Cherrell Simms Taplin

Steve Herman is special counsel in Fishman Haygood’s Litigation Section. With thirty years of experience, Steve’s primary practice has lately focused on representing both plaintiffs and defendants in commercial, class action, and professional liability cases, and he is often asked to provide expert testimony in such matters. He recently, for example, submitted a series of declarations in support of class counsel’s successful fee petition in the multi-billion dollar Aqueous F...

Mr. Lee is Chair of the firm's Commercial Litigation Practice Group. For the last 15 years, his practice has included a concentration in insurance and insurance class action lawsuits. He has experience in handling coverage issues, bad faith claims, mold claims, regulatory issues and class action claims with a myriad of substantial issues. Mr. Lee joined Stone Pigman, and was admitted to the Louisiana Bar, in 1974.

Lee Adler practices primarily in the areas of general business relationships and finance. He has an extensive transactional-based practice representing clients in a wide variety of fields. Finance transactions include real estate finance, vessel finance, accounts receivable-based finance and equipment and inventory finance, representing both borrowers and lenders. Prior to joining Phelps in 1992, Mr. Adler was an attorney at a large multi-practice firm in New York.

Céleste focuses on several insurance coverage practice areas including third-party insurance coverage, general liability, environmental and toxic tort liability coverage, and marine insurance coverage. Céleste represents insurers in connection with insurance coverage and bad faith disputes involving a variety of matters including environmental and latent injury claims, business torts, and labor- and employment-related claims. In addition, she has significant experience represent...

Natalie Taylor enjoys a diverse commercial law practice handling a wide range of issues, including corporate formations, reorganizations, and dissolutions, joint venture arrangements, corporate governance, private equity capital raising, project finance, real estate, and title review. Natalie’s practice has focused primarily on assisting local and international clients with all stages of project development, including company start-up, industrial site land acquisitions, structuring and ...

Frederic Theodore 'Ted' Le Clercq acts as a “problem solver” for his clients faced with labor & employment law, professional liability defense, civil rights litigation, and constitutional law claims. His experience includes developing a national coordinating counsel program for a Fortune 200 national retailer. He currently serves as that client's national coordinating counsel for high-value personal injury claims. Ted is also a frequent speaker for a variety of professional gr...

Soren E. Gisleson is a partner of Herman, Herman & Katz , L.L.C. Mr. Gisleson attended the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he earned a bachelor of arts in Philosophy in 1993. After receiving his B.A. from the University of Colorado, Mr. Gisleson attended Loyola University School of Law, where he received his Juris Doctorate in May of 1999. While at Loyola Law School, Mr. Gisleson became a member of Law Review in 1998 and published his casenote, Graham v. Willis-Knighton Medical C...

Billy Swaim defends clients in complex litigation, including insurance coverage, construction defects, and commercial disputes. He draws on his extensive courtroom experience and practical business sense to resolve cases efficiently and protect his clients’ bottom line. Learn more about Billy’s strategic litigation approach: gallowaylawfirm.com

Christopher K. LeMieux is a founding partner of the firm. Prior to starting the firm, Chris served as general counsel and an executive committee member for a regional design builder. During his seventeen-year career, Chris has represented contractors, architects, engineers, owners, sureties, insurers and subcontractors in litigation, arbitration, claims, disputes and negotiations and drafting of construction contracts for a variety of projects, including design build, integrated project deliv...

Alvin C. Miester, III is a Member in the New Orleans law firm of Sher Garner Cahill Richter Klein & Hilbert, L.L.C. where he practices in the areas of Commercial Real Estate; Business Law; Construction and Design Law; Leasing; Retail Development; Restaurant Law; Shopping Center Development; Commercial Finance; Zoning and Land Use and Title Insurance. He received his B.S. degree in economics from the University of New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana in 1990 and his J.D. degree from the Lou...