Waterproof Lawyers

Beau Bourgeois is an associate in the Baton Rouge office of Kean Miller. He joined the firm in 2016 and practices in the commercial litigation and construction litigation groups. Beau has represented and counseled owners, general contractors, and subcontractors in the industrial and commercial markets and in both the private and public sectors. He has drafted construction contracts for owners, drafted and filed numerous Private Works Act liens, assisted clients with obtaining contractor’s licenses in multiple states, and represented clients in Public Bid Law disputes.

Prior to joining Kean Miller, Beau served as an Issue Editor for the Louisiana Law Review...

Amanda Bourgeois is a partner in the Baton Rouge office. She joined the firm in 2012 and practices in the business and corporate group. Amanda has experience representing clients in connection with a variety of transactional matters, including asset and stock acquisitions and sales and the drafting and negotiating of industrial and construction procurement, purchase and service contracts. She has also assisted individuals and businesses with entity formation, structure and governance, including the drafting of organizational documents and planning of overall corporate structure.

Amanda received her J.D. in 2010 from the LSU Law Center where she was a member of the...

Allison Benoit is special counsel in the Baton Rouge office of Kean Miller. She joined the firm in 2005 and practices in the toxic tort, occupational exposure, and commercial litigation groups. Prior to joining the firm, Allison practiced at an insurance defense firm in Alexandria, Louisiana.

Allison earned her B.A. in English, magna cum laude, from Louisiana State University in 1999. She earned her J.D. in 2003 from the LSU Law Center where she was a member of the Moot Court Board and a semi-finalist in the Robert Lee Tullis Moot Court Competition.

Michael S. Brandner, owner of the Brandner Law Firm, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He grew up there and attended Jesuit High School. After graduating from high school, he attended Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he earned his bachelor's degree in political science in 1999. He then went on to study law at the Loyola University New Orleans School of Law where he served on the Executive Board of the Loyola Student Bar Association and was a member of the Loyola University School of Law Board of Trial Advocates. Mr. Bradner received his juris doctor in 2002....

Brad’s practice utilizes the Master of Business Administration he earned in addition to his Juris Doctor. In addition to representing businesses of all kinds, he practices many different areas of law, performing both transactional work and litigation. Brad’s trust and estate practice covers everything from simple wills and successions to complex trusts and advanced estate planning. As part of his real estate practice, he is a title agent for Gulf Title Corporation, which is an agent for First American Title Insurance Company of Louisiana. Brad’s collection practice specializes in purchased debt. He also litigates many labor and employment matters and...

Attorney Caj Boatright grew up in Sweetwater, a small town in west Texas. He attended Southwestern University of Georgetown, and graduated cum laude with Honors as a double major in Political Science and History. He earned his J.D. from the University of Texas Law School, where he also met and became friends with Kurt Arnold and Jason Itkin. Following law school, Attorney Boatright worked for the largest firm in Fort Worth, where he handled cases related to all types of litigation and appellate matters. In 2006, he joined Kurt and Jason at their small firm, Arnold & Itkin...

What We Do Our law practice is 100% devoted to helping professionals, executives, hard-working wage earners, and their families recover their denied Long Term Disability, Accidental Death and Dismemberment, and Life Insurance Benefits. This includes those claims that fall under federal ERISA law, Federal Employees Group Life Insurance (FEGLI), Veterans’ Group Life Insurance (VGLI), and Service Members’ Group Life Insurance (SGLI). IT'S ALL WE DO! How We Do It We love using our knowledge developed representing insurance companies for years to your advantage against insurance companies. Our entire practice, all of our resources, processes, focus, and continual education and training, are...

Born and raised in Baton Rouge, I am a product of our local public schools. I graduated from LSU in 1983 with a degree in Finance. I graduated from Loyola New Orleans Law School in 1987, but before graduating, I tried my first jury case. It was a manslaughter charge. The Orleans District Attorney was impressed enough to offer me a job upon graduation. I was an Assistant District Attorney for Mr. Harry Connick from 1987 through 1990 and have been on my own since then.

As to public service after the District Attorney's Office, in 2009 I was elected to...

Troy Charpentier is a dedicated and experienced Louisiana Attorney. He joined Kean Miller in 1996, where he works with the Litigation Group in the Baton Rouge office. Troy has successfully represented local, regional and national clients in an array of legal disputes. His practice areas include General Commercial Litigation such as Contract Claims, Lease Disputes and Landlord/Tenant matters. Additionally, Troy advocates for clients with Pipeline Permitting and Incident Response before the Department of Natural Resources. He has extensive experience in Pipeline Expropriation projects. Troy is committed to providing outstanding service and the best possible outcomes.

Troy received a B.A. from Louisiana...

Bill has more than four decades of experience in the area of real estate law and represents lenders, title insurance underwriters and commercial and residential real estate developers.

Bill is an AV-rated lawyer and has been named as one of Louisiana's Super Lawyers.

John Funderburk is a partner in the Baton Rouge office of Kean Miller and practices in the litigation and construction groups. He represents clients in energy, commercial, environmental, transportation, and construction litigation in both state and federal courts. Prior to joining the firm, John practiced with a global law firm from its Houston, Texas office.

John has represented both individuals and corporations in complex environmental litigation, contract disputes, maritime actions, personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits, deceptive trade practices claims, and oilfield contamination litigation. In addition, he coordinates with clients and experts to respond quickly to accidents and incidents across the...

John D. Ray is the owner and operator of The Ray Firm, LLC and has practiced law for over 20 years and specializes in workers’ compensation. He opened his law firm in Baton Rouge in 2016 after years of working for New Orleans and Lafayette based defense firms, serving as Assistant Attorney General for the Louisiana Department of Justice and then serving as the Section Chief of Workers’ Compensation Section of LDJ. In addition to his role as Section Chief, he served as an in-house legal advisor to the Office of Risk Management and the Louisianan Department of Justice regarding...

Shane Sandefer is a partner in the Baton Rouge office of Kean Miller. He practices in the business transactions and environmental law groups and is a Registered Professional Engineer. Shane represents local, regional, and national clients in a variety of real estate, finance, and environmental matters including, industrial and commercial real estate transactions, title insurance matters, general preparation and negotiation, regulatory proceedings, wetlands permitting, wetlands mitigation, and state and federal environmental advice. Prior to law school, Shane was a project engineer for Turner Environmental and a senior staff engineer for URS. He also served as an assistant project manager for...

Bob Hawthorne is of counsel to the Baton Rouge office of Kean Miller. He is one of the founding members of the firm and practices in the estate planning and probate, business and corporate, and real estate groups. Bob represents clients in the finance, acquisition, construction, purchase, refinancing, management, leasing and sale of various types of real estate developments, both commercial and residential, including office buildings, shopping malls, manufacturing facilities, retail centers, industrial facilities, and commercial developments.

Bob advises business and corporate clients with regard to commercial lending transactions, financings, and the structure and formation of corporate entities. He has extensive...

Gayla Moncla is a partner in the Baton Rouge office of Kean Miller and practices in the areas of toxic tort and environmental litigation, premises liability, and commercial litigation. She has more than 25 years of experience in the chemical and petrochemical industries, defending workplace accidents, chemical exposure cases, products liability cases, as well as advising clients regarding workplace safety issues and OSHA regulations. Gayla also has experience in retail premises litigation having defended retail clients for over 25 years.

Gayla earned her B.S. from Louisiana State University in 1973. She earned her J.D. in 1989 from the LSU Law Center...

Ben Jumonville is an associate in the Baton Rouge office of Kean Miller.

The Wall Street Journal has described Arsenault as having “national notoriety,” BusinessWeek described him as “a Dean of the Louisiana Tort Bar,” and The New York Times described him as one of the “big players” in the legal community. Arsenault has been an invited lecturer at various law schools including Baylor, Duke, Emory, University of Texas, Tulane, George Washington and LSU where he served on the Trial Advocacy faculty. He has been involved in over 25 Multidistrict Litigation proceedings, often serving in leadership capacities. He served as Lead Counsel in the Actos MDL where a jury rendered a $9 billion...

Richard McConnell is a partner in the Baton Rouge office of Kean Miller. He is trial counsel for energy and financial companies in high stakes lawsuits involving a wide variety of claims. Prior cases involved soil and groundwater contamination, wetlands loss, toxic tort exposure, lost mineral leasing opportunities, mineral lease cancellation, pipeline right-of-way claims, expropriation/condemnation, and commercial litigation. Richard also serves as appellate counsel arguing before state and federal appellate courts.

Richard’s recent experience includes obtaining a successful verdict as trial counsel for national pipeline companies in a wetlands loss lawsuit involving canals that widened over time, he was lead...

Matthew Meiners is a partner in the Baton Rouge office of Kean Miller. He joined the firm in 2009 and practices in the business and corporate group. Matthew has experience in the drafting and negotiation of numerous industrial service and purchase agreements. He also has experience representing numerous individuals and small businesses in connection with acquisitions and divestitures of their respective businesses and with formation of new entities, including drafting organizational documents and planning of overall corporate structure.

Matthew earned his B.S. in International Trade and Finance with a minor in Economics from Louisiana State University in 1998. He earned his...

Reid is an experienced Litigation Attorney at Wiener, Weiss & Madison. He is dedicated to representing individuals and businesses in a variety of legal disputes. His practice areas include Commercial, Property, Insurance, and Construction Law matters. Reid brings extensive experience, knowledge and skill to advocate for your legal needs.

In 2009, Reid received his B.S. from the University of Texas at Austin. He obtained his J.D. from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University in 2012. Reid practices in both Federal and Louisiana State Courts. His jurisdictions include the State of Louisiana, United States Court of Appeals for...

Don Wiener is of counsel for the firm of Wiener, Weiss & Madison. He has more than 25 years of experience in commercial transactions, including corporate, oil and gas law, real estate, commercial lending, title insurance and probate.

Geoffrey D. Westmoreland is a shareholder in the firm of Wiener, Weiss & Madison, A Professional Corporation. Mr. Westmoreland has over 20 years of experience in real estate transactions, real estate litigation and real estate development matters. Mr. Westmoreland also has extensive experience in complex zoning and land use matters, as well as extensive experience in commercial and business litigation matters.

Anna O'Neal is a shareholder with Wiener, Weiss & Madison. She joined the firm in 2017 and practices in the areas of commercial litigation and oil, gas and natural resources. Prior to joining the firm, Anna's practice focused on mineral and property law matters. She also has experience advising on natural gas midstream pipeline issues, political subdivision governance, and zoning and land use matters.

Seth Moyers is a shareholder with Wiener, Weiss & Madison. He joined the firm in 2009 and practices primarily in the areas of collections, bankruptcies, and other commercial litigation. Seth has represented both commercial and individual creditors throughout the collections process, including settlements and judicial collection proceedings in both Louisiana State Courts and United States Bankruptcy Courts.

Patrick L. McCune practices between the Baton Rouge and Shreveport offices of Wiener, Weiss & Madison. He engages in a broad legal practice, including a variety of commercial litigation matters in both state and federal courts, with a particular emphasis on creditor’s rights and litigation in bankruptcy court.

Patrick is licensed to practice law in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida, and has appeared in courts in each of these states to represent the interests of his clients.

An honors graduate of LSU law school, the recipient of a Master of Business Administration and a former manager at a non-profit in New York...

Cliffe Laborde is licensed to practice law in Louisiana and Texas, and has more than 24 years of experience in a wide variety of business and commercial real estate transactions, and estate planning and administration matters, including:

Asset and stock purchase transactions, and other agreements (employment, non-competition, etc.) arising in connection with business acquisitions and divestitures.
Formation of corporations, limited liability companies and partnerships, including the drafting of complex shareholder, operating and partnership agreements, and the purchase and sale of ownership interests in such entities.
Negotiation and documentation of purchase, sale, financing, development and leasing transactions related to all types of commercial real...

Louisiana State University Law School Hall of Fame Law Review, Louisiana State University Martindale Hubble AV rating (highest) for legal ability and ethics Top 100 Trial Lawyers in Louisiana Practicing Engineer before becoming an attorney