- Number of partners: 8
- Number of other lawyers: 13
FIRM OVERVIEW: Fishman Haygood Phelps Walmsley Willis & Swanson, LLP, was founded in the mid-1990’s by leading business and litigation lawyers from three of the largest law firms in Louisiana. Its lawyers have been repeatedly recognized in national and regional publications as among the best. The firm regularly represents public and private companies in a variety of corporate and securities matters. It also has an extensive general business law practice that focuses on real estate, commercial transactions, commercial finance, banking, bank regulation and general contractual matters. The firm has a higher percentage of its New Orleans lawyers listed in the leading American publication of ‘best lawyers’ than any other firm. The firm’s litigators have handled some of the most challenging and interesting business litigation in their region, including representing SMG, the world’s largest facilities manager, in a challenge by the New Orleans Saints of their lease of the Louisiana Superdome; IBM, in multi-district patent litigation;Manpower Inc., in the defense of class action claims arising out of the Kaiser plant explosion; The Times- Picayune and The Associated Press, in numerous First Amendment cases including access issues arising out of the trial of former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards; and the State of Louisiana, in actions to collect tens of millions of dollars of disputed taxes.
MAIN AREAS OF PRACTICE:
Corporate, Securities & Corporate Finance: The firm regularly represents public and private companies in corporate and securities matters, such as public and private offerings, mergers and acquisitions, proxy contests, periodic reporting, corporate governance and general SEC compliance.
Banking: The firm is a leader among law firms representing financial institutions in Louisiana. Two partners have served on the Bank Counsel Committee of the Louisiana Bankers Association. For two years in a row the firm was ranked no. 1 in the Southwest by The Merger Strategy Report and Shushunoff Information Services in the handling of legal work associated with acquisitions of financial institutions. The firm also routinely counsels clients regarding regulatory compliance and reorganisations, and has handled branch purchases and sales, commercial financing transactions, S-corp reorganizations, going private transactions, oil and gas financings, secured transactions and structured financings. Its banking clients include Fidelity Homestead Savings Bank, First Bank & Trust, First Guaranty Bank,Home Bancorp, Inc., IberiaBank, Omni Bank, Peoples Bank of Louisiana, Regions Bank, and Whitney National Bank.
Mergers & Acquisitions: The firm’s corporate lawyers handle mergers and acquisitions of private as well as public companies. Lawyers in the firm have been involved in some of the largest M&A transactions in Louisiana as well as numerous others,both large and small.
Real Estate: The firm handles all aspects of commercial real estate transactions, including commercial and industrial leasing, acquisitions, financings, title insurance, condominium conversions, commercial developments, oil and gas transfers and encumbrances, natural gas and storage facilities timber developments and large tract opportunities. It is also experienced in transactions involving historic and low-income housing tax credits and public and private issues of development bonds. It represented Rouses Supermarkets in the acquisition of the stores of the Southern Division of The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company and Stirling Properties in connection with several regional mall developments. Lawyers in the firm routinely advise clients on all aspects of real estate leasing, and often represent landlords and tenants in lease negotiations, including representing arenas in major league sports leases with the NFL New Orleans Saints and the NBA New Orleans Hornets,Equity Office in connection with leases in three high-rise office buildings, and the New Orleans Federal Alliance in connection with redevelopment of the Algiers Naval Base.
Litigation: The firm’s litigators represent clients in a number of different areas, including securities arbitration, complex commercial litigation,media law, tax, products liability and tort, and contract disputes of various kinds, including options, purchase agreements, leases, and employment agreements.The firm has successfully recovered millions of dollars on behalf of plaintiffs involved in broker-dealer disputes, including a $22 million award with $3.5 million in punitive damages, in a nationally publicized NASD arbitration against Securities America. The litigation team has defended US Unwired and Amedisys in securities class actions, and it has also obtained a $26 million jury verdict awarding taxes, interest and penalties on behalf of the State of Louisiana that is believed to be the largest jury award of taxes and penalties in Louisiana history. The firm’s litigators regularly represent The Times-Picayune L.L.C. and several other media outlets and individuals in defamation cases and public record and access disputes. The firm is currently representing the owner of the Louisiana Superdome in breach of contract and breach of duty claims relating the issuance of $238 million in auction rate securities.
Other: The firm has extensive experience in estate planning and the acquisition, sale and financing of motion picture tax credits and new market tax credits.
COMMUNITY AND PROFESSIONAL INVOLVEMENT:
Teaching: The firm’s lawyers teach courses without compensation at continuing legal education seminars and at Louisiana law schools. One partner teaches a corporate governance course and another a media law course at Tulane University’s Law School. Several litigation partners teach trial advocacy courses at both Tulane University’s Law School and Loyola University’s College of Law. Several business associates teach corporate drafting, mergers and acquisitions, and real estate closing skills courses at Loyola University’s College of Law. Two partners have served, and one currently serves, on the Planning Committee of the Tulane Corporate Law Institute.
Pro Bono Legal Services: The firm encourages its lawyers to provide pro bono legal services. The firm performs pro bono corporate work for Isidore Newman School and for Baton Rouge Area Foundation. It provides ongoing pro bono legal services to Lafayette Academy and Esperanza School, two New Orleans charter schools. Several attorneys have provided pro bono legal assistance to Make It Right Foundation, which helps New Orleans residents who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina return and rebuild their communities. The firm’s litigators have secured monetary awards in pro bono efforts, including an arbitration award for Lafayette Academy.
Bar Association: Three of the firm’s partners are former Chairmen of the Corporate and Business Law Section of the Louisiana State Bar Association. One partner was Chair of the ABA Business Law Section’s Committee on Corporate Practice and is a current member of the ABA Business Law Section’s Committee on Corporate Laws, and another was Chair of the ABA Real Property Section’s Committee on Legal Opinions.
Corporation Law Revision: One partner serves on a Louisiana Law Institute Committee that is rewriting Lousiana’s corporations law.
CLIENTS:
Some clients that have entrusted legal matters to the firm are: Aspire, Ltd.,The Associated Press,Autodesk, Inc., Bobcat Gas Storage, Capital City Press, L.L.C., Capital One Southcoast Inc., Carbo Chlorination Technologies, L.L.C., Chaffe & Associates, Inc., Enhanced Capital Partners, Enterprise Products Operating, L.P., Entergy Corporation,Equity Office, FBT Investments, Inc., First Bank and Trust, First Guaranty Bank, Fugro Consultants, L.P., GeoServices, SA, Great Lakes Chemical Corporation,Home Bancorp, Inc., IberiaBank, International Business Machines Corporation, Jefferson Capital Management, L.L.C., Kinder Morgan Energy Partners,Ltd.,Laitram, L.L.C.,Louisiana Companies,Mac-Re,LLC, Marshall Bros. Lincoln-Mercury, Inc.,New Orleans Federal Alliance,New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau, Inc., Pennington Medical Foundation, Pritchard Capital,Regions Bank,Resource Bankshares, Inc.,Robinson Lumber Company, Inc.,Rouses Supermarkets LLC, Sanderson Farms, Inc.,SMG,Stirling Properties,LLC, Swire Oilfield Services Ltd.,The Times-Picayune L.L.C.,Tulane University,Turbo Squid, Inc.,Wallace C. Drennan Construction Inc.,Waters Parkerson & Co., Inc., and Whitney National Bank.