Mr. Robinson is one of the firm's senior trial lawyers, a former member of the firm's board of directors and former head of the firm's maritime and energy casualty/insurance practice group for the Lafayette office. He has extensive experience as lead counsel in major corporate litigation in bench and jury trials, at the appellate level and in all federal and state courts in Louisiana. He is also admitted to practice in the United States District Courts for the Southern and Western Districts of Texas.
Litigation matters he has handled include oil and gas exploration lease cancellation suits, oilfield cleanup, remediation and environmental cases, commercial litigation, toxic torts, maritime personal injury, oilfield legacy cases involving Act 312 of 2006, and oilfield and drilling casualty cases.
His background also includes cases arising on offshore production platforms on the Outer Continental Shelf, products liability and contractual indemnity matters, insurance coverage issues, well control insurance coverage and maritime collision matters.
In maritime matters, he represented clients before the United States Customs Service regarding the use of foreign-flagged vessels in deep-water drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico. He also is experienced in matters regulated by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality; the United States Coast Guard; the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA