Phelps Dunbar LLP

Main Office: 365 Canal Street, Suite 2000 | New Orleans | LA | 70130-6534

Phone: 504-566-1311 | Fax: 504-568-9130

Overview

Phelps Dunbar LLP: An Experienced, Innovative Law Firm

Phelps Dunbar LLP is an experienced, innovative law firm with roots stretching back to 1853, when it was founded in New Orleans. The firm has since grown to become one of the oldest and largest firms across the South, and is highly respected for its combination of traditional values and progressive ideas. The firm is composed of five core practice groups - admiralty, business, litigation, labor and employment, and insurance and reinsurance - and is home to many experienced attorneys.

The attorneys of Phelps Dunbar LLP are well-versed in specific matters and industries, allowing them to tailor their services to their clients' exact needs. The firm puts a strong emphasis on understanding the unique aspects of their clients' businesses and using creative legal analysis to provide practical solutions. Phelps Dunbar attorneys also draw upon their extensive experience in specific areas to best serve their clients.

The firm is known for its efficient, attentive and high-quality services that have earned them a respected reputation in the legal services field. With office locations across the Gulf Coast as well as Raleigh, North Carolina, and London, England, Phelps Dunbar is able to serve virtually all types of legal needs both nationally and internationally. Furthermore, the firm values communication and collaboration among attorneys in different locations in order to provide sound legal advice and quality services to its clients.

Attorneys working at Phelps Dunbar LLP can look forward to being part of an experienced and innovative law firm that values traditional values and progressive ideas. With office locations across the Third Coast and beyond, experienced attorneys, and a strong emphasis on understanding clients' businesses, the firm can provide attorneys with an exciting and rewarding legal career.

Practice Areas

Phelps Dunbar LLP practices law in the following areas and works with its clients to provide the best possible legal solutions.

Antitrust And Trade Regulation
Appellate Litigation
Banking And Finance
Bankruptcy And Creditors' Rights
Corporate And Securities
Shareholder Disputes
Eminent Domain
Employee Benefits
Executive Compensation
Employment Litigation
Energy Litigation
Franchise And Distribution
Government Contracts
Health Care Litigation
Health Care Transactions
Hipaa Compliance
Immigration
Intellectual Property
Labor Relations
Media And First Amendment Law
Mergers & Acquisitions
Oil And Gas And Minerals
Products Liability
Professional Liability
Public Finance
Real Estate
Regulatory And Governmental Matters
Renewable Project Development
Tax Controversies
Tax Exempt Organizations
Tort Litigation
Toxic Tort Litigation
Trusts And Estates
Estate Planning
Wage And Hour
White Collar Defense And Governmental Investigations
Wholesale Power And Regulated Utilities
Admiralty
Business
Construction
Design
Energy
Environmental
Governmental Relations
Health Care
Insurance And Reinsurance
Labor And Employment
Litigation
Taxation
Securities Litigation
White Collar Litigation And Investigations

Hiring Criteria

Phelps Dunbar LLP follows the set of hiring criteria outlined below.

Pro bono

Pro bono representation is well ingrained in the history of Phelps Dunbar, and to this day our firm continues to strongly encourage our attorneys to undertake pro bono work to serve the legal needs of our community while enhancing the knowledge and skills of our attorneys. The firm fully credits attorneys for the hours attributed to pro bono matters and embraces the highest quality of legal representation. Our pro bono work includes a vast case diversity in both civil and criminal matters. Past matters have included divorce, custody and adoption matters, landlord/tenant disputes, estate (succession) work, child abuse and neglect, tort defense, and consumer problems. In addition to participating in pro bono litigation procedures, Phelps Dunbar attorneys volunteer on a regular basis to assist with client interviews, intake, and referral for community pro bono efforts and programs, as well as in assisting nonprofits and community service organizations in their formation, mission fulfillment and other needs.

Pro bono work taken on by the firm comes from several different sources ensuring that our efforts reach different areas of the community. Cases that meet government-set criteria, court appointed matters, pro bono volunteer organizations, or client referral are some of the methods in which we obtain our pro bono workload. Participation in these efforts happens often at Phelps Dunbar and is, additionally, well received and respected in the firm. We value the needs of our community and favor the enrichment of both young and seasoned litigators. Our long-standing active involvement in pro bono work reflects and is consistent with the recent movement of state mandated pro bono requirements.

