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Many Cases Begin at Other Law Firms, but The Unglesby Law Firm Encourages Partnerships

What is an Attorney Partnership or Referral Relationship?

 

When an attorney or firm lacks the resources or experience to handle a specific case for their clients, they may refer those clients or co-counsel with another law firm. The referral and co-counsel relationships help clients get the best legal representation from a litigation partnership or referral attorney with the skills, resources, and leverage to best pursue the case.

 

New matters are frequently referred to us or co-counseled with us from other lawyers and law firms all over the country. Whether they know of our reputation and history of success, or have partnered with us previously, they have confidence that Unglesby Law Firm will diligently represent clients and aggressively advocate to obtain the greatest results for clients. Unglesby Law Firm is committed to devoting the legal, financial, technological, and staffing resources necessary to aggressively litigate cases in pursuit of the best possible results.

Start a Relationship with The Unglesby Law Firm

 

The attorneys at the Unglesby Law Firm accept referrals and co-counsel agreements from other firms in compliance with the applicable rules and regulations routinely.  However, we also know the value of creating a customized agreement that meets the needs of the referring attorney, co-counsel attorney, and the clients. Our attorney referral, partnership, an co-counsel relationships have earned incredible verdicts and settlements for our partners and clients.

 

Lewis Unglesby and the Attorneys at The Unglesby Law Firm are ready to assist all of our partners.  We have a history of obtaining extremely successful results for our partners and clients. We have worked with firms which refer Serious Personal Injury Cases, Mesothelioma Cases, Toxic Tort Cases, Defective Products Cases, Defective Drug Cases, White Collar Criminal Defense Cases, and other Mass Torts such as Essure Permanent Birth Control.

LAW FIRM PARTNERSHIPS

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    Our Team

    Lewis Unglesby

    Lewis O. Unglesby was born in New Orleans, LA in 1949. He received his B.A. from the University of Mississippi in 1971 and went on to receive his J.D. from Louisiana State University in 1974. He was admitted to the bar of Louisiana, U.S. District Court, Middle, Eastern and Western Districts of Louisiana, and U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit in 1974. Also, he is admitted pro hoc vice in numerous states.
     
    Mr. Unglesby has successfully won acquittals in over 50 felony jury trials in state and federal courts. He has achieved over 25 Multi-Million Dollar jury awards and over 45 jury awards exceeding One Million Dollars. Mr. Unglesby was the first person in Louisiana to successfully use the Battered Women’s Syndrome in a murder defense case. Impressively, he has won multi-million dollar awards for exposure to non-fatal toxic chemicals, proven the defective nature of 3-wheelers in a products liability suit by jury verdict , achieved a jury verdict proving product liability defects of 4-wheelers, and achieved jury verdicts proving the need for restraint systems on sit-down and stand-up forklifts. Moreover, Mr. Unglesby has successfully argued before the Louisiana Supreme Court over 20 times.
    Mr. Unglesby is a fellow of the American Board of Criminal Lawyers and is certified as a civil and criminal trial advocacy specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (presently one of only two attorneys in Louisiana). He has been recognized in Best Lawyers in America since 1986 and listed by Martindale-Hubbell in the “Bar Register of Prominent Lawyers” since 1996. Mr. Unglesby is a member of the Baton Rouge Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, The Association of Trial Lawyers of America, and serves on the Executive Committee of the Louisiana Trial Lawyers Association.
     
    His unique skill-set and history of success led to his appointment as Special Counsel for the Louisiana State Senate from 1993-1996 and Special Counsel for Governor Mike Foster (1996-1997). He has presented numerous times as lecturer for the Louisiana Trial Lawyers Association, Louisiana Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, American Trial Lawyers Association, and the National Business Institute. Finally, Mr. Unglesby’s cases have twice been the subject of ABC’s 20/20, and he has been featured on Good Morning America and CNN.

