chemical exposure caused
the worker’s death.
“After a 19-day jury trial in Baton Rouge, the jury returned a defense verdict, which ended
not only that case but a number of similar actions filed by the same attorneys and arising out
of the same Baton Rouge plant,” Bradley said.
The defense verdict of a small malpractice case Coleman versus MMC-BC meant a lot to Bradley
“While not particularly noteworthy in and of itself, it was still gratifying because it was the
10th consecutive trial victory by our medical malpractice group in a 12-month period in
Orleans, Jefferson, St. Tammany and East Baton Rouge parishes,” Bradley said.
Bradley has been the past president of the New Orleans Association of Defense Counsel
and past director of the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel. He is a member of the
Defense Research Institute.
Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco has appointed Bradley to serve on the Senate’s Medical
Malpractice Advisory Board.
He donates time and money to many local charities and also is involved in the firm’s
charitable organizations and causes, such as The Good Shepherd Nativity.
Bradley is a member of Lemle and Kelleher’s management and executive committees,
chairman of the attorney personal committee and chairman of the casualty and professional
liability section.
— Chris Anderson

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James A. Brown
Position: shareholder, Liskow & Lewis
Family: wife, Kelly; sons, James, Ben and Nicholas
Education: bachelor of arts (valedictorian/summa cum laude), Louisiana State University;
juris doctorate, LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center
Beyond his career as an attorney, James A. Brown has immersed himself in the New Orleans
community, giving of his time, intelligence and energy to area non-profit work and has been
regularly involved in professional organizations.
During his more than 20-year career at Liskow and Lewis, Brown has handled several
major cases in the areas of liability practice, including defending national insurance carriers,
law firms, directors, officers, trustees and accountants.
“The most personally rewarding aspect is having the client experience the satisfaction of
seeing his case presented to the judge and jury in the most effective way possible,” he said.
“That satisfaction of the client is what I consider to be justice.”
Brown serves on his firm’s board of directors, chairs the office administration committee,
and was instrumental in establishing the Liskow and Lewis Endowed Professorship at
Louisiana State University’s Paul M. Hebert Law Center.
He also is an active member of the legal community, serving as co-chair of the Louisiana
State Bar Association “P’s and Q’s” Ethics and Professionalism seminar. He has also been a
member of the LSBA’s Continuing Legal Education Committee and is former co-chair of the
association’s “Summer School for Lawyers.”
Brown has spoken many times at Tulane, Loyola and LSU law schools and has been published
regularly. As a talented violinist, Brown also serves as the Louisiana State Bar
Foundation’s unofficial “violinist in residence” at fund-raisers.
“I get involved in community work because it is fun. Lawyers and people generally
need to have some fun. The fun is satisfying because it makes life better for others,” he
said.
Brown’s community involvement also has a serious side. He has served as president and
board member for Vialink (CopeLine), a 24-hour crisis and suicide prevention hotline. He is
a past president of the board of directors of the Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse and has
served as chair of the United Way’s “Day of Caring,” New Orleans’ largest single community
workplace volunteer event.
— Matt Jones

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Paula A. Brown
Position: senior staff attorney, Law Office of John Erny III
Family: single
Education: bachelor’s degree in management, Tulane University; law degree, Southern
University Law Center
Television courtroom dramas have inspired plenty of kids to dream of becoming lawyers when
they grow up. To Paula Brown, who grew up to be a civil defense attorney, those shows were
just entertainment.
“When I was younger, I used to watch a lot of ‘Perry Mason,’ but I don’t think that was the
determining factor in choosing a law career,” said Brown, a corporate lawyer representing
Hartford Insurance Co. and its affiliates.
In fact, when the Ocean Springs, Miss., native came to New Orleans to attend Tulane
University on a basketball scholarship, her initial goal was to become a doctor. Brown eventually
switched her major from pre-medicine to management and met a law student whose real
legal career turned out to be a much bigger influence than the fictional ones on television.
“I decided that was something that I wanted to do, especially because I had the gift of
gab,” Brown said.
Following the example of her friend, Marie Bookman, who later would become a magistrate
judge, Brown went on to earn a law degree from Southern University in 1992. Right after graduation,
Bookman hired Brown as an associate in her firm. About a year later, Brown began
clerking for then-Orleans Parish Civil District Court Judge Bernette Johnson and remained on
staff for a year and a half after Johnson’s election to the Louisiana Supreme Court.
In 1996, Brown worked briefly for the New Orleans Indigent Defendants Program before
going on to a position as in-house attorney for the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority.
In her current job, which began in June 2000, she handles a variety of tort litigation cases
for Hartford Insurance.
Last year, in what she calls the most rewarding experience of her career, the Louisiana
Supreme Court appointed Brown as judge pro tempore for Orleans Parish Civil District Court,
Division M, and served six months on the bench before Paulette Irons was elected to the position.
Outside the office, Brown coaches girl’s basketball and men’s Midnight Basketball for the
YWCA. Still an avid athlete herself, she played in the Jewish Community Center’s basketball
league until she recently dislocated her thumb.
Last year, Brown moved her mother, who is a parapalegic, from Mississippi to New Orleans.
“Most of my off time, if I’m not coaching a game or preparing for a case, I’m spending with
her,” Brown said.
Brown said she loves her job, except when she meets an unscrupulous opponent.
“I can’t say that I’ve run into a great number of attorneys who don’t play by the rules, but I
have run into some, and that’s disheartening,” she said.
— Sonya Stinson

20 LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2005
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Joseph M. Bruno
Position: managing partner, Bruno & Bruno
Family: wife, Stephanie; sons, Joseph Jr., Blake and Chase; and daughters, Marian,
Melanie and Suzanne
Education: bachelor of arts, Tulane University; law degree, Tulane University Law School
Joseph Bruno is known in Louisiana as a top-tier trial attorney specializing in class actions and
complex litigation, while being a vocal and passionate advocate for victims’ rights.
He wouldn’t have it any other way. Bruno said the only place he gets the opportunity to
“act out” is the courtroom.
Bruno has served as co-lead trial counsel on the New Orleans train car leakage fire case,
which received a $3.5 billion verdict and was settled for $435 million. He represented more
than 7,000 class action plaintiffs in the water contamination case involving the Shell refinery
in Norco. He also worked on a class action suit against Gaylord Chemical following a chemical
release in Bogalusa that resulted in a $92 million verdict. He recently represented thousands
of claimants in the Kaiser Aluminum plant explosion in Gramercy, which resulted in a
settlement of more than $30 million.
In one of his most publicized cases, Bruno worked on the Scott Cigarette litigation, the
only medical monitoring class action case pending in the United States, where the jury found
the cigarette industry defrauded smokers by distorting public knowledge of specific dangers
of tobacco. This landmark case resulted in a jury award of approximately $600 million to be
directed toward smoking cessation programs in Louisiana.
Bruno is a vocal critic of cigarette use and has been involved in public education about the
dangers of its use, particularly relating to youths in the New Orleans area.
“Work in the community is something we have to do if we want to live whole lives,”
Bruno said.
Bruno is a member of the Louisiana Trial Lawyers Association, the Louisiana and
American Bar associations; the Board of Governors; the American Association of Trial
Lawyers; and the St. Thomas More Catholic Lawyers Association.
He is involved in the arts as a board member of the New Orleans Opera Association and
the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts.
— Matt Jones

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Peter J. Butler Sr.
Position: attorney, certified public accountant, Breazeale Sachse and Wilson
Family: wife, Billie Lou; sons, Peter Jr. and Thomas; and daughter, Julie
Education: bachelor’s degree, Loyola University; juris doctorate, Loyola University School of Law
One of Peter Butler’s biggest accomplishments took an arm and a leg, or a wing to be
more precise.
“I was the trial attorney for Popeye’s Fried Chicken in its successful hostile takeover of
Church’s Fried Chicken for $430 million,” said Butler. The case was litigated in Louisiana
and argued in the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal.
It wasn’t the success of the case that left a mark on Butler’s mind but the gratitude his
client displayed.
“As a surprise bonus, over and above my fee, my client paid my daughter’s tuition for four
years at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.”
Another big case for Butler came in 1993 when the Louisiana Legislature enacted a series
of statutes authorizing casino gaming in the state. When the constitutionality of those statutes
was challenged, Butler was called to duty.
“The Louisiana attorney general asked me to present the state’s argument in defense of
these statues. I did and the Supreme Court upheld the statutes’ constitutionality,” he said.
As the attorney in charge of the New Orleans office of Breazeale Sachse and Wilson, as well
as its special counsel, Butler’s responsibility falls on both sides of the court bar.
Aside from high-profile victories in corporate, environmental, and health care cases, Butler
often takes the low-paying cases. Many of those are representing Jefferson Parish that, because
of fiscal restraints, is unable to pay the normal rates of a high-profile litigator.
“While the parish can only pay him a fraction of his normal hourly rates, and despite a very
hectic and lucrative practice, Mr. Butler has never turned down my requests,” said Jefferson
Parish Attorney Thomas Wilkinson Jr.
Much of Butler’s extra time is spent at his alma mater, Loyola University School of Law.
Volunteering as an adjunct professor, he taught mineral law and civil procedure courses.
Butler also served for many years as a member of the school’s Law Visiting Committee.
“While these endeavors were very time consuming, I considered this to be a means of giving
something back to the community which has given so much to me.”
— Chris Anderson

22 LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2005
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McChord Carrico
Position: attorney, Abbott Simses & Kuchler
Family: wife, Betty; sons, Charles and Christian
Education: bachelor’s degree, University of Kentucky; juris doctorate, University of
Kentucky School of Law
McChord Carrico and his family came to Louisiana to escape cold Midwestern weather.
A Kentucky native, Carrico was working in Iowa when the family decided to relocate back
to the South.
He has lived here longer than he has anywhere else but his North Shore-born-and-bred colleagues
still refer to him good-naturedly as a “come-here.”
Carrico, a transactional lawyer who practices in corporate, regulatory, environmental and
governmental fields for Abbott Simses & Kuchler in Covington, says the common thread of his
practice is economic development. He has undertaken projects as varied as a grain
elevator/processing plant, a joint hospital venture and a nuclear power plant. He says he
learned something different from every industry.
“I spent a good bit of my career working as in-house as well as outside counsel for electric
and gas utility companies,” he said. “Utility companies cut across all segments of society and
you get very much involved in the cross-section of the community.”
Carrico devotes a significant portion of his professional and personal time to business-support
organizations in St. Tammany Parish. He said economic development — though he represents
clients throughout Greater New Orleans and is also licensed to practice law in three
other states — is the most enjoyable aspect of his livelihood.
“Here in St. Tammany, I’m working with a charitable organization that is putting in a
housing development as well as a commercial development. It’s going to be located near a
soon-to-be constructed interchange on the interstate. I’ve been busy helping to develop
funds to get the interchange in because the interchange will open up the interior of St.
Tammany to development, homes and will also open up access to Washington Parish,” he
said. “It’s a very mundane subject talking about funds for an interstate interchange but
there’s so many things that can arise out of that interchange: public safety, evacuation
routes, economic development, homes for people, businesses for jobs, capital investment,
tax base for the parish and so on.”
Carrico has been involved with the St. Tammany Parish Economic Development
Foundation, St. Tammany West Leadership Foundation Inc. and the parish’s West Chamber
of Commerce.
He serves as chairman of the Economic Development Focus Group of the St. Tammany
Parish New Directions 2025 plan.
— Faith Dawson

