Fishman Haygood LLP

24 Best Lawyers awards

Fishman Haygood LLP logo

Awarded Practice Areas

Banking and Finance Law Corporate Law Mergers and Acquisitions Law Securities / Capital Markets Law

Biography

Fishman Haygood co-founding partner Louis Fishman is counsel to the firm and a member of our Business Section. His transactional practice includes corporation law, securities, and mergers and acquisitions. He also counsels clients on resolving disputes within family and other closely held businesses.

Louis was a founder and has served since 1988 on the planning committee of Tulane’s Corporate Law Institute, and as a member of the Advisory Board of Editors for the Tulane Law Review since 1991. He has held several key posts, including chairman, of the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Section on Corporation and Business Law and has served as a member of that Section’s Corporate Laws Committee. Louis is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Tulane Law School, where he currently teaches a mini-course on corporate governance.

For his distinguished professional achievements and his enduring dedication to the mission and students of Tulane Law School, Louis was selected for induction into the 2024 Tulane Law Hall of Fame Class.

Louis is ranked by Chambers and Partners in Corporate/M&A (Senior Statespeople).

Louis has also been listed in The Best Lawyers in America® for Corporate Law since the publication’s first edition in 1983. In 2009, he was named the publication’s first New Orleans Corporate Lawyer of the Year and its first New Orleans Mergers & Acquisitions Lawyer of the Year in 2010. In 2011, Lawdragon named Louis to its “500 Leading Lawyers in America” guide, which represents far less than 1 percent of the legal profession, and called him “without question one of the very best corporate transactional attorneys in the South.”

Fishman Haygood LLP

24 Best Lawyers awards

Fishman Haygood LLP logo

Overview

  • English

  • Tulane University, J.D., graduated 1965

  • Louisiana, 1965
  • English
  • Louisiana, 1965
  • Tulane University, J.D., graduated 1965

Client Testimonials

Louis Fishman is an excellent attorney. He is very intelligent, has great judgement and is very responsive to his client’s needs.

Louis is very knowledgeable in merger transactions and works well with opposing counsel to move deals forward.

John Bordelon (Home Bancorp, Inc. )

Lafayette, LA

Louis has superior knowledge and experience in the field of securities law. If the need for services is beyond the comfort level of his expertise or his firm's capability, Louis will recommend an alternative solution. He is the consummate professional.

Richard Abbrecht (Capital One Southcoast)

Louis has been a great advisor to me personally in several difficult personnel matters as well serving as an advisor to our board of directors.

Louis Fishman is tops in the field and very easy to work with. Louis can make complicated issues very simple to understand.

Louis Fishman is best of the best!

Awards & Focus

Lawyer of the Year Badge - 2014 - Mergers and Acquisitions Law Lawyer of the Year Badge - 2013 - Corporate Law Lawyer of the Year Badge - 2012 - Banking and Finance Law Lawyer of the Year Badge - 2010 - Mergers and Acquisitions Law Lawyer of the Year Badge - 2009 - Corporate Law
Named "Lawyer of the Year" by Best Lawyers® for:
  • Mergers and Acquisitions Law, New Orleans (2014)
  • Corporate Law, New Orleans (2013)
  • Banking and Finance Law, New Orleans (2012)
  • Mergers and Acquisitions Law, New Orleans (2010)
  • Corporate Law, New Orleans (2009)
Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® 2026 for work in:
  • Banking and Finance Law
  • Corporate Law
  • Mergers and Acquisitions Law
  • Securities / Capital Markets Law
Special Focus:
  • Banking
  • Capital Markets
  • Corporate Compliance
  • Corporate Finance
  • Corporate Governance
  • Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Regulatory
  • Securities
  • Transactions
Awards:
  • Senior Statespeople, Chambers Corporate/M&A
  • Best Lawyers first M&A Lawyer of the Year for New Orleans, 2010
  • Best Lawyers first Corp Lawyer of the Year for New Orleans, 2009

Case History

Transactions
  • First National Bank of Commerce
Issuance of $3.0 billion of bank notes
  • First Commerce Corporation
$3.1 billion acquisition by Bank One
  • Doane Products Company
$250 million sale to financial investors
  • The Laitram Corporation
Sale of its Digicourse subsidiary
  • US Unwired
Registered exchange offer for its subordinated notes and its initial public offering
  • Capital One Southcoast
Underwriting of a registered public offering of convertible preferred stock
  • Capital One Southcoast
A number of “PIPE” transactions in which they acted as placement agent
  • Hirsch Financial Management LLC
Formation of a hedge fund and representation of Hirsch in connection with a private placement of fund units
  • Rouse's Enterprises, L.L.C.
Representation of Rouses, the largest grocery store chain headquartered in Louisiana, in acquisition of 20 stores from A&P
  • Unnamed Insurance Agency
Assisted an insurance agency in being acquired by a large national agency
  • Unnamed CEO and CFO
Assisted a CEO and CFO in connection with their retention (“rollover”) of a substantial part of their significant equity in a shipping business whose controlling equity was sold to a private equity firm
  • Chef Emeril Lagasse
Served as special securities law counsel for his sale of certain non-restaurant assets to Martha Stewart Living
  • Sanderson Farms, Inc.
Assisted in its public sale of $115 million of common stock

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