    Lance Unglesby

    Lance Unglesby is a native of Baton Rouge. He received his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Mississippi and earned his law degree from Loyola Law School. Lance joined the Unglesby Law Firm in 2009 and has since been recognized in the “Top 40 Under 40” by the National Trial Lawyers Association. Prior to joining the Unglesby Law Firm, Lance worked as a public defender at the Orleans Public Defenders in New Orleans. During that time, the office received the 2009 Frederick Douglass Human Rights Award from the Southern Center for Human Rights. Working with dedicated and talented defense teams, Lance led and won many complex criminal cases. This included two murder acquittals one argued as a misidentification and one as a self-defense claim. His work has been featured on Dateline NBC, CNBC, Gambit Weekly, the Times-Picayune, and local radio.

     

    Since joining Unglesby Law Firm, Lance has had a series of impressive results – an acquittal in an armed robbery trial, a reduction to manslaughter in a spousal murder trial, a certification of a class-action in a toxic tort case, and over a two million-dollar settlement in a wrongful death action.
     
    Today, Lance focuses primarily on complex civil litigation, commercial disputes, pharmaceutical and medical device defects, and catastrophic injuries, as well as white collar criminal defense.
     
    Lance has developed a uniquely modern approach to eliciting direct testimony in civil litigation, highlighting structured stories to advance trial narratives. This approach has inspired new understandings of a jury’s formulation of damages, and targets creating a foundation for success on appeal.
     
    Much of Lance’s white-collar practice focuses on the aggressive representation of a wide range of different health care providers. Current health care laws are both enormously complex and far reaching, leaving vast amounts of gray areas that both State and Federal authorities have used to target entities for civil fines and criminal prosecution. Lance has pioneered new and innovative ways of defending health care companies, with an emphasis on thorough early internal investigations as a means of creating effective shields against both civil and criminal liability.
     
    While working with the Unglesby Law Firm, Lance has stayed connected to the community and handled eight death penalty cases with the Capital Defense Project of Southeast Louisiana. All eight cases successfully ended with non-capital resolutions. During this time, Lance worked with some of the preeminent mental health experts in the country. Through this work, Lance was trained in the Colorado method of voir dire and jury selection, a technique centered on empowering juries to vote consistent with their convictions.
     
    Lance is licensed to practice law in Louisiana, admitted to all Louisiana federal courts, and has been admitted pro hac vice to practice in federal courts in South Carolina, Oklahoma and Wisconsin.

    Jordan Bollinger

    Ms. Jordan Bollinger is an associate at the Unglesby Law Firm. She is a native of San Diego, California who now calls Louisiana home. She attended Southeastern Louisiana University and obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a minor in Spanish in 2011. While at SELU, she interned for a personal injury firm in Hammond, Louisiana. In May of 2014, she received her juris doctor from Southern University Law Center. During law school, she was a member of Phi Alpha Delta Fraternity, a student attorney for the Immigration Law Clinic, and was twice presented the CALI Excellence for the Future Award in Legal Writing.

     

    She began clerking for the Unglesby Law Firm as a second-year law student in February of 2013. She began working as an attorney at the Unglesby Law Firm after being admitted to the Louisiana Bar in October of 2014. She has since been involved in a variety of cases including asbestos and toxic exposure litigation, products liability, personal injury, criminal law, family law, class actions, and property law. Ms. Bollinger has also successfully briefed and argued in Louisiana’s Courts of Appeals.

     

    When not practicing law, she enjoys spending time with her family and working out. She also has served as a board member for the A.C. Lewis YMCA, Lawyers for the Cure – Baton Rouge Chapter, and the Baton Rouge Bar Association’s Bench Bar Committee where she was co-chair for the 2017 Bench Bar Conference. Ms. Bollinger is a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association, American Bar Association, and Baton Rouge Bar Association. She is admitted to practice law in all state and federal courts in Louisiana and the Fifth Circuit.

