Melanie Derefinko

Richard Cortizas is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group and a member of the Jones Walker board of directors. He focuses on transactional matters, representing clients in complex land use and zoning matters, public finance, and economic development projects. Richard has extensive experience representing corporate clients, developers and individuals before local planning commissions, boards of zoning adjustments, and governing authorities of political subdivisions throughout the state. Ri...

Harrison Golden focuses his litigation practice on representing clients in complex commercial disputes and regulatory matters. He regularly serves clients in the financial, consumer products, energy, and service industries on matters involving billions of dollars in liability. Harrison has litigated significant matters in the areas of antitrust, financial derivatives, trade secrets, conversion, and regulatory compliance. He has also represented municipalities and financial institutions in som...

Mr. Maraldo is a partner in the Metairie office and has been with the firm since 1995. His practice consists primarily of business consulting, business transactions, corporate law, commercial litigation, medical malpractice litigation and healthcare law. He has been a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association since 1994. Mr. Maraldo holds an AV ® Peer Review Rated certification mark from Martindale-Hubbell, and he has been recognized by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in A...

Wayne practices within Butler Snow's Public Finance, Tax Incentives and Credit Markets group. His work has been concentrated in all roles of Public Finance since 1984, with a particular emphasis in affordable housing finance.

As a degreed engineer, Keith J. Bergeron realizes that it gives his construction clients a sense of security to know they share similar backgrounds and that he understands their type of work. Receiving a lawsuit brought against you brings the stigma that something went wrong, but sometimes that is not a true statement. Keith investigates claims and defends his clients in all aspects of construction and construction surety law. He devotes special attention to architectural and engineering defe...

Michael A. Balascio is an experienced litigator representing clients in securities litigation and arbitration, high-stakes insurance coverage and bad faith cases, and complex commercial litigation. He has first-chair trial experience and has successfully litigated matters in federal and state appellate courts. In his securities practice, Michael counsels investment management companies and brokers in litigated matters and FINRA proceedings in a variety of significant disputes involving securi...

Mark A. Cunningham is a partner in the Litigation Practice Group and co-team leader of the corporate compliance and white collar defense team. Mark provides strategic advice to clients on competition and trade issues related to the structuring of national and global distribution networks, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, and intellectual property protection. Mark also serves as first-chair trial counsel for companies and individuals under law enforcement scrutiny or facing bet-the-co...

Bryan C. Shartle is one of the two managing partners of the Firm and assists in the management of the Firm’s 10 offices. Bryan specializes in representing collection agencies, debt buyers, student loan servicers, banks, credit issuers, financial institutions, and telemarketers. He has extensive experience in consumer litigation, including claims under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and the myriad of state con...

Allison Bell is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group and co-chairs the firm’s Healthcare Industry Team. She focuses on merger and acquisition transactions. Allison represents a wide variety of organizations in a number of key industries, including healthcare, insurance, transportation, and energy. Allison has extensive experience advising public and private companies in acquisition and divestiture transactions, joint ventures, and other complex business transactions. Allison also r...

Mr. Schneider is Co-Chair of the firm's Real Estate Practice Group and is a member of firm's Management Committee. He has extensive experience in the area of sophisticated commercial real estate transactions in Louisiana and elsewhere. He has been involved in many of the major commercial real estate transactions and gaming developments in the region. Mr. Schneider joined Stone Pigman in 1984.