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Roy Cheatwood
Position: managing shareholder, Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell and Berkowitz
Family: wife, Cindy; sons, Cliff and Scott; daughter, Dancy
Education: bachelor’s degree, University of South Florida; juris doctorate, Tulane
University Law School
Roy Cheatwood has been in the legal business for 30 years, and he says he’s never seen anything
grow as fast his firm has in this past year. “In one year, we have built an office of 32 people,” he said.
Cheatwood recently established the New Orleans office of the national Baker Donelson
Bearman Caldwell and Berkowitz firm.
Cheatwood’s pride in his firm is not lost on his colleagues. “Camaraderie is palpable at
Baker Donelson, and this can only come from an atmosphere of trust. Roy exudes this kind of
climate,” wrote Anne M. Leche and Edward Arnold in their nomination of Cheatwood for
Leadership in Law.
Cheatwood credits his mentors at Jones Walker, Herschel Abbott and Harry Redmon, for
his success as a litigator.
“I have been very fortunate for having known all the outstanding people I’ve worked
with,” he said.
Cheatwood, who graduated from Tulane University Law School, moved onto Phelps
Dunbar after working as a partner at Jones Walker. He typically works as a defense lawyer for
commercial and class action suits.
One case that exemplifies Cheatwood’s reputation was in the early 1990s when he represented
an elderly man whose land was being drilled by a major oil company. The case
was heard at the U.S. District Court in New Orleans, and the oil company put an initial $4
million into the registry of the court. The judgment ultimately came to $3.5 million, allowing
the plaintiff to walk away with $7.5 million total.
“He had been in that dispute for over 20 years before filing,” Cheatwood said.
Integrity imbues Cheatwood’s work, which is especially notable given the large sums that
pass through the legal process. “The truth of the matter is, hopefully the law lines up with the
results,” he said.
Cheatwood has been a faculty member for the trial and deposition programs of the
National Institute for Trial Advocacy and has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America
since 1999. He was a longtime board member and onetime president of the Children’s
Bureau, an organization that facilitates adoption programs, counseling for at-risk children,
and help for children with social and psychological issues.
— Kathryn Jezer-Morton

24 LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2005
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James J. Coleman
Position: senior partner, Coleman Johnson Artigues and Jurisich
Family: sons, Jimmy Jr., Tommy and Peter, daughter, Dianne
Education: bachelor of arts, Tulane University; juris doctorate, Tulane University Law School
James Coleman, who has prepped for his legal career in New Orleans at Warren Easton
High School and law school at Tulane University, said he got involved in law due to an
unfulfilled desire of his father.
“He wanted to be a lawyer but never pursued it,” Coleman said. “Now, over 60 years
later, I’m still involved and I still love it. It is an honorable profession that deserves
recognition.”
Fresh out of college, Coleman founded the law firm of Coleman Johnson Artigues and
Jurisich in 1937. It had its roots as a general practice firm, but its main focus is international
and maritime law. The firm represents both plaintiffs and defendants in district and
appellate courts. Coleman’s other achievements in the legal world include his appointment
as president of the Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Society and his membership
in the U.S. Supreme Court Historical Society.
“They were one group that supported new renovations to the courthouse on Royal
Street,” Coleman said.
Coleman is also chairman of the Judicial Compensation Commission. “This is the
group that determines salaries of state judges,” Coleman said.
Along with his legal responsibilities, Coleman is also active in the community, serving
as president emeritus of the World Trade Center of New Orleans, having taken part in the
1985 merger of International House and International Trade Mart into the World Trade
Center. Coleman has also been involved in the local and national chambers of commerce,
the New Orleans Symphony, the Voters Information League and Crimestoppers.
“I think my fellow attorneys, more than practically any other professional group, pay
their dues in community service,” Coleman said. “I have always tried to do my part.”
A final notable honor for Coleman was his acceptance of the Benemerenti Papal Award.
This award is given to individuals, who merit special recognition by the Holy See for
exceptional accomplishment and service. Coleman accepted the award from former
Archbishop Philip Hannan and the late Pope John Paul II.
Coleman said he could not specifically pinpoint a particularly notable case in his
career. He usually takes them on one at a time, giving them equal importance.
“I feel my most important case is always the one in which I am presently involved,”
Coleman said. “You can be sure it is the one I want to win most of all.”
— Robin Shannon

LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2005 25
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Keith Colvin
Position: managing member, real estate section, McGlinchey Stafford
Family: wife, Karen; sons, Charlie and Billy; stepson, Chris; daughter, Mary; stepdaughter, Katie
Education: bachelor’s degree in political science, Louisiana State University; juris doctorate,
LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center
As a real estate lawyer, Keith Colvin has watched the process of coastal erosion along the
Gulf Coast with particular concern. As a board member for the Coalition to Restore
Coastal Louisiana, he created a synergy between his professional priorities and his energy
as a community member.
Colvin became involved with the coalition through a classmate at the New Orleans
Regional Leadership Institute, where he was part of the class of 2004.
“The coalition is really the pre-eminent private organization trying to support coastal
restoration,” he said. “Securing funding is really the biggest challenge. It’s a national challenge.
If it’s thought of as Louisiana’s problem for us to solve, it’s never going to get solved
— it’s just too big a job.”
Colvin is convinced that if Louisiana can take legal action and secure settlements to
fund conservation projects, protection of the coasts can be possible. “The strategy is to
convince the federal government that Louisiana has paid the price of providing energy to
the rest of the nation.”
Invoking President Kennedy’s announcement that man would walk on the surface of
the moon before the technology to do so existed, Colvin remarked: “The science to do
what has to be done with the Louisiana coastline hasn’t been invented yet.”
Colvin was the founder and first chairman of the Uniform Title Standards Committee
of the Louisiana State Bar Association, which began in 1991.
“Until the early ’90s, title standards varied a great deal in Louisiana. The whole process
was confusing and expensive ... definitely not an ideal situation,” Colvin said.
Colvin’s nascent organization formed committees of lawyers across the state to discuss
and agree on title standards, which resulted in a workable uniformity across the parishes.
“(Standardized title practices) now provide attorneys with a guide and a source to access
in disputes,” he said.
Colvin said one of his proudest moments occurred when representing Occidental
Chemical in its attempt to construct a $500 million co-generation plant in Taft.
— Kathryn Jezer-Morton

26 LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2005
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E. Howell Crosby
Position: partner, corporate section head, Chaffe McCall
Family: sons Tac, Tippins and Billy
Education: bachelor of science, Tulane University; juris doctorate, Tulane University Law
School; master of business administration, Tulane University A.B. Freeman School of Business
E. Howell Crosby’s interest in law goes all the way back to an eighth-grade civics class at
Metarie Park Country Day School. His teacher, Jo Gwin Shelby, who also went on to teach his
three children, imposed a lasting civil impression upon him.
“Not only has she made me into a lawyer, she has also encouraged two of my kids to pursue
law,” Crosby said. “She has been quite an influence for my entire family.”
Crosby began his career with Chaffe McCall in 1984 as a clerk. He became a lawyer for them
in 1985 and has been there ever since. His main concentration is in the field of commercial real
estate. He deals with builders and developers of shopping malls, hotels and office buildings.
Crosby says he likes the corporate side of law because everyone is working toward
the same goal.
“Everyone involved is moving toward the same goal, getting things built,” Crosby said.
“Everyone ends up happy in the end.”
Crosby handles commercial transactions, business law and real estate law all throughout the
Gulf South. One case he is particularly fond of was his involvement in the development and
construction of Eastern Shores in Spanish Fort, Ala.
“Eastern Shores is what’s known as a ‘lifestyle power center,’” Crosby said. “It resembles
the format of a town square where you have stores placed all around.”
The $100 million complex has more than 560,000 square feet of shopping space on 58
acres. “Needless to say, it was quite an undertaking,” he said.
Along with his commercial law accomplishments, Crosby also handles legal work for “Miss
Congeniality” herself — Sandra Bullock.
“I have represented her since 1996,” Crosby said. “She’s actually nicer in person than she
is on screen.”
One of Crosby’s biggest professional achievements has been his tenure as president of the
American College of Mortgage Attorneys. He is the youngest president of this group. Crosby
has also worked with the Industrial Development Board and the Human Relations
Commission of New Orleans.
He has served as vice chairman of the New Orleans Alcoholic Beverage Control Board and
was on the board of directors for the Young Leadership Council, the Louisiana Children’s
Museum, the New Orleans Museum of Art and Metairie Park Country Day School. He served
on the New Orleans City Council from 1999 to 2000.
— Robin Shannon

LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2005 27
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Howard Daigle
Position: founder, managing partner, Daigle Fisse
Family: wife, Jaie; daughters Meghan and Kelsey
Education: bachelor of science, Louisiana State University; juris doctorate, LSU Paul M.
Hebert Law Center
Howard Daigle’s accomplishments in law began as a student at Paul M. Hebert Law Center at
Louisiana State University in the 1970s where he was selected for the Louisiana Law Review
and the Order of Colif.
By 1982, Phelps Dunbar in New Orleans accepted Daigle into partnership after just four
years as an associate, and by 1993, Daigle had gained the trust of colleagues and clients in order
to start the Daigle Fisse law firm.
In 1986, Daigle defended Offshore Logistics in a case that centered on the principal issue
of “scope of recovery,” pursuant to a federal statute for wrongful death at sea. Daigle appeared
before the U.S. Supreme Court and helped his firm overturn a lower-court decision. The case,
Offshore Logistics Inc. versus Tallentire, is a seminal admiralty decision, which Daigle said is
still cited today.
Daigle defended Boeing Co. in 1992 in response to multiple suits in New Orleans resulting
from the 1989 crash of a British Midlands Boeing 737 aircraft in England. Daigle and his law
team successfully devised a strategy to have this type of case transferred from state court to federal
court, where it could be dismissed for trial in Europe. The U.S. Court of Appeals for Fifth
Circuit ruled in the firm’s favor, and since that decision, Daigle says defendants in federal litigation
have used his strategy nationally.
Daigle primarily defends businesses in complex litigation as results of business disputes,
product failures and environmental occurrences. Daigle has specialized in the
defense of manufacturers of aircraft products and aircraft operators in civil and admiralty
litigation. Daigle is the products liability adviser for the Small Aircraft Manufacturers
Association in Washington, D.C.
His ties to aviation go back to his time as an F4 Phantom aircraft commander in Europe with
the U.S. Air Force in the mid 1970s
Daigle is a member of the boards of the West St. Tammany Chamber of Commerce and of
Saint Scholastica Academy in Covington. He has also served on the boards of the St. Tammany
West Foundation and Cedarwood School.
— Amy Ferrara

