About Fishman Haygood

Tackling What Matters Most Since Day One

The former Governor of Louisiana. The 2023-24 president of the New Orleans Bar Association. Past chairs of the Southeast Louisiana (SoLA) Super Region Committee, New Orleans Bureau of Governmental Research, and LSU Foundation. Ten federal and state clerks for Louisiana judges. And the lead for the plaintiffs in the Deepwater Horizon/BP Oil Spill litigation.

At Fishman Haygood, our strength comes from the people we bring together and what we help our clients accomplish.

What to Expect When Working with Fishman Haygood

Fishman Haygood is a 40-plus lawyer boutique firm focused on sophisticated litigation and business matters.

We are intentionally lean and built for complexity, with the work we take on requiring precision, excellence, and a focus on what matters most to our clients.

Litigation Practice

Fishman Haygood handles high-stakes cases, both plaintiff and defense, focused on winning at trial from day one.

As plaintiffs, we have handled many substantial matters and have obtained some of the largest verdicts, awards, and settlements, ranging into the billions of dollars. We mostly focus on securities, international arbitration, environmental, director and officer, tax, commercial, and casualty matters. Recent examples include the R. Allen Stanford Ponzi scheme case against the domestic banks and various litigation to remedy extensive pollution and land loss on the Louisiana Coast.

On the defense side, we are trusted with significant national and regional matters, including lead roles in proposed class actions against Rouse’s Supermarkets, GoAuto Insurance Company, and other high-exposure disputes.

Our work goes beyond the courtroom. We also reach resolution as a mediation team hired by the parties or as special masters appointed by the court.

In addition to our highly qualified team, the firm’s network of local counsel across the state is ideally suited to handle any major litigation set to be tried throughout Louisiana. We routinely work with and against the best.

In 2025, Chambers and Partners recognized twelve of our litigators, with seven ranked Band One.

Business Practice

Fishman Haygood’s business practice advises companies, institutions, and public entities on complex transactions and strategic initiatives across corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, real estate, private equity, and project and public finance.

Like our litigators, the firm’s business team is similarly engaged in many high-dollar, sophisticated transactions. We have worked on major deals for clients like Sanderson Farms, Inc., H&E Equipment Services, Provident Resources Group, Stirling Properties, and Rouse’s Supermarkets.

In the firm’s Baton Rouge office, our transactional team finds itself at the forefront of what makes the city vibrant: from representing the Tiger Athletic Foundation in the development of a new community arena and serving as lead counsel for the Memorial Park Redevelopment, to holding board leadership positions with organizations such as the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge, and the LSU Foundation. Our Capital City attorneys are committed to their community—both professionally and personally—and often provide pro bono services for the betterment of Baton Rouge.

Fishman Haygood’s business section is also leading the way in providing transactional advice in the energy sector. The firm is closely aligned with New Energy Management, a company working to facilitate large-scale, sustainable energy management projects throughout Louisiana and the Gulf South. Ongoing projects include those related to blue and green hydrogen, biodiesel and carbon negative jet fuels, and industrial scale batteries.

Firm History

Fishman Haygood was founded in 1996 by senior attorneys who set out to redefine what a boutique could be—not smaller for the sake of scale, but intentionally structured to handle complex, consequential work.