Patrick S. Ottinger

Mr. Stevens was born in Opelousas, Louisiana and served in the U.S. Army JAG Corps. He earned his Juris Doctorate degree from Louisiana State University Law School in 1979 and served as Law Clerk to the Honorable John M. Shaw, United States District Court, Western District of Louisiana until 1981. He is admitted to practice in all federal and state courts in Louisiana, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and is duly admitted and qualified as an Attorney and Counselor of the Suprem...

Now in his third decade of practice, Kyle Polozola offers substantial experience advising participants in Louisiana’s energy industry. Based in Lafayette, Louisiana, Kyle’s practice at Kean Miller spans litigation, appeals, and transactional matters, with a particular focus on Administrative / Regulatory Law, Energy Law, and Oil and Gas Law. He regularly assists clients with practical, business-oriented legal solutions that are clearly communicated, cost-conscious, and aligned wit...

Gary Russo is a partner in the Litigation Practice Group. He practices in areas involving oil and gas, commercial and environmental, and insurance fraud and coverage. Gary is an accomplished litigator who represents clients in a broad range of commercial, multi-district, mass tort, and class action disputes. He has extensive trial experience, having organized, handled, and argued cases before judges and juries in state, federal district, and appellate courts in more than half of the US states...

Suzette Marie Smith is a seasoned family law attorney with 36 years of experience guiding clients through divorce, child custody, support, spousal support, injunctions, and matrimonial agreements. A certified Family Law Specialist by the Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization, she is recognized as a Louisiana Family Law Super Lawyer and AV Preeminent rated by Martindale-Hubbell. Discover more about Suzette’s practice here .

Jerry Schiff practices in the areas of mediation and bankruptcy/ debtor-creditor law. He joined Gordon Arata in 2006 after serving over a decade as U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Western District of Louisiana. While he principally presided over cases in the Lafayette, Opelousas and Lake Charles Divisions of the Western District, he occasionally sat in the Shreveport and Alexandria Divisions, as well as the Eastern and Middle Districts of Louisiana. It was in the latter District where he presid...

Successfully reorganized or liquidated numerous businesses in the health care, construction, real estate, agricultural, marine and retail industries. Represented a large timber and land company in fraudulent conveyance litigation with the litigation trust of a major railroad tie manufacturer regarding the sale of a local plant which was settled favorably. Represented the board of trustees of a local college successfully in litigation surrounding the election of the college president . Represe...

Greg Duplantis’ legal practice centers on oil and gas property title examination with an emphasis on analyzing and rendering complex opinions concerning title that is held by production. He frequently calculates varying royalty interests, overriding royalty interests, and proportionately burdened net revenue interests. Greg routinely renders “stand up” title opinions that require physically searching the indices of courts' conveyance records and executing opinions on site. H...

Charles S. Weems III is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Corporate Law. Charles S., who practices law in Alexandria, Louisiana, has been recognized since 2009. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Charles S. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Alex Prochaska is special counsel in the Corporate and Litigation practice groups, where he focuses his practice on environmental law. Alex defends clients in enforcement actions brought by state and federal agencies alleging violations of environmental laws including the Clean Air Act (CAA), Clean Water Act (CWA), Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Coastal Zone Management Act, and their state counterparts. Alex also counsels clients in responding to information requests from gove...

Army joined the Firm in March 2011, bringing the knowledge and experience he earned over the course of his successful entrepreneurial career. His practice focuses on creditors’ rights, bankruptcy, and commercial transactional work for corporate, oil, gas and energy clients in Louisiana and Texas. Army is also one of only seven Sub-Chapter V bankruptcy trustees selected by the Department of Justice’s United States Trustee Program to serve in the State of Louisiana. Army is a skille...