28 LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2005
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Christopher J. Dicharry
Position: partner in charge of the New Orleans office, Kean Miller Hawthorne D’Armond
McCowan and Jarman
Family: wife, Melanie; son, Christopher; and daughter, Sarah
Education: bachelor of science, University of New Orleans; juris doctorate, Loyola University
School of Law
Christopher Dicharry has made a career in Louisiana tax law with numerous accomplishments.
Dicharry, who focuses on state and local taxation at the firm Kean Miller Hawthorne
D’Armond McCowan and Jarman, was influential in passing a constitutional amendment to
limit the number of sales tax collectors to one per parish. He helped to pass legislation to create
a state tax credit for local property taxes paid on inventory, which, according to Dicharry,
made it possible for the state to attract distribution businesses.
Dicharry has represented trade associations and businesses, including the Louisiana
Chemical Association, the Louisiana Pulp and Paper Association and the Louisiana
MidContinent Oil and Gas Association.
He also maintains a position as adjunct professor at Louisiana State University’s Paul
M. Hebert Law Center, where he teaches a course in state and local taxation.
Several cases were significant to his professional career. In one, private auditors for a local
sales tax collector made a multimillion-dollar demand for sales taxes in connection with raw
materials required to manufacture offshore oil platforms. Dicharry represented a major fabricator
of offshore platforms and after four years of discovering hundreds of fabrication contracts,
his law team successfully negotiated a settlement that recognized that the raw materials
were not taxable.
In a separate case, Dicharry represented 28 trucking companies and the Louisiana
Motor Transport Association in a dispute over the taxation of trucks after Congress
passed legislation that limited the authority of the states to regulate trucking operations.
Dicharry and his team convinced the Louisiana Legislature to pass legislation to repeal a
gross receipts tax on trucking.
In a case still in litigation, Dicharry represents numerous interstate pipelines in relation
to a claim that the Louisiana property tax system discriminates against interstate natural
gas pipelines, contrary to the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution.
After several years of living and working for the firm at its Baton Rouge office, Dicharry
and his wife, Melanie, recently moved back to New Orleans, where he will work at the
firm’s local office.
— Amy Ferrara

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Anthony M. DiLeo
Position: member, Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann
Family: daughter, Sarah
Education: bachelor of science, Tulane University; judicial degree, Tulane University Law
School; advanced law degree, Harvard Law School
Anthony DiLeo’s interest in law stems from a fascination for language.
“I have always been interested in the study of language,” DiLeo said. “My definition for
law is the accurate and precise use of language. Language with advocacy.”
DiLeo noticed this connection between law and language while earning his bachelor’s
degree at Tulane University.
DiLeo’s career began in 1973 when the firm Stone Pigman approached him while he
was teaching at Harvard Law School. He was 23 at the time.
“I originally wanted to be a law teacher until the partners approached me,” DiLeo said.
“It’s worth mentioning that I am still an adjunct professor at Tulane Law.”
At Stone Pigman, DiLeo handles cases in a wide variety of areas. He has written and
spoken extensively on taxation, antitrust, limited liability companies, corporations, heath
care and arbitration.
He is still involved in a case he considers one of the biggest of his career. Federal courts
have ordered all federal Merck/Vioxx cases throughout the United States to be transferred
to New Orleans, and his firm was approached to represent the pharmaceutical company
in these cases.
“We’re talking about several hundred cases, many of them class actions, being transferred
here,” DiLeo said. “This will be a large case.”
DiLeo also handled the division of a $200 million company between two shareholders
with negotiations lasting 38 straight hours.
“Dividing a company this large you expect long negotiations, and the parties could not find
common ground,” DiLeo said. “I am proud to say that we successfully avoided litigation.”
Aside from his law work, DiLeo said his hobbies have won him praise outside the legal
world. In 1978, as a way to relax and relieve stress, DiLeo took up painting. His artwork
has earned him spots in a number of gallery shows throughout the United States. A sample
can be found at Ochsner Clinic Foundation, where he has an 8-by-10-foot painting titled
“Vespertine” hanging in the first floor lobby. Another is featured at Tulane Law School.
DiLeo is also an established author of short stories and poetry. In 2003, he was named a
finalist in the national William Faulkner Writing Competition for his short story “Bus Ride.”
He was also a semifinalist in 2004 for short story and poetry for “North Lied to Him.”
DiLeo’s pro bono services to the public have earned him the Louisiana Bar Association
2004 Pro Bono Publico award and the 2002 and 2003 New Orleans Pro Bono Project
Distinguished Service awards.
— Robin Shannon

30 LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2005
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J. Kelly Duncan
Position: senior partner, gaming practice chair, Jones Walker Waechter Poitevent Carrere &
Denegre
Family: wife, Carmen; son, Johnson
Education: bachelor’s degree, Georgetown University; juris doctorate, Tulane University
Law School
Graduating cum laude from Georgetown University was the beginning of a string of successes
that led J. Kelly Duncan to head the practice of Louisiana’s largest gaming firm at Jones Walker
Waechter Poitevent Carrere and Denegre.
After graduating from Tulane University Law School, Duncan began his practice in
admiralty and maritime law.
“Because of this background,” said Duncan, “I became involved in the representation of
major casino companies seeking to develop riverboat gaming projects in Louisiana after
enabling legislation was passed in the early 1990s.”
Since then, Duncan has represented major casino companies in connection with the
development, financing and operation of the land based casino and several riverboat gaming
projects throughout the state. He has also represented ocean transportation companies,
a major grain terminal on the lower Mississippi River and has handled domestic and
international vessel acquisitions and financing.
Duncan serves as first vice chairman of the Audubon Nature Institute and member of
the board of directors and has also served as treasurer and parliamentarian.
Duncan was the Audubon Nature Institute Annual Fund chairman in 1998, a member of
the Metropolitan Area Committee Leadership Forum and the board of trustees and committees
at Trinity Episcopal School and Church.
He is a member and past president of the Georgetown University Club of Louisiana and
served as a professional group solicitor for United Way.
Duncan has also given his time to the World Trade Center as a member of the transportation
committee. He also sat on the boards of the Young Leadership Council and the Audubon
Boulevard Association.
For success in his career, Duncan has been recognized in “The Best Lawyers in America”
and “Chambers USA” as one of the most impressive attorneys in the country. But for Duncan,
his greatest accomplishment has been “affecting a proper balance between my service to the
community through leadership positions in civic, charitable and educational organizations,
my family life and a demanding legal practice.”
— Amy Ferrara

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Ernest L. Edwards Jr.
Position: managing partner/chairman, Lemle and Kelleher
Family: wife, Cindy; daughters Emily, Laura and Kathryn
Education: bachelor’s degree, Tulane University; juris doctorate, Tulane University Law
School; legum magisture, University of Manchester, England
The list of honors for Ernest Edwards Jr., managing partner and chairman of Lemle &
Kelleher, stems from the United States to England, beginning as an honors student at
Tulane University, where Edwards graduated cum laude.
He continued his education at Tulane University Law School, ranking second in his class,
and two years later graduated with honors from the University of Manchester in England with
a master’s degree in international law.
Bestowed by the queen of England, Edwards falls in line with former presidents Ronald
Reagan and George H. W. Bush as a recipient of the Order of the British Empire.
For his work as an attorney dealing with cases involving natural gas and electric power, the
American Arbitration Association’s Independent Blue Ribbon Panel chose Edwards as one
of the top 30 practitioners nationwide, and he was chosen as chairman of numerous arbitration
panels in cases individually exceeding $100 million, including energy disputes in Alaska,
South America and China.
His practice, which involves energy and environmental litigation, toxic torts, class actions
and antitrust representing energy intensive industries in natural gas and electric arenas, led him
to represent several interstate gas pipelines before the U.S. Supreme Court.
In another significant case, Bell, et al versus Kaiser, Edwards served as the lead trial
counsel in a mass tort litigation involving more than 24,000 plaintiffs who alleged personal
injuries and property damage due to an explosion at Kaiser’s Gramercy aluminum plant.
But in his 35 years of practicing law, Edwards said he is most proud of the lasting
relationships he’s developed with clients and their appreciation for efforts made on
their behalf.
“My most memorable cases are those, which I earned no fee but helped someone who had
nowhere else to turn,” Edwards said.
Edwards has served as chairman of the board of directors for Big Brothers of Greater New
Orleans and the boards of trustees for the Louisiana Children’s Museum and St. Paul’s
Episcopal School.
He organized the initiation of the firm’s significant involvement and support of the Good
Shepherd and Nativity Mission School. He also served as regional vice president and a
member of the board of directors for the Council for a Better Louisiana.
— Amy Ferrara

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Michael H. Ellis
Position: managing partner, Chehardy Sherma Ellis Breslin Murry Recile and Griffith
Family: son, Michael Jr.; daughter, Shannon Gunther
Education: bachelor’s degree, Spring Hill College; juris doctorate, Tulane University Law School
Michael Ellis’s law career spans more than three decades and includes several stints working
for the state of Louisiana and the federal government in various positions, during which
he has been trusted with important positions of authority and responsibility.
Since 1968, Ellis has worked for the U.S. District Court, the eastern and middle districts
of Louisiana, the U.S. Court of Appeals Fifth and 11th circuits, the U.S. Tax Court and the
U.S. Supreme Court. He also serves as adjunct professor at Tulane University Law
School’s Trial Advocacy Program.
He is a former assistant district attorney for Orleans Parish and was chief of the trial and
criminal divisions. He was also named a fellow of the American Board of Criminal Lawyers.
Ellis’ primary motivation has always been a simple one: “Trying to see that justice prevails,
whether that’s in the federal or state government or nowadays on behalf on of my clients.”
Martindale-Hubell Law Directory has given Ellis its highest rating awarded for his
legal abilities and ethical standards. He was also recognized in “Men of Achievement”
and “Who’s Who in the World.”
Ellis is trying to better New Orleans. “I’m a firm believer that you have to pay back what
you can to the disadvantaged,” Ellis said. “I’ve been extremely fortunate and there is a certain
amount of payback you owe to your profession and to the community as a whole.”
Ellis has served on Jesuit High School’s President’s Advisory Board; the Sierra Club of
Downtown New Orleans; Archbishop’s Community Appeal; Jewish Community Center;
Carrollton Boosters; president of Associated Catholic Charities of New Orleans; and president,
board of directors of the Newman School Dad’s Club.
Ellis has also served on the board of the United Way for the Greater New Orleans Area. He
is a board member of the Fellowship Foundation, a nonprofit that addresses juvenile delinquency
in inner-city areas. He is on the New Orleans Cancer Institute Committee and on the board
of directors for Boys Hope Girls Hope.
— Matt Jones