Several attorneys in our offices scattered across the Third Coast act as pro bono coordinators to manage and sustain our pro bono practice. Coordinators work alongside partners, counsel and associates to assign, support and aid in the diverse matters we encounter. Furthermore, our attorneys have emerged as leaders within pro bono organizations and associations. Our lawyers are members, officers and board members of programs committed to improving community legal services.

Diversity

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Phelps Dunbar recognizes that diversity within our firm provides us with outstanding resources to serve our diverse and growing client base. Our multifaceted legal backgrounds, business experience and commitment to the law have contributed immensely to the firm's recent success in business growth, client service and community participation. Phelps Dunbar is proud of its accomplishments in diversity and is committed to being the market leader among law firms throughout the country. We are dedicated to diversity at all levels throughout the firm, in our society and the communities that sustain our operations.

Since 2002 Phelps Dunbar's efforts to increase minority and women hiring and retention throughout the firm have been acknowledged by others. Specifically, Phelps Dunbar received the first Defense Research Institute (DRI) National Diversity Award in 2002, which recognized the firm's outstanding diversity achievements and commitment. And, we continue to receive awards today. We have held top rankings in a national survey of minority hiring conducted by Minority Law Journal which ranked Phelps Dunbar as one of the top firms having the highest percentage of African American lawyers. Multicultural Law Magazine has listed Phelps Dunbar in the following diversity categories: Top 100 Law Firms for Diversity, Top 25 Law Firms for African Americans, Top 100 Law Firms for Women and Top 50 Law Firms for Partners.

These efforts are a credit to the work of the firm's hiring committee, as well as contributions by the firm's partners and associates. Our attorneys are the key factor in Phelps Dunbar's diversity accomplishments. Collectively, they play an integral part in law firm recruiting and retention of top-level talent through mentoring and leadership roles within the firm as well as with numerous professional and civic organizations. We are active and aggressive in our approach to hiring a diverse array of attorneys based on talent, accomplishments, and experience. In the same regard, Phelps Dunbar does not discriminate based upon gender, race, color, national origin, age, religion, disability or sexual orientation in hiring, promotion or any other aspect of employment.

With a commitment to strengthen diversity in the workplace, Phelps Dunbar has teamed with the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD), an organization comprised of chief legal officers and managing partners from leading corporations and law firms around the United States. The LCLD is dedicated to making significant, tangible progress on diversity by developing specific goals, implementing measurable metrics and rewarding definitive results. Our firm is also a supporting member of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association's Firm Affiliate Network. Through our membership, we participate in efforts to advance the hiring, retention, and promotion of diverse attorneys in legal departments and law firms.

Summer Associate Program

Phelps Dunbar provides law students opportunities to work at the law firm through various programs that provide a realistic view of the practice of law and how to best service client legal needs. Depending on the office, practice and present needs of the firm, Phelps Dunbar coordinates summer associate programs and law clerking opportunities in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Florida, Alabama and North Carolina.

The firm's traditional summer associate program is committed to providing law students a variety of experiences focused on strengthening skills essential to our legal practice. In several of our offices we host a traditional summer program which lasts six to seven weeks during the first-half of the summer. This program allows students to become involved in the day-to-day activities of a law firm practice, including research and writing, attending depositions, investigations, hearings, motions and trials, and corporate and commercial closings. Projects are assigned to summer associates to allow them the opportunity to work in multiple practice areas and groups within the firm. Throughout the program, partners and associates act as mentors to provide the summer clerks with informal evaluations and advice, as well as to help acclimate the student to the firm, practice area and office. Summer associates are provided opportunities to meet our clients and participate in training programs throughout the summer geared to help enhance their skills. Additionally, in an effort to become acquainted with our attorneys on a personal basis, the firm sponsors a number of social and professional functions that allow for interaction in non-work environments.

In addition to or in lieu of the traditional summer programs, Phelps Dunbar has alternate opportunities for the law students to gain exposure to the law firm. Phelps Dunbar hires law clerks when practice groups or offices have additional hiring needs. These opportunities allow students to work during the school year or for intervals in the summer for offices and practices that require additional support. Phelps Dunbar works directly with the law schools to recruit students for these positions and the firm works with each law clerk to determine a mutually agreeable schedule. Similar to our summer program, the law clerk experience allows students to gain exposure to a law firm environment, become involved in the daily activities of an established legal practice, and work side by side with experienced attorneys.