     

    Jamie Gontarek

    Jamie Gontarek received her bachelor’s degree in Communications and International Affairs from Florida State University and her law degree from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law. Ms. Gontarek is admitted to practice law in Louisiana.

     

    Ms. Gontarek joined the Unglesby Law firm in 2017 and focuses primarily in the area of mass tort litigation, representing clients that have been injured due to defective medical devices. She is also a member of the Unglesby Law Firm trial team. Since joining the firm, she has been involved in multiple civil jury trials that have resulted in multi-million-dollar jury verdicts.

     

    Prior to joining the Unglesby Law Firm, Ms. Gontarek worked as a family law attorney. She has represented clients in a wide variety of legal matters, including divorce and custody proceedings, protective order proceedings, successions, and other issues.

     

    While in law school, Ms. Gontarek was a member of the Loyola Law Review. She was also a member of Moot Court and acted as brief writer, oralist, and coach for the ABA National Appellate Advocacy team. Ms. Gontarek was also an extern for the Louisiana Supreme Court and a student practitioner of the Workplace Justice Clinic. Ms. Gontarek was inducted into the Order of Barristers.

     

    Ms. Gontarek is a volunteer faculty member of the Tulane Law School trial advocacy class.

    Adrian Simm

    Mr. Adrian M. Simm, Jr. is an associate attorney at the Unglesby Law Firm. He was born and raised in Lafayette, Louisiana and graduated high school from Episcopal School of Acadiana. He received his bachelor’s degree in Finance from Louisiana State University and went on to attend Loyola University College of Law in New Orleans, Louisiana where he earned his law degree. While in law school, Mr. Simm began clerking for Jason Roger Williams & Associates and later, the Unglesby Law firm. 

    After being admitted to the Louisiana Bar, Mr. Simm joined the Unglesby Law Firm in 2015 as an associate attorney. He has since focused his practice on representing clients in the areas of personal injury, wrongful death, toxic torts and asbestos litigation, products liability, pharmaceutical related injuries, criminal defense, as well as Title VII and Section 1983 civil rights and discrimination claims. Mr. Simm is admitted to practice law in all Louisiana state courts, all Louisiana federal courts, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

    A FEW OF UNGLESBY LAW FIRM’S VICTORIES

    VERDICTS & SETTLEMENTS

    THE TWO HIGHEST REPORTED MESOTHELIOMA VERDICTS IN LOUISIANA HISTORY

    Asbestos defendants need to be forced into putting fair value into a case. The Unglesby Lawyers in New Orleans pride itself on doing just that. In 2006, Lewis Unglesby won the highest mesothelioma survival action verdict in Louisiana history at $5,000,000 against Exxon. True to form, Exxon appealed the verdict, but Mr. Unglesby successfully had the decision upheld. (Terrance v. Dow Chem., 971 So.2d 1058) Seven years later, Mr. Unglesby won the second highest reported mesothelioma verdict at $3,800,000 against Entergy. That case was upheld on appeal as well. (White v. Entergy Gulf States La. LLC, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 2712)

    $29.5 MILLION FROM HAZARDOUS WASTE COMPANY FOR LOUISIANA

    Asbestos defendants need to be forced into putting fair value into a case. The Unglesby Lawyers in New Orleans pride itself on doing just that. In 2006, Lewis Unglesby won the highest mesothelioma survival action verdict in Louisiana history at $5,000,000 against Exxon. True to form, Exxon appealed the verdict, but Mr. Unglesby successfully had the decision upheld. (Terrance v. Dow Chem., 971 So.2d 1058) Seven years later, Mr. Unglesby won the second highest reported mesothelioma verdict at $3,800,000 against Entergy. That case was upheld on appeal as well. (White v. Entergy Gulf States La. LLC, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 2712)

    CHEMICAL COMPANIES SETTLE LAWSUIT WITH NEW ORLEANS RESIDENTS

    New Orleans, La. – Two pesticide companies agreed Tuesday to pay $50 million to about 3,500 people who lived near a pesticide plant that contaminated their New Orleans neighborhood. T.H. Agriculture and Nutrition and Harcros Chemicals Corp., both of Kansas City, agreed to the state court settlement on the fifth day of jury selection for the class action lawsuit, attorney Lewis Unglesby said.