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Frank Fontenot
Position: partner, Milling Benson Woodward
Family: wife, Linda; daughters, Jennifer Lynn Zurik, Lisa Anne Fontenot
Education: bachelor’s degree, University of Southwestern Louisiana; juris doctorate,
Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center
It didn’t take long for the Louisiana law world to notice the talents of Frank Fontenot.
After graduating from Louisiana State University’s Paul M. Hebert Law Center in the early
1960s, he began a career at Milling Benson Woodward that has lasted for 41 years.
Rising from the associate level to partner after only three years with the firm, Fontenot
became an influential attorney in civil litigation in commercial and casualty law.
Fontenot said he encourages other aspiring lawyers to continue to stay physically, mentally
and emotionally fit while establishing themselves in the legal arena.
“I think all of these things contribute to success in a professional career,” Fontenot said.
Fontenot has been chairman of the firm’s recruiting committee, responsible for hiring
lawyers, and chairman of the associates committee, responsible for training and evaluation
of all nonpartner attorneys.
Fontenot said one particular instance in his career still influences him today. While representing
a client in a large land title case relating to oil and gas-producing properties, a
senior partner in the firm sat on his right and another senior partner sat on his left. That
event, he said, made a lasting impression on him regarding the importance of preparation
and performance.
Fontenot has spent much of his time recently representing a defendant in a mass tort
case involving a chemical release at the Gaylord Chemical Plant site in Bogalusa, which
resulted in thousands of personal injury and property damage claims. In 2002, the case
reached an agreement to settle, which Fontenot is still working on today.
Fontenot was elected by his partners to serve on Milling Benson Woodward’s management
committee, which is the governing body, and develops policy and manages the practice
and development of the firm.
In his spare time, Fontenot is an avid golfer, and spends time with his daughters, sonin-law
and three grandchildren.
— Amy Ferrara

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George J. Fowler III
Position: founder, partner, Fowler Rodriguez and Chalos
Family: wife, Cristina; son, George IV; and daughter, Cristi
Education: bachelor of science, Louisiana State University, juris doctorate, Tulane
University Law School
George Fowler III is doing what he can to make the world smaller by forging connections.
He was born in Cuba in 1950 but left his homeland with his family in 1960 to escape the
communist regime of Fidel Castro.
“We came to Louisiana because we had family who were originally from the area,”
Fowler said. “It was a good place to start again.”
Fowler is now heavily involved in the Cuban/American National Foundation, the
largest Cuban exile foundation. “It is devoted to freedom and democracy in Cuba,” Fowler
said. “It’s a way for Cuba to be united with the rest of the free world.”
After graduating from Tulane University Law School in 1975, Fowler began practicing
law. He works mostly in Latin America in international law, maritime law, corporate law,
and energy and business litigation. In 1988, he founded Fowler Rodriguez and Chalos. Its
main office is in New Orleans, but Fowler has affiliated offices in New York, Houston,
Miami, Mobile, Ala., and Bogotá, Columbia, along with associated offices throughout
Latin America.
Fowler is also active in the civic sector. He serves on the board of directors of the World
Trade Center of New Orleans where he is vice chairman of the international section.
“My main focus at the World Trade Center is creating connections with the Latin
American world,” Fowler said.
Fowler’s extensive work at the World Trade Center earned him the 2005 Sanchez to
Sanchez to Smith Award from the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Louisiana, given to a
person in southeast Louisiana active in promoting trade and commerce in Latin America.
Fowler is also a contributor to the New Orleans Hispanic Heritage Fund, which provides
scholarships to needy Hispanic children who want to go to private schools
“It helps bring the Latin community into Louisiana,” he said.
One of the largest and more notable cases of Fowler’s career was the dispute between
Entergy and Carnival Cruise lines over power lines that cross over the Mississippi River.
His firm was the lead council for Carnival. Fowler said he was glad the issue was resolved
with Entergy agreeing to move the lines under the river to allow cruise ships safe passage
to New Orleans.
— Robin Shannon

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James M. Garner
Positiion: co-managing partner, Sher Garner Cahill Richter Klein and Hilbert
Family: wife, Tracie; son, Ethan; and daughters, Caitlin and Maggie
Education: bachelor of science, (summa cum laude, valedictorian), Tulane University; juris
doctorate, Tulane University Law School
James Garner has delved into a myriad of complexities as a lawyer but he derives career satisfaction
for a simplistic reason: “The opportunity to help people solve their problems.”
“The problems clients bring to us are very personal and things, which not only affect their
business, but daily lives as well,” he said. “The most rewarding part of the practice is not the
victories that we persuade judges and juries to render in favor of our clients, but the smiles and
joy we get to provide to the clients.”
A third-generation New Orleanian from turn-of-the-century immigrant ancestors, Garner
believes he is fortunate. He employs his talents in the professional and civic spheres to show
his appreciation to the city’s community.
“We (lawyers) are role models and bear the responsibility to give back to those less
fortunate,” he said. Garner also feels lawyers have an obligation to educate the public
about the legal system and to aid and assist those who need help but who may not have
the resources.
Garner has specialized in professional liability litigation, toxic tort and environmental
litigation and insurance coverage litigation.
Garner has served as lead council and specialized in complex and commercial litigation
in cases in eight states. He is admitted to practice before the federal courts in Arkansas and
Mississippi and all courts in Texas and Louisiana.
At Tulane University Law School, Garner was a member of the board of editors and managing
editor of the Tulane Law Review. As an undergraduate at Tulane, he was a member of the
Tau Beta Pi, Phi Eta Sigma, Omega Chi Epsilon, and Omicron Delta Kappa honor societies.
Garner has been a member of the American, Louisiana, and Federal Bar associations; the
Defense Research Institute; the Louisiana Bankers Association; and the Louisiana
Association of Business and Industry.
His volunteer time includes membership with Holy Cross High School’s board of directors;
Our Lady of Holy Cross College’s Development Board; and Tulane University’s admissions
council and the externship committee. He also is a den leader in the Cub Scouts.
— Matt Jones

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William F. Grace Jr.
Position: general partner, Chaffe McCall
Family: wife, Anne; sons, William III, Robert; daughter, Anne
Education: bachelor of arts, Tulane University; juris doctorate, Tulane University Law
School; masters degree in taxation, New York University
The first case of William Grace’s career caught him a little by surprise as he was thrown
to the legal wolves, so to speak.
“I did all the grunt work and worked a case up for trial, but I never anticipated I would
actually appear in this multi-million dollar case as a lawyer in the courtroom.”
In his first year of practice, Grace and Harry McCall Jr. defended Ford Motor Co. and
Ford Motor Credit Co. in an antitrust/breach of contract lawsuit.
“During our walk to court on the morning of trial, McCall turned to me and asked if I
had my opening statement ready. Fortunately, I had played out every conceivable scenario
so I was prepared to defend either parties’ interests.”
Grace said the case ended with both clients being granted a directed verdict at the close
of plaintiff ’s evidence.
Grace began practicing law in 1976 as an associate with Chaffe McCall. His encouragement
to pursue the legal profession came from two old family friends, he said.
“Harry McCall Jr. and Earnest Carrere, two very prominent and outstanding trial
lawyers, inspired me to the legal profession,” Grace said. “I admired both these gentlemen
who were also active civic leaders. And after listening to many of their stories over many
years, I gravitated to the legal profession.”
Grace said his concentration at Chaffe McCall is state and local taxation and litigation.
“I love litigation,” Grace said. “And with a strong substantive background in tax, the
combination works well for me, almost as a niche market.”
Early in his career, Grace had the opportunity to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court,
but he chose to flip a coin with a younger partner instead. Grace explained that his firm
was representing D.H. Holmes, which was fighting a use tax imposed by the Louisiana
Department of Revenue. He said the young partner he flipped with had handled part of
the case as a young associate.
“I probably could have gone ahead and argued the case because of seniority, but I
thought flipping a coin was more equitable,” Grace said. “I lost the flip, which may not
have been too terrible if we had won the case, but we didn’t.”
Grace serves on the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board, the boards of WYES-TV
and the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce. Grace is also a member of the Audubon
Park Commission, and chairman of the Mayor’s Mardi Gras Advisory Committee.
— Robin Shannon

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Mat M. Gray III
Position: partner, Fowler Rodriguez and Chalos
Family: wife, Blanche; daughters, Michelle and Shalon
Education: bachelor of arts, Tulane University; juris doctorate, Tulane University Law
School; masters degree in taxation, New York University
Mat Gray has argued a couple of insurance cases that resulted in precedents, but it’s the
case when he was asked to argue against his client that sticks out in his memory.
“I had written what I thought was a very good brief and my opponent had not. It was
to dismiss his case. When I finished my argument ... (Judge Alvin Rubin) said, ‘Mr. Gray,
based upon what you’ve told me, I would have to rule in your favor, but your opponent
has not written the same type of brief. He has not brought anything to the court’s attention.
Would you tell me all the facts against you that you discovered in the case and in writing
the brief ’”
Gray said he told the judge he didn’t think that request was appropriate, but Rubin
reminded him that as a lawyer he was an officer of the court.
“Is it your job to win when you shouldn’t” Rubin asked. “Or is it your job to make the
sure the real facts in the case are disclosed, the correct law is applied, and then argue the
case based upon the genuine facts and the correct law or an extension of the correct law”
Gray complied and eventually had the case dismissed, but not before he came away with
a valuable, if understated, lesson. “It got me away from the win-at-all-costs attitude that we
see a lot,” he said. “It made me decide right then and there not to be sarcastic about what
we call the ‘plaintiff bar’ - not to be overly competitive with other defense lawyers, and to
try to always create a consensus on how to solve our mutual clients’ problems.”
That was 25 years ago. Today, Gray covers “insurance in the broadest sense” - coverage
disputes and personal-injury and property-damage claims, mostly with an emphasis
on maritime and energy cases. Among his precedent-making cases include Culver v. Slater
Boat Company, during which he persuaded the court to adopt new methods of estimating
lost wages.
Gray said he is committed to helping young lawyers see the wisdom behind Judge
Rubin’s action. “I think this radiates out as you mentor younger lawyers and as you deal
with other lawyers of any age. I think you engender this type of cooperation in the community,
and I like to think it’s made somewhat of a difference.”
— Faith Dawson

