Best Lawyers Near You in New Orleans, Louisiana for Commercial Litigation
Sean Mount defends corporate clients and insurance companies in a variety of litigation claims that can arise as a result of today’s competitive legal environment. With a special interest in defense litigation, Sean Mount enjoys addressing client problems and crafting a solution that is best suitable for their business. Building upon his extensive courtroom experience, he has successfully litigated a variety of matters in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas for various corporate and insur...
Pat Vance is a partner in and leader of the Litigation Practice Group. He focuses on business litigation, debtors' and creditors’ rights litigation, and business bankruptcy. Pat has the distinction of being one of the few lawyers who is both a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy. He is also a life member of the American Law Institute and a member of the National Bankruptcy Conference. As a trial attorney, Pat has handled mor...
Ned Bergin is a partner in the Litigation Practice Group. He represents utilities and publicly held companies in a broad range of disputes. Ned has a robust commercial litigation practice focused on utility regulation, complex and class action litigation, contract litigation, energy litigation, state constitutional and home rule law and antitrust matters. He represents publicly held entities in these areas, including large nationwide telecommunications providers and energy production and coge...
Lele Hainkel is a partner in the Litigation Practice Group. She focuses on energy litigation. Lele has extensive experience handling offshore and onshore energy-related disputes in federal and state courts, as well as in arbitration. Her oil and gas litigation practice covers defense of claims against the oil and gas industry asserting liability for coastal erosion, legacy suit property restoration claims, disputes related to Outer Continental Shelf decommissioning liability, preferential rig...
Brandon T. Darden is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Commercial Litigation and Oil and Gas Law. Brandon T., who practices law in New Orleans, Louisiana, has been recognized since 2023. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Brandon T. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
John “Trip” McCormick protects clients’ legal interests while supporting their business growth. He focuses on commercial and construction litigation, aggressively defending contractual claims, pursuing unpaid debts, and helping clients manage risk and resolve conflicts. Trip represents architects, engineers, contractors, and suppliers in state and federal courts and arbitrations involving public works, commercial projects, and catastrophic structural failures. His practice a...
Cove Geary is a partner in the Litigation Practice Group, where he counsels clients with respect to a broad range of disputes. Cove represents and advises clients in connection with energy litigation; life, health, and disability insurance, and Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) litigation; aviation litigation; insurance coverage issues; commercial disputes; professional liability matters; and class action litigation. Cove leads the firm’s insurance coverage practice team. ...
Mr. Alford represents public utilities and other clients in a variety of matters, including commercial and tort litigation, regulatory proceedings, and contract and property issues. Representative cases include construction disputes, securities actions, antitrust and unfair trade practice claims, medical licensing, and consumer litigation. Mr. Alford also counsels clients concerning regulatory compliance, employment, and general business issues. Mr. Alford graduated from Louisiana State Unive...
Phil is a commercial litigator in state and federal courts. He takes pride in advising his clients on how to succeed at trial, on appeal, or how to avoid litigation altogether. Louis Armstrong, the greatest trumpet player of all time, said “never play anything the same way twice.” Phil has taken this advice to heart in his practice, advising unique clients facing distinct challenges with an individualized approach. Phil represents a diverse set of clients across a broad range of i...
Terry Knister has more than 30 years of litigation experience in both bench and jury trials and also on appeal. His practice is concentrated on toxic tort and environmental litigation with an emphasis on class action and mass tort cases. He has served as lead trial counsel in numerous cases involving allegations of personal injury, property devaluation/damage, and remediation as a result of chemical exposure and/or contamination. These matters typically include thousands of plaintiffs seeking...
George C. Freeman, III, is a founding member of the firm. His practice focuses on securities litigation, arbitration, and enforcement. He primarily represents financial advisors and broker-dealers, together with their respective officers, directors, and employees, in customer disputes and in SEC and FINRA proceedings. He also represents underwriters, issuers, and trustees in securities class action cases. Outside the field of securities, George concentrates in complex financial and commercial...
Ashley Heilprin practices in the areas of civil trial and commercial litigation. She regularly appears in Louisiana’s courts. Her commercial litigation experience includes state and federal matters in the following areas: business torts; construction on behalf of engineers, architects, contractors and developer clients; professional liability including lawyers, insurance broker and agent clients; First Amendment and defamation; breach of contract; breach of warranty; unfair trade practi...
Scott O’Connor’s practice focuses on oil and gas and complex commercial litigation. He has litigated and arbitrated numerous disputes involving onshore and offshore operating agreements, royalty claims, gas balancing agreements, oil and gas purchase contracts, farmout agreements, preferential purchase rights, and purchase and sale agreements. He has defended national and state class actions involving oil and gas pricing practices including antitrust litigation, and has represented...
Michael C. Drew is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Commercial Litigation and Construction Law. Michael C., who practices law in New Orleans, Louisiana, has been recognized since 2025. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Michael C. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Bryant York practices in the areas of commercial litigation, intellectual property, antitrust matters, bankruptcy litigation, government relations, and regulatory counseling. He has represented clients in federal and state courts, as well as in arbitrations, mediations and administrative proceedings before federal agencies. Notably, Bryant represented adversary proceedings arising from the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history and defended an oilfield service company in a lawsuit which cu...
Kerry Miller is a partner in Fishman Haygood’s Litigation Section. Kerry has the distinction of trying both the longest civil and criminal trials in the history of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. As jury trials resumed following pandemic related delays, Kerry tried the first civil jury trial in federal court in Louisiana and in Miami-Dade County in state court. Since June 2021, Kerry has tried several jury trials and participated in a large arbitr...
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.