     

    He represented people who lived near the pesticide and herbicide plant, which operated from the 1950s until 1987, when the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board discovered contamination in its wastewater.
    Testing by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1994 found substantial amounts of contamination in the neighborhood, he said. Those included DDT and some components of Agent Orange, Unglesby said.

     

    T.H. Agriculture & Nutrition and its parent, Philips Electronics North America Corp., have paid for most of the cleanup work at the site and in the surrounding neighborhood, which EPA is considering as a possible Superfund site. An employee of Harcros, which bought the plant shortly before the pollution was found, said company spokesmen all had left the Kansas City offices for the day.

     

    Unglesby said amounts for each plaintiff will range from small to substantial, depending on what years people lived in the area, the extent of their exposure, whether they own land there, and what illnesses, if any, were caused or worsened by the exposure. Unglesby said the case would have been much harder to bring and a settlement much less likely under new laws passed this month.

     

    “You would not have had the concern about punitive damages, which clearly would have been warranted,” he said. During the special session that ended last week, the Legislature passed a law ending punitive damages in certain hazardous waste cases. Another new law eliminates the concept of “strict liability” from lawsuits. Backers said it gives property owners a chance to prove they were not negligent when an accident happens on their property.

     

    Under the new law, plaintiffs would have had to prove that the company knew pesticides were spreading beyond its property line, Unglesby said. “By failing to test and by refusing to put up any kind of monitoring devices … they could have claimed they didn’t know,” he said.

    DOTD ORDERED TO PAY FOLLOWING ACCIDENT CAUSED BY DEFECTIVE RAILING

    In 1997, Syvella Totson was seriously injured when a drunk driver pulled into her path on Louisiana Highway 2. James Pardon, the driver of the other vehicle, was drunk at the time of the crash. However, Mr. Pardon turned onto Louisiana 2 from Lane’s Ferry Road. At that intersection, a defective railing on the Bayou Macon Bridge created a blind spot for drivers turning onto Louisiana 2 from Lane’s Ferry Rd.

     

    At trial, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) argued that Mr. Pardon’s intoxication was the sole cause of the accident. However, the plaintiff countered with evidence that East Carroll Parish officials had contacted the state about fixing the bridge railing for decades.

     

    Following trial, the jury found DOTD to be 100 percent responsible for the accident. However, the Court of Appeals reversed the trial court ruling that Mr. Pardon was 100 percent responsible. The Louisiana Supreme Court granted certiorari and found DOTD to be 80 percent responsible and ordered the Department to pay the Ms. Totson and her family $7.5 million.

    WORKER AWARDED AFTER COMPANY NEGLIGENCE CAUSES ELECTROCUTION

    In 1997, Syvella Totson was seriously injured when a drunk driver pulled into her path on Louisiana Highway 2. James Pardon, the driver of the other vehicle, was drunk at the time of the crash. However, Mr. Pardon turned onto Louisiana 2 from Lane’s Ferry Road. At that intersection, a defective railing on the Bayou Macon Bridge created a blind spot for drivers turning onto Louisiana 2 from Lane’s Ferry Rd.

     

    At trial, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) argued that Mr. Pardon’s intoxication was the sole cause of the accident. However, the plaintiff countered with evidence that East Carroll Parish officials had contacted the state about fixing the bridge railing for decades.

     

    Following trial, the jury found DOTD to be 100 percent responsible for the accident. However, the Court of Appeals reversed the trial court ruling that Mr. Pardon was 100 percent responsible. The Louisiana Supreme Court granted certiorari and found DOTD to be 80 percent responsible and ordered the Department to pay the Ms. Totson and her family $7.5 million.

    LAW FIRM PARTNERSHIPS | REFER A CASE