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Harry S. Hardin III
Position: senior partner, Jones Walker Waechter Poitevent Carrere and Denegre
Family: wife, Ellen Lutz; children, Simms, Elizabeth and Allison
Education: bachelor of arts, Harvard University; juris doctorate, Tulane University Law School
When Harry S. Hardin III assumes a Board of Governors position with the American Bar
Association this summer, he will take with him more than 30 years of business-law experience,
all with Jones Walker Waechter Poitevent Carrere and Denegre and extensive committee
work with the American, Louisiana and New Orleans bar associations.
Hardin’s litigation experience encompasses transportation cases, contracts and copyright.
In one case, he was part of a massive legal team assembled to represent CSX
Transportation in a class-action suit filed after one of its tank cars burned and released
chemicals in Gentilly. The case involved almost a decade of initial work and a solid year of
intense preparation for the trial.
Hardin also argued in front of the Louisiana Supreme Court on behalf of the Denham
Springs Bass Pro Shop tax increment financing case.
“The tax incremental financing statute was new and complex and it had not been
examined by many courts. It was a big project involving the Bass Pro Shop. It was a very
exciting case because all the justices of the Supreme Court were very actively involved in
questioning during the case,” he said.
Business litigation appeals to Hardin because of the variety of the cases he sees.
“Almost every case is different. The clients’ problems are all different,” he said. “So
you’re having to learn new substantive law, getting to learn the clients’ business or industry,
you’re having to learn a complex set of facts that take place over a number of months
or even years. They’re very non-routine.”
On the other hand, some long-term clients he works with provide cases with recurring
issues, which balances out the courtroom experience.
Hardin said he looks forward to his three-year term on the ABA Board of Governors,
to which he was appointed by the organization’s president. He also serves as the chair of
the Louisiana Supreme Court’s Judicial Campaign Oversight Committee and on the
board of directors of the American Judicature Society.
He was named to The Best Lawyers in America’s 2003-04 edition.
Hardin serves as chairman of the finance committee of St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian
Church and will also become board chairman of Louise S. McGehee School this summer.
As for future plans, “I’m looking forward to my daughter graduating from college and
getting a job and my younger daughter learning how to drive,” he said.
— Faith Dawson

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Russ M. Herman
Position: senior partner, Herman Herman Katz and Cotlar
Family: wife, Barbara; son, Steven; and daughters, Penny Grismore and Elizabeth Herman
Education: bachelor’s degree, Tulane University; juris doctorate, Tulane University Law School
Russ Herman believes all a good lawyer needs is a client and a cause and an ability to laugh
at himself.
“Making a difference is what inspires me in my professional life,” he said. “Making a difference
for the clients, making a difference for society. The results of a particular case can
change society for the better, and that gives you a great deal of satisfaction.”
Herman has been selected for listings in “Best Lawyers in America” and the “National
Law Journal named him one of Louisiana’s Top Ten Litigators.” He was the subject of a
feature in Fortune magazine for his litigation accomplishments and the recipient of
Leonard M. Ring Champion of Justice Award, the highest award from the American Trial
Lawyers Association.
In 1977, the Louisiana Trial Lawyers Association chose Herman “Outstanding Trial
Lawyer” and he later served as LTLA president.
Herman has served on the faculty of the Practicing Law Institute and the National
College of Trial Advocacy and lectured at Louisiana State, Tulane, Loyola and Georgetown
universities and Hastings College. He has published more than 200 articles, papers and
books in various aspects of the field of civil trial practice.
Herman employed his talents and industry acumen to create a six-volume video called
“Courtroom Persuasion; Art, Drama and Science” and a book of the same title.
He has frequently appeared on Good Morning America, the Today Show, and various
radio and television programs and has published op-ed pieces in and has been interviewed
by the Washington Post, the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, National Law
Journal and USA Today.
On his belief in community involvement, Herman says it is about paying back. “Lawyers
are in the upper one half of 1 percent of educated and economically advantaged people in
the world. To disassociate yourself from your community shows a lack of morality.”
Herman has served on the board of directors for the Association of Community
Organizations for Reform Now, Board of Zoning Adjustments; Louisiana Racing
Commission; Jewish Welfare Federation; and as director of Jewish Family and Children’s
Services.
— Matt Jones

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Bill Hines
Position: chairman, executive committee, and section head, commercial business and
energy section, Jones Walker Waechter Poitevent Carrere and Denegre
Family: wife, Mary; children, Walker, Mary Wyatt and Ashland
Education: bachelor of arts, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and
International Affairs; juris doctorate, University of Virginia School of Law
After graduation from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and
International Affairs, Bill Hines had to decide whether to attend business school or law
school. He chose law school — but the glamorous life of a litigator held no interest for him.
Hines preferred transactional law.
“Transactional law is productive and creative. We are buying companies, selling companies,”
he said.
As head of the commercial business and energy section of Jones Walker Waechter
Poitevent Carrere and Denegre, a firm he has worked for since 1982, Hines oversees exactly
those responsibilities, including projects with international angles.
A New Orleans native who seems to take great pleasure in developing professional relationships
with locally based companies and decoding complex legal situations, Hines said
two such companies have presented satisfying challenges. One is Freeport-McMoRan,
whose mining operations Hines has worked on since 1995. Going back even further is
International Shipholding, which was one of his first projects after joining Jones Walker.
“I started at the bottom, doing a lot of the lower-end legal work for them as a young lawyer
in 1982, and I’ve been able to move from ’82 to 2005 to doing their more significant transactional
legal work. That’s certainly been rewarding.”
“My other real interest is international legal transactional work,” he said. “ ... If I could do
it all day, if I could have a full desk of international corporate transactional work, that’s what
I would like. New Orleans has a fair amount of it.”
Besides affiliations with civic organizations — including economic development, education,
arts and entertainment, and sports — around New Orleans, Hines served on the
transition teams of Mayor C. Ray Nagin and Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco.
Though Hines’ work is firmly rooted in the city, traveling and working on international projects
remain two of his passions. “One of the more enjoyable (projects) — not just intellectually
but from a pure fun standpoint — was a metals deal I worked on for a client,” he said. “We
closed it at the Paris Air Show. That was, frankly, a very enjoyable project to work on.”
— Faith Dawson

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John Houghtaling
Position: managing partner, Gauthier Houghtaling Williams and Sulzer
Family: single
Education: bachelor of arts, Emory University, Atlanta; juris doctorate, Loyola University
School of Law
John Houghtaling’s resume does not betray his age. He seems to have hit his stride as a personal
injury lawyer at 33.
“Most lawyers in my position are in their 50s”, he said.
Houghtaling attributes his quick ascent in the legal field to changes in the system
imposed under Gov. Mike Foster meant to protect small businesses from frivolous lawsuits.
The limitations enacted to prevent people from making fraudulent use of the legal system
also limited people who had been injured or disadvantaged from taking legal action.
“When I first started, people said, ‘Gosh, John, you really ought to do something else,”
Houghtaling said. “I went ahead and did this because I’m really a big victims’ rights person.”
As a plaintiff lawyer in personal injury and wrongful death suits, Houghtaling has collected
over $35 million for individual clients in the past three years. His major court victories
include a settlement for $4.7 million for a drunk driver fatality in 2004 and a settlement
for $12 million for a Louisiana business due to contamination of its land in 2003.
Houghtaling’s charitable involvement includes the Ferrari French Quarter Classic, which he
founded six years ago and from which all profits are donated to the Cancer Crusaders organization.
“The founder of the firm that I work for, Wendell Gaulthier, passed three years ago of
cancer. I had a grandfather who died of cancer. It’s something that, unfortunately, seems to
touch everyone ... I like Cancer Crusaders because it’s run 100 percent by volunteers, so all
of the funds go to local research organizations.”
And the cars “I’ve loved them since I was a little kid. I guess I just never grew up,”
Houghtaling said. “I have a collection of Italian sports cars. It’s funny. All my cars are ‘85,
‘86 models - the ones I dreamt about as a kid.”
The French Quarter Classic is held over several days in November and features amateur
racing and car shows.
“I think of it more as an art show,” he said.
— Kathryn Jezer-Morton

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Richard Ieyoub
Position: partner, Couhig Partners
Family: wife, Caprice; daughters, Amy, Nicole, Khoury and Anna Michael; and sons, Brennan,
Richard Jr. and Christian.
Education: bachelors degree in history, McNeese State University; juris doctorate, Louisiana
State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center
During three terms as Louisiana’s attorney general from 1991 to 2003, Richard Ieyoub
established the state Supreme Court as “an activist court.”
“In addition to fulfilling the constitutional and statutory duties of the attorney general,
I used the power of the agency to create responsive programs for the people,” he said.
During his political career, Ieyoub used the law to initiate social programs more commonly
associated with social workers. He says he is most proud of this aspect of his career.
One of the widely praised program’s Ieyoub’s office founded is the U Drink, U Drive,
U Walk program. Begun in 1997, it targeted underage drinking by educating teenagers
about drunk driving laws and coordinating law enforcement sting operations on businesses
responsible for selling alcohol to minors. The U.S. Department of Highway Safety
named the statewide program one of the best in the country.
Louisiana took a most significant step in the historic litigation against tobacco companies
while Ieyoub was on the attorney general’s bench. The case against the Liggitt Tobacco Co. was
one of the first of its kind; Liggitt’s president refused to settle unless at least five states filed suits.
Under Ieyoub’s guidance, Louisiana was the fifth state.
“That settlement led to the uncovering of crucial evidence against the tobacco industry,”
Ieyoub said. “That led states to file against the larger companies. What I think was significant was
that it forced the companies to change the way they did business and they way they advertised.”
After moving on from politics in 2004, Ieyoub joined Couhig Partners in New Orleans and
is now working on establishing a Baton Rouge office, where he resides with his family.
Switching to civil, criminal litigation and appeals work was a big transition from 25
years in politics, but Ieyoub is taking it in stride.
“There was a time that I thought there was no life after politics,” he said. “I’m happy to
say I don’t miss politics at all.”
Ieyoub is active on the advisory board of St. Jude’s Childrens Research Hospital in
Baton Rouge and is on the board of directors at Family Road, which provides social programs
for the needy in the Baton Rouge area.
— Kathryn Jezer-Morton

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Donna G. Klein
Position: head of the health care section, McGlinchey Stafford
Family: husband, Russell; daughter, Robin; and son, Steven
Education: bachelor’s degree in nursing, University of South Florida-Manatee College;
attended Loyola University; juris doctorate, Tulane University Law School
Before she became a lawyer, Donna Klein was an intensive care nurse where she saw families
grapple with the legal issues surrounding sickness, life and death.
That experience started her thinking about the possibility of a new career.
“I loved being a nurse,” Klein said, “but I had always been intrigued with the idea of
being an attorney.”
Klein started taking law classes while still working as a nurse. After taking a few years
off to care for her young children, she decided to go to law school full time.
After she received her law degree from Tulane University in 1981, Klein worked at Jones
Walker Waechter Poitevent Carrere and Denegre, where she clerked as a law student.
She left Jones Walker in 1988 as a partner to join McGlinchey Stafford.
Today, as head of McGlinchey Stafford’s health care practice section, Klein handles
cases involving federal and state regulation and accreditation, integrated delivery systems,
medical staffing, Medicare reimbursement, joint ventures and other issues.
“We handle a lot of contractual matters between physicians and hospitals and with physicians
who are acquiring other physicians‚ groups,” Klein said. “We are currently assisting in
the restructuring of a very large (medical) entity that has a lot of legal considerations.”
For instance, Klein’s legal team must ensure the client’s compliance with laws related
to kickbacks and physician’s self-referral.
Another special practice area is the defense of qui tam cases — those stemming from a
legal provision that allows whistleblowers to bring lawsuits on behalf of the U.S. government
against persons accused of fraud.
Klein was a member of the health care transition teams of three Louisiana governors:
Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, Mike Foster and Edwin Edwards. Each governor took a different
approach to the transition team’s assignment, she said. With Foster, Klein headed a subcommittee
on health care pricing and payment structures at the Department of Health and
Hospitals, while Blanco’s health care team evaluated applications for the DHH director.
Klein is a board member and head of the leadership training program of the Metropolitan
Area Committee/Council for a Better New Orleans. She also chairs the organization’s public
safety task force; is on the boards of the Louisiana Children’s Museum and Dryades YMCA,
and a member of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry’s Health Care Task Force.
For Klein, the most enjoyable part of being a lawyer is the interaction with clients.
“I would not want to be just sitting in front of a computer all day,” she said. “These
clients rely on my recommendations and my judgment. The buck stops at my desk.”
— Sonya Stinson

