Local Government

Fishman Haygood attorneys know how government works.

The Fishman Haygood Local Government team is led by attorneys, including two from Louisiana’s highest state and municipal levels of government, who have unparalleled experience with the legal, political, regulatory, infrastructure, and community issues that affect the state and its parishes, municipalities, school boards, hospital systems, water districts, and more.

Governing bodies are charged with overseeing the continued improvement of the communities they serve. The most effective governmental representation, then, requires attorneys with specific knowledge of the unique procedural and substantive rules related to a diverse array of issues—from general public law, public finance, and economic development to complex litigation and beyond.

With years of public service and decades of experience in private practice, Fishman Haygood attorneys combine insider perspective with the legal know-how necessary to handle our clients’ most important issues. Led by special counsel John Bel Edwards, the 56th Governor of Louisiana, and special counsel Sharonda Williams, former City Attorney for the City of New Orleans, Fishman Haygood’s Local Government team maintains an intimate understanding of the financial, developmental, and infrastructure challenges associated with government administration.

During his two terms as the highest elected official in the state, Edwards built a network of relationships not only with local leaders and officials in parishes and municipalities but also with agency leaders at the federal level. While in office, he coordinated with all levels of government through fifty state emergencies and twenty-three federal disaster declarations. Edwards also led the response to and recovery from the COVID pandemic, which—in turn—only served to deepen his knowledge of rural hospital districts. Among his legislative, fiscal, and regulatory successes as governor were initiatives like Medicaid expansion, budget stabilization, and criminal justice reform.

Williams is especially qualified to handle governmental matters at the municipal level. As City Attorney, Williams worked closely with the United States Department of Justice as the lead attorney handling the most comprehensive police consent decree in the history of the United States and the consent decree aimed at reforming the Orleans Parish Jail. Williams was also the lead attorney representing the City in settling a more than 30-year dispute relating to back pay and pension issues for the New Orleans Firefighters. She has represented the Orleans Parish School Board, composed of duly elected officials representing seven geographic areas, on numerous occasions.

In litigation matters, the firm’s attorneys have appeared in district and appellate courts, as well as the Louisiana Supreme Court, on behalf of local jurisdictions, agencies, school boards, and political subdivisions like levee districts. They ably provide full-service counsel across a wide range of government systems, including, but not limited to, the following:

  • drafting government agency actions and declarations like ordinances, resolutions, and policy statements;
  • representing local governing bodies in tort and litigation matters involving police liability, civil rights claims, coastal wetlands damages, and miscellaneous property rights claims;
  •  litigating construction matters, including contract disputes, bid protests, and public bid law disputes; and
  • litigating a variety of matters related to real estate development, investment, leasing, zoning, and land use.

The firm also often represents municipal and governmental entities in complex commercial litigation against their financial counterparties. Our Governmental Securities Litigation team has represented, among others, the City of New Orleans, the City of Houston, the City of Lafayette, the City of Lake Charles, the Louisiana Firefighters Pension Fund, and the Louisiana Municipal Employees Pension Fund.

Fishman Haygood’s litigation capabilities are only bolstered by our team’s ability to provide services to our clients across multiple practice areas, including in our Real Estate section. Our attorneys regularly provide counsel to state, city, parish, and other governing bodies on public-private partnerships, ably navigating land use, regulatory, and permitting issues between developers, the state, parishes, and municipalities.

Recognized as one of the leading land use attorneys in Louisiana, partner Charles Landry has represented governmental entities in the drafting of zoning legislation, including the City of Lafayette’s traditional neighborhood development ordinance and the Parish of Ascension’s planned unit development ordinance. He was also a founding member and served as the Chairperson of the East Baton Rouge Zoning Advisory Committee from its formation in 2003 to 2017.

Representative Experience

Recent:

  • Represents the Orleans Parish School Board in numerous disputes against contractors related to construction defects in the renovation of several schools.
  • Retained by the City of Baton Rouge – Parish of East Baton Rouge in connection with the expansion of the River Center Convention Center and the development of a new Headquarters/Convention Hotel.
  • Retained by the City of Baton Rouge – Parish of East Baton Rouge in connection with the development of the Memorial Park professional sports, entertainment, health, wellness, hotel, and office development; the project is among the largest mixed-use capital investments in Louisiana history.

Noteworthy:

  • Represented the Vieux Carré Commission Foundation in a lawsuit, the first in the organization’s history, against the City of New Orleans after the City Council approved plans for a restaurant over the objections of French Quarter preservationists.
  • Represented the Orleans Parish School Board in a lawsuit to force a local charter management organization to provide students with free bus transportation to and from its schools.
  • Represented the St. Bernard Parish School Board in a federal whistleblower case.
  • Served as lead counsel to the developer, an affiliate of Commercial Properties Realty Trust, of the IBM Building Complex in downtown Baton Rouge; this complex public-private partnership between the developer, IBM, the State of Louisiana, the Louisiana Department of Economic Development, and the City of Baton Rouge/Parish of East Baton Rouge, comprises a full city block and includes a 10-story office building development with 85 luxury apartments.
  • Served as lead counsel to the developer of The Water Campus, a complex public-private partnership between the State of Louisiana, the City of Baton Rouge/Parish of East Baton Rouge, the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, and Commercial Properties Realty Trust; the project includes more than 1.8 million sq. ft. of labs, research facilities, and commercial space that allows researchers and support staff to study coastal threats, formulate theories, exchange ideas, and cooperate to arrive at innovative solutions.
  • Formed over fifteen Economic Development Districts throughout the state of Louisiana for private development and was recently retained by the City of Lafayette/Parish of Lafayette Consolidated Government to establish five real estate-based economic development districts within the city; continues to serve as general counsel for the EDDs.