44 LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2005
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Roselyn Koretzky
Position: partner, Milling Benson Woodward; chair, health care practice group
Family: husband, Barry Schwartz; daughter, Arielle; and son, Harlan
Education: bachelor of science in education, Louisiana State University; master’s degree
in education, Boston University; juris doctorate, Tulane University Law School
As a specialist in health and hospital law and legal issues affecting the elderly, Roselyn
Koretzky works in a field that is constantly transforming to keep up with changing issues. Her
additional practice in education law also keeps her readjusting.
“The changes that I have noted in the legal field during my career are the impact of technology,
the interface of economic development and the expansion and complexities of practice
areas,” she said.
Koretzky has remained in the forefront of her field thanks to her curiosity and interest in
burgeoning practice areas: biotechnology and the film and entertainment industries.
“For me, it continues to be exciting to blend these burgeoning practice areas with my traditional
practice areas.”
While she recognizes the innovation telecommunication and computer systems provide
business, she conceded “face-to-face communications with clients are preferable.”
Having presented lectures on health care policies and elder care to attorneys, community
groups, law schools and health professionals, Koretzky has prioritized raising community
awareness of the issues she covers.
“I have a strong interest in serving my community and its development with respect for its
humanity and economy,” she said.
Koretzky is the president of the Greater New Orleans Women’s Healthcare Executive
Network and serves on the boards of United Way’s Women’s Leadership Initiative,
WYES-TV, the New Orleans Council on Aging and the Women’s Professional Council.
She was a member of the New Orleans Regional Leadership Institute’s class of 2003.
Koretzky has referenced Leadership Louisiana and the Institute of Politics and was recognized
by the Youth Leadership Council as a role model.
“The most interesting challenge of my legal career has been juggling commitments to family,
career and community service. I am fortunate to have a very supportive and loving family,
as well as sufficient control and autonomy of my practice,” she said.
In 2001, Koretzky was recognized among the CityBusiness Women of the Year.
“It continues to be gratifying to have the opportunity to serve as a mentor to younger
attorneys,” she said.
— Kathryn Jezer-Morton

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Cheryl Mollere Kornick
Position: shareholder, Liskow & Lewis, APLC
Family: husband, Ronald; daughters, Lauren and Lindsay
Education: bachelor of arts, master’s in education, University of New Orleans; juris doctorate,
Loyola University School of Law
New Orleans native Cheryl Mollere Kornick began her career as a high-school English
teacher but later reconsidered education in favor of the law.
Ten years after she graduated from the University of New Orleans, she graduated first
in her class, summa cum laude, from Loyola University School of Law.
Today, a commercial litigator, Kornick specializes in tax and energy cases at Liskow & Lewis.
“I saw myself litigating,” Kornick said. “I liked the public-speaking aspect of it but I
really didn’t have a good idea when I went into law school of exactly what I would be
doing on a day-to-day basis.
“I like the competitive aspect of litigation. It’s adversarial and some people don’t like
the adversarial aspect. I like it. I find it creative, trying to determine how to take a really
complex situation, which is most of what I deal with, and translate it into terms that are
understandable.”
Kornick originally joined Liskow & Lewis because she liked the firm, which has a
strong tradition of energy clients, and subsequently began handling energy cases. Among
the cases she has been involved with are two tax increment financing cases involving the
Bass Pro Shop in Denham Springs and a hotel project in the World Trade Center building
in New Orleans.
“Those have been very fast-track, very interesting cases talking a lot about the
Louisiana Constitution and how you can use public money,” she said. “I think those are
interesting and important cases.”
“What I like about my position is I get to kind of adjust to what comes along,” she said.
“I like commercial litigation, I like the disputes over statutes, the meanings of law, and as
things change I like to be able to change a little bit. I like the fact that I’m not doing the
same kinds of cases I was doing five years ago.”
Kornick’s two daughters, Lindsey and Lauren, are high schoolers and members of the
swim team; she and her husband, Ronald Kornick, attend meets and other school activities.
Ronald Kornick also oversees a nonprofit sports hall of fame in St. Bernard Parish.
Within the firm, she headed the United Way giving campaign and chaired the recruiting
and pro bono committees. Kornick now serves as one of its seven directors.
— Faith Dawson

46 LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2005
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Steven J. Lane
Position: managing partner, Herman Herman Katz and Coltar
Family: wife, Mary Jan; daughter, Lauren
Education: bachelor’s degree, State University of New York at Buffalo; law degree, Loyola
University School of Law
Steven Lane always had a sense that he was “pretty lucky.” It led him to the practice of law,
helping others who were less fortunate or one way or another wronged.
Lane has spent his entire career with Herman Herman Katz and Cotlar where he now
serves as the managing partner. He began with a concentration in family law and has been a
member of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers since 1987. In 2004, he was
selected to Best Lawyers in America.
While Lane still handles some family law cases, he is now predominantly involved with
class action lawsuits. In a recent class action, he represented African Americans from the
South and Northeast who were sold burial insurance in the 1940s and 1950s at a higher
price than whites and when needed, didn’t live up to the promises made by the salesmen.
Lane successfully sued some of the largest insurance companies in the country and received
compensation for his clients.
He hopes that his cases send a message to those who break the law. Several years ago,
Lane won the highest jury award for punitive damages, $850,000, in a drunk-driving case,
Dekeyser v. All State and State Farm.
“People need to be put on notice that they can’t drive drunk,” he said. “Society benefits
and New Orleans sends the message that they won’t tolerate drunk drivers.”
Several years ago, Lane took his fight for justice from the courtroom to the classroom.
The Orleans Parish School Board appointed him to sit on a citizens committee charged
with resolving issues of racial discrimination in the application process to the magnet
schools. The federal government accepted the plan and “for the most part, the complaints
have gone away.”
Lane handles a variety of cases for the New Orleans City Council involving utility rates.
“Our job is to ensure that utility rates are maintained at a level affordable to citizens and
acceptable to the City Council.”
Lane gives presentations at various law schools and will soon teach a course at Loyola
University School of Law on the practical aspects of how to be a lawyer and how to try a case.
In the community, Lane serves as the vice president of the Jerome S. Glaser Foundation
and is on the board of the New Orleans Music Legends.
— Beth Branley

LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2005 47
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J. Dwight LeBlanc Jr.
Position: general partner, Chaffe McCall
Family: wife, Janie; sons, J. Dwight III and Beau; and daughters, Beth and Ashley
Education: bachelor of business administration, Tulane University; juris doctorate, Tulane
University Law School
Despite a distinguished legal career spanning 41 years, J. Dwight LeBlanc Jr. appraises his
wife and children as his most successful achievements. It is trademark modesty from a man
who was instrumental in a precedent-setting decision of admiralty law.
The Testbank rule resulted from a case involving the 1980 collision of two vessels on
the Mississippi River-Gulf outlet. A chemical, pentachlorophenol, spilled into the water
when the outbound West German container ship Testbank collided with the inbound
Panamanian bulk carrier Sea Daniel. The accident closed the waterway and damaged the
seafood industry and marinas.
“In that particular case, and properly so, it was ruled that the fisherman, shrimpers,
oystermen all had a right to claim losses under Louisiana law,” said LeBlanc. “I represented
one of the ships in the collision and ultimately that ship was found blameless.
There were four Testbank decisions because people were filing claims against both vessels
and the rule of law was established.”
LeBlanc has been with Chaffe McCall since 1963 following a two-year stint with the
Judge Advocate General’s Corps of the U.S. Army. LeBlanc litigates a variety of maritime
issues such as collision field, cargo field, personal injury and pollution cases for one of the
oldest firms in New Orleans.
“I would not be anything without the support of my fellow lawyers in the admiralty
field,” said LeBlanc. “It is very important that people understand that everybody has their
own particular skill and, as long as you draw on those skills properly, you put out a much
better product for your client.”
LeBlanc is the vice president of the World Trade Center and serves as head of the transportation
committee of the WTC. LeBlanc is also chairman of the New Orleans Port
Safety and sits on the New Orleans National Advisory Committee for the Admiralty Law
Institute.
A New Orleans native, LeBlanc is an aficionado of sailing and was president of the New
Orleans Olympic Sailing Association.
— Jaime Guillet

48 LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2005
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Wayne J. Lee
Position: member, chair, commercial litigation practice group, Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann
Family: wife, Pamela; son, Wayne Jr.; and daughter, Jennifer Badon
Education: bachelor’s degree in political science, Tulane University; law degree, Tulane
University Law School
Wayne Lee has spent the entire 31 years of his legal career at the firm he joined right after
graduating from Tulane University Law School.
“I’ve had a lot of interesting cases along the way,” said Lee, who chairs the commercial
litigation practice group at Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann.
Over that time, he has established a reputation as one of the nation’s top attorneys in
the field of business litigation and just completed a term as the first African-American
president of the Louisiana Bar Association.
The firm had only 14 lawyers when Lee started so the associates had an opportunity to
gain broad experience, he said. One of his earliest assignments was to help represent
Schwegmann Bros. Giant Super Markets Inc. in a major antitrust case that included 50
defendants from around the country. It was the largest case of his career in terms of the
number of litigants involved.
In the 1980s, Lee was part of the legal team that represented the Louisiana Public
Service Commission in its suit against the United Gas Pipeline Co. for failing to deliver
natural gas to utility customers.
“We received over $100 million that was returned to the customers,” Lee said.
More recently, Lee represented the National Collegiate Athletic Association against a lawsuit
by student athletes seeking the right to play despite being ruled academically ineligible.
As immediate past president of the Louisiana State Bar Association, Lee continues to
work with its task force on diversity in the profession, which is scheduled to report to the
association’s House of Delegates at the end of 2005.
During his presidency, the state bar became more active in the Legislature, establishing a
special committee to review bills and determine what position, if any, the association should
take. The association also formed a committee on judicial independence under Lee’s watch.
Last year, the LSBA commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Brown versus Board of
Education Supreme Court decision that integrated public schools. With an aim toward
increasing public education on the judicial process, the association sponsored a program
for high school students that included panel discussions with lawyers and legal educators.
“I think we’ve tended to lose sight of what the judicial system is about,” Lee said.
“People tend to be very result oriented. (In any legal dispute) someone is going to lose, but
that doesn’t mean the process wasn’t fair.”
— Sonya Stinson

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Jonathan McCall
Position: general partner, Chaffe McCall
Family: wife, Jane; son, Jonathan Jr.; and daughter, Alston
Education: bachelor’s degree in political science, Princeton University; juris doctorate,
Tulane University Law School
Jonathan McCall always has practiced civil law but he will never forget his first experience in
front of a jury.
“My first jury trial was defending someone accused of armed robbery in criminal district
court,” McCall said. “My firm had gotten the call to provide a public defender and I was the
lowest guy on the ladder so I had to take it. Somehow he was acquitted at trial and it’s fair to
say nothing was scary after that.”
McCall’s two main areas of concentration in law include products liability cases and life
insurance defense. His clients have ranged from Sears, Roebuck and Co., which he defended
in a $100 million breach-of-contract case, to Ochsner Foundation and Firestone Tire and
Rubber Co.
McCall described a typical scenario in a life insurance case involving suicide.
“You have to prove someone committed suicide and is not entitled to the life insurance,”
McCall said. “Since the person’s not around to testify, the case is almost completely built on
circumstantial evidence.
“One case I handled turned on evidence from the coroner on the manner of the wound
and we settled out of court for a small amount.”
McCall said writing motions for summary judgments, a situation in which the case is dismissed
before trial, is his favorite aspect of his work.
McCall is quick to recall a few rare occasions when jury members have waited after trial
to speak with him.
“It’s not all the time that the jury waits to talk with you,” McCall said. “After we obtained
a favorable verdict in a house fire case, the jurors waited for me in the hall and said they really
believed in the their verdict. That was more rewarding than winning the trial.”
McCall participates in a variety of organizations but said he considers his time on the local
and regional boards of the American Red Cross to be his most fulfilling.
“I have a deep admiration for everything the Red Cross does and that’s why I’ve stayed
with them for more than 25 years,” McCall said.
McCall is a member emeritus of the board of governors of Tulane University Health Sciences
Center and a former chairman of the board of Tulane University Hospital. He is an active member
of the board of trustees for WYES-TV, the New Orleans public television station.
In his spare time, McCall enjoys horseback riding at Cascade Farms in Audubon Park.
— Jaime Guillet

50 LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2005
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Michael McGlone
Position: partner, Lemle and Kelleher
Family: wife, Suzanne; son, Kevin; daughters, Kathleen and Meghan
Education: bachelor’s degree (cum laude) in economics and management, Loyola University;
juris doctorate, Loyola University School of Law
Maritime attorney and New Orleans native Michael McGlone may litigate cases involving
international parties and high dollar figures, but he says defending smaller interests can be
more rewarding.
“Cases representing individuals who had very small companies where the claims
against them exceeded their assets and insurance coverage have been important to me,”
McGlone said. “Being able to resolve them in such a way that they are all able to retain not
only their businesses, but their home and personal belongings is rewarding.”
McGlone has been practicing admiralty and maritime law at Lemle and Kelleher for 29 years,
litigating before various state and federal courts. He describes his average case to be the defense
of a vessel owner who is sued, generally by an employee, for some type of personal injury.
“I have been involved in very significant maritime matters in the Gulf of Mexico, Bay of
Campeche, the Mediterranean, South China Sea and the North Atlantic involving significant
companies and resources,” McGlone said.
Settlements are not always what matter, McGlone is quick to point out in referring to a
case in which he represented a towboat that sank in the Bay of Campeche with more than
100 people onboard during hurricane weather.
“The towboat that I represented rescued 90-plus,” McGlone said. “Meeting those individuals
and representing that company was a thrill. I mean, you’re dealing with heroes.”
McGlone also litigated in the case involving the offshore rig, Ocean Ranger.
“The Ocean Ranger at that time was one of, if not the largest drilling rig in the world,”
he said. “It capsized off the coast of Canada, killing everyone onboard. It was fascinating
handling a case where there were no witnesses and you’re dealing with radio transmissions.
Putting all the pieces together was like constructing a jigsaw puzzle.”
McGlone is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He served as president
of the New Orleans chapter of the Federal Bar Association, has been a member of the
Tulane University Law School Maritime Planning Committee, among other affiliations,
and also has authored a variety of legal articles.
McGlone cites his work with the Jesuit High School Parents‚ Annual Giving Drive and
the work he does at Dominican High School as some of his more rewarding “off-hour”
involvement.
McGlone has been a partner at Lemle and Kelleher since 1981.
— Jaime Guillet

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Robert W. Mouton
Position: managing partner, Locke Liddell and Sapp
Family: sons, Christopher and Ryan
Education: masters of business administration, Tulane University; juris doctorate, Tulane
University Law School
Robert Mouton consistently strives to bring commerce to New Orleans — on the clock and
off. In addition to heading his firm’s finance, real estate and banking section, he is co-founder
of the Tulane University A.B. Freeman School of Business Venture Capital Forum.
As a transactional attorney and managing partner for Locke Liddell and Sapp, Mouton
negotiates purchase agreements and terms of acquisitions. In addition, he closes financing
of national and local real estate and telecommunication assets.
Locke Liddell and Sapp is the product of the 1999 merger between the 100-year old
Houston firm Lidell Sapp Zivley Hill and LaBoon and the Dallas firm Lock Purnell
Rain Harrell.
The firm now houses a total of more than 400 employees in four cities.
“Some of the most memorable matters have been working with start-up companies,”
Mouton said. “I started out working with the Sutherland Tower Cos. in 1995 that was
founded by two individuals. By the time they went public they had a few hundred employees,
acquired over $2 billion in assets and we played a significant part in the acquisition.”
Some of Mouton’s other clients include New York companies Thor Equities and
General Electric Capital Corp. and Nextel of Reston, Va. He has handled the financing or
acquisitions of Cortana Mall in Baton Rouge, Lafayette’s Mall of Acadiana and New
Orleans properties including the Texaco Building, Hotel Meridian and Country Inn Suites.
“The Country Inn Suites and hotel on Camp Street, which is owned by the Carlson
Co., was a very difficult acquisition because the owners were not all in agreement to sell,”
said Mouton. “But we were able to negotiate a win-win situation for all parties and the
hotel has turned out to be a fantastic success. It’s a considerable economic development
for the city. I think they’ll win some architecture awards.”
Mouton said the good feeling of economic development persuaded him to contribute
to such community services as Idea Village, a publicly and privately funded venture capital
business incubator.
“The theory behind it is to provide start-up companies and new businesses with the
expertise they wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford,” said Mouton. “So we solicit volunteers
to provide free legal, accounting or other consulting services so they can become successful.”
The Freeman Venture Capital Forum is similar in that it provides an arena and meeting
place for new business owners to network and pitch their ideas to venture capital sources.
Mouton, a New Orleans native, won the 2005 Louisiana Businessman of the Year from
the National Business Advisory Council.
— Jaime Guillet

52 LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2005
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Antonio J. Rodriguez
Position: senior partner, Fowler, Rodriguez & Chalos
Family: wife, Virginia; sons, Jake and Stephen
Education: bachelor of science, U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md.; juris doctorate (cum
laude), Loyola University School of Law
Antonio Rodriguez, a retired naval captain, served as legal counsel for the commonwealth
of Puerto Rico in a case against the tug boat Emily S., a major pollution case in January
1994 that involved cleanup costs of more than $100 million.
That case established the relationship between an old doctrine, the limitation of liability,
and the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.
“That case reconciled how the two statutes worked together,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez, an internationally recognized expert in maritime pollution and environmental
law, lectures extensively on the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.
A maritime attorney with an emphasis on collision, Rodriguez is fluent in Spanish and
French and was listed in “Who’s Who in American Law.” Since 1981, Rodriguez has been
an adjunct professor of law at the Tulane University Law School, teaching a specialized
admiralty course in the law of collision, limitation of liability and oil pollution.
Rodriguez is published voluminously on the subject of maritime environmental pollution.
He most recently published an article, “When Your Ship is in the Bull’s Eye: The
Maritime Transportation Security Act and Potential Vessel Owner Liability to Third Parties
Resulting from a Terrorist Attack” in the University of San Francisco Maritime Law Journal.
“I am most proud of teaching at Tulane Law School and the graduate degree program
in maritime law,” Rodriguez said. He also co-authored copyrighted course books titled
“Admiralty: The Law of Collision-Cases” and “Admiralty: The Law of Collision-Cases
and Materials.”
“I’ve done a lot on the national level with navigation and safety and authored an 18-volume
treatise,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez is active in the National Advisory Councils to Commandment of the Coast
Guard, a member of the Maritime Law Association of the United States and chairman of
the International Safety Management Code Study Group.
Rodriguez also has a distinguished public service award from the United States
Department of Transportation and the U.S. Coast Guard.
— Jaime Guillet

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Dionne M. Rousseau
Position: partner, Jones Walker Waechter Poitevent Carrere and Denegre
Family: husband, John Pojman Sr.; son, John Jr.
Education: bachelor of arts (magna cum laude), Georgetown University; juris doctorate
(with honors), University of Chicago
Even before she joined Jones Walker Waechter Poitevent Carrere and Denegre as a corporate
and securities lawyer, Dionne Rousseau had some experience in the complex world
of financial regulation. Prior to receiving her law degree from the University of Chicago,
she worked as an investment banker with Paine Webber in New York.
Rousseau enjoys helping to guide others through the muddy swamp of transactional
law.
“I like playing a part in achieving my clients’ business objectives,” Rousseau said. “I
like helping get the client from ‘I’d like to raise $300 million to do X’ or ‘I’d like to buy
business Y’ to the realization of those goals.”
Rousseau said one her biggest successes came when a CEO approached her with his
company in the middle of a hostile tender takeover attempt.
“He believed the hostile bidder intended to lay off many of the company’s employees
if successful,” Rousseau said.
She was responsible for representing the large public company in formulating, financing
and executing a competing offer to go private with the business.
“It was complex, fast-paced. We won and we saved over 1,500 jobs,” Rousseau said.
This spirit of helping those less fortunate also guides Rousseau outside the office, in
several community service efforts. She served four years in the Big Brothers/Big Sisters
program as a mentor to a young child, and Rousseau has been a member of the board of
directors for Junior Achievement of Greater New Orleans since 1993.
“I believe individuals, particularly acting together, can solve the problems faced by our
city and region. And I want to be a part of that,” Rousseau said. “Personally I like the satisfaction
of making a positive difference in someone else’s life. That’s one reason I enjoyed
being a Big Sister and now enjoy being a Junior Achievement volunteer.”
Rousseau was an adjunct faculty member at Loyola University School of Law, and is
responsible each year for organizing the Tulane Burkenroad Reports SEC Conference.
Rousseau was selected one of the City Business “Women of the Year” in 2003. That
same year, she helped organize and was the keynote speaker at the “New Orleans Does
Business Right” Conference.
Rousseau also has been named a “Leader in Their Field” by Chambers USA. Since
2001, she has been included in “The Best Lawyers in America.”
— Joe Rosemeyer

54 LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2005
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Leopold Sher
Position: co-managing partner, Sher Garner Cahill Richter Klein and Hilbert
Family: wife, Karen; daughters, Rose and Samantha
Education: bachelor of arts (cum laude), Tulane University; juris doctorate, Tulane
University Law School
Leopold Sher began his legal career practicing different kinds of civil law but gravitated to
what he liked best: commercial real estate and business and finance law.
“I consider myself a business lawyer,” he said.
Sher also practices in the areas of commercial litigation, creditors’ rights, workouts and
foreclosures, commercial bankruptcy, arbitration and mediation, secured finance and asset
based lending.
Wanting to create an organization with a unique philosophy, Sher and his partners opened
Sher Garner Cahill Richter Klein and Hilbert in 1999. None of the 40 attorneys have individual
clients. They all belong to the firm.
“We’re one big family and we operate in a team environment,” he said. “We’re not focused
on numbers or personal productivity. We are focused on the client’s needs.”
Sher said the firm’s clients involve its lawyers in a plethora of interesting and complex cases.
The firm rewards employees who mentor others, those who accept speaking engagements
and those who are involved in the community.
Sher is an active member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers with whom he
served as treasurer and a member of the executive board. He was selected in 1991 to the
Anglo-American Real Property Institute and served as a member of its governing board.
“That was a huge honor,” Sher said. “It’s the premiere group for real estate lawyers. Only 50
attorneys from the United States and 50 real estate practitioners from Great Britain are members.”
Chambers and Partners chose Sher and three of his firm’s attorneys in 2004 as leading
business lawyers in real estate for its Chambers USA Client’s Guide.
“It’s a great honor because our clients are the ones praising our work,” he said.
Sher lectures on environmental law, limited liability companies, leases, title insurance and
other areas related to his practice.
As co-managing partner, he runs the business side of the organization with partner James
Garner. They handle the day-to-day operation including human resources issues, accounting,
and firm policy and practice.
— Beth Branley

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Mark Surprenant
Position: partner, senior partner in charge, New Orleans office, Adams and Reese
Family: wife, Judy; sons, Christopher and Jeffrey; and daughter, Jennifer
Education: bachelor of arts, Fordham University; juris doctorate (cum laude), Loyola
University School of Law
In late 2002, Mark Surprenant’s wife of nearly 30 years, Monica, suffered a nearly fatal ruptured
brain aneurysm and several strokes. The trauma, Surprenant said, left his wife having to learn
basic things like speaking and writing all over again.
“As a result of that,” Surprenant said, “I experienced not only the pain and despair, which
comes from a sudden catastrophic event happening to a loved one, but also the compassion, love
and concern of those wanting to help me and my family however possible.”
With his good friend Judge Jay Zainey, Surprenant co-founded Support of Lawyers/Legal
Personnel, All Concern Encouraged, a program sponsored by the Louisiana State Bar
Association. So far, 1,600 volunteers across the state have signed up to be a part of SOLACE,
Surprenant said, and about 200 individuals or families have been touched by the program.
“We, as a legal community, can reach out with a helping hand and comforting heart to those
judges, lawyers, court personnel, paralegals, secretaries and their families dealing with a death or
tragic event,” Surprenant said.
SOLACE is one of several community service programs Surprenant has founded or worked
on. In 1988, he founded Hope, Understanding, Giving and Support, Adams and Reese’s volunteer
service organization. HUGS reaches employees through the firm’s seven offices and
serves more than 50 charitable organizations.
Surprenant also founded the firm’s pro bono program, Caring Adams & Reese Employees,
and his pro bono work earned him an Outstanding Volunteer of the Year award in 2004 from
the Points of Light Foundation.
“I have been blessed in so many ways,” Surprenant said. “In thanksgiving for everything I
have received, I recognize the responsibility that I have to use those talents and gifts in whatever
way possible to better the lives of those less fortunate.”
Surprenant focuses on product liability and toxic tort law at Adams and Reese.
“I enjoy the daily intellectual challenge of the practice of law,” Surprenant said. “And the
many friendships I have formed over the years. Each day gives me a new opportunity to use my
God-given talents to the fullest.”
— Joe Rosemeyer

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Robert A. Vosbein
Position: partner, Adams and Reese
Family: wife, Debbye; son, Robert Jr.; and daughters, Lauren and Casey
Education: bachelor’s degree, Tulane University; juris doctorate, Tulane University Law School
When Robert Vosbein started with Adams and Reese, the firm had 10 attorneys in one
office. Today, 300 lawyers in seven cities comprise the firm Vosbein has helped guide
through decades of change and growth.
“I have held just about every management position in the firm over the years and have
been very involved in the business side of our firm’s development,” Vosbein said. “I am
very proud of our success and of our firm’s leadership role in giving back to the communities
where each one of our offices is located.”
Vosbein has volunteered with several charitable organizations, including his role as the
2005 capital campaign chairman of Louisiana ArtWorks and serving as director of Adams
and Reese’s Hope, Understanding, Giving and Suport community service program.
“I feel like my years of experience have put me in a position where I can really help
make a difference, and if people like myself don’t make this contribution, who will”
Vosbein said. “Plus, it makes me feel good about myself that I am able to use my experience
and abilities to help others succeed. It just feels good.”
Vosbein has been a pioneer in devising Adams and Reese’s model for helping motion
picture studios to use Louisiana’s tax incentive program passed in 2002. Since then he’s
closed tax credit transactions with New Regency, which filmed “Runaway Jury” and is
in production with “Getting Lucky,” 20th Century Fox, which filmed “Because of
Winn-Dixie” and “Big Momma’s House 2” in the state, and Bristol Bay, which filmed
locally for “Ray.”
“My career in the practice of law has given me the opportunity to work in a variety of
fields — everything from personal injury and all types of commercial litigation to a motion
picture law practice which I am involved in today. It never gets dull because there always
seems to be something new and interesting,” Vosbein said.
Vosbein attended Tulane University for his undergraduate and law degrees, and while
in law school served on the Tulane Moot Court Board and was the winner of the Tulane
Moot Court Trial Competition. He received his juris doctorate in 1967 and then received
a commission in the U.S. Navy Reserve Judge Advocate General Corps. Vosbein served
for six years and achieved the rank of lieutenant commander.
— Joe Rosemeyer

LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2005 57
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David Ware
Position: owner and managing attorney, David Ware and Associates
Family: partner, Brad O’Hara; 12 “incredibly talented” nieces and nephews
Education: bachelor’s degree (summa cum laude), Latin American studies, Yale University;
juris doctorate, University of Texas School of Law
David Ware has more than 20 years of practice in immigration law. He started in the field
just one year after earning his degree at the University of Texas School of Law, where he
served as research editor for the Texas International Law Journal.
Before law school, Ware said he took a look into the complex world of international
affairs during his undergraduate years at Yale University, focusing his studies on Latin
America and graduating summa cum laude. He also spent time at the Pontificia
Universidad Catolica, in Lima, Peru, and the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City,
and was named a Fulbright-Hayes Scholar in Mexican Law.
Despite having spent the better part of three decades on topics such as immigration
policy, Ware says he still wakes up in the morning with a sense of commitment to his work.
“Knowing that I’m benefiting our long-term economic competitiveness, reuniting and
keeping families together, and further enriching the cultural tapestry that comprises this
nation of immigrants,” Ware said makes his practice worthwhile.
Ware is also an active member of the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association and
National Association of Foreign Student Affairs and gives his time to organizations focused on
immigrant issues, such as the Hispanic Apostolate and the Asian-Pacific American Society.
“I often speak at colleges, universities and conferences to international students, faculty,
and staff, as well as to professionals involved in international education and exchange,”
Ware said. “The rest of the world has sent us its best and brightest, and it’s important that
we encourage them to remain among us and share their talents and points of view.”
Ware also has been named an adjunct faculty member at Southern University School
of Law.
“I teach immigration and nationality law and feel it is important to interest more bright
minds in this area,” Ware said.
Ware said he’s proud of “building and nurturing an amazing staff and associates,” and
is pleased that his firm is dedicated to “maintaining the strictest of ethical and legal standards”
given the practice’s high volume.
Ware has consistently earned an AV rating, the highest in the Martindale-Hubbell legal
directory, and is a member of The Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers.
— Joe Rosemeyer

58 LEADERSHIP IN LAW 2005
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Scott Whittaker
Position: member, Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann
Family: wife, Wendy; daughters, Rachel and Jenna
Education: bachelor of arts (cum laude), Tulane University; juris doctorate (magna cum laude),
Tulane University Law School
Scott Whittaker, chairman of Stone Pigman’s business section, is responsible for seeing matters
that cross his desk through to their completion.
“I often describe myself as a deal lawyer because my practice is basically helping clients
accomplish business transactions,” he said. “Whether it’s a securities private placement to
help a development stage company grow, or a corporate merger to create a market leader, or a
real estate development project, the transactions I help with are usually positive steps in the
lives of the owners and companies I represent.”
He said his position as chairman allowed him to work with many of the firm’s employees.
“The work here is challenging and exciting because, although we’re a mid-sized firm with
55 lawyers and a total census of 125, we handle major transactions all over the country and
abroad, and large, complex litigation matters,” Whittaker said. “It gives me great satisfaction,
now that I am becoming a senior lawyer at the firm, to mentor young lawyers in my turn and
to see them mature and become capable, successful lawyers in their own right.”
His desire to touch others’lives reaches beyond Stone Pigman’s doors.Whittaker and his wife,
Wendy, volunteer with the Helping Hands ministry in their parish, St. Philip Neri in Metairie.
“I believe giving is an essential ingredient in the recipe for a happy and successful life,”
Whittaker said. “Helping someone who is unable to return the favor is one of the most satisfying
things anyone can do.
“I find it interesting that those who take the time to help others also — without setting out
to do so — help themselves in the process.”
Whittaker serves as chairman of the Louisiana Supreme Court Committee on Bar Admissions
and served as the committee’s examiner for business entities and negotiable instruments, becoming
the committee’s first director of testing in 2002. He was installed as chairman in 2005.
“I think it’s important to give back to the legal profession, which has been very good to me.
It saddens me that a few bad apples have tarnished the reputation of this noble profession,”
Whittaker said. “I hope to help restore that reputation by ensuring as much as possible that the
men and women who are admitted to the bar in Louisiana possess not just the proper legal
skills, but also the good moral character and fitness to be honest, trustworthy lawyers who are
a credit to our profession.”
— Joe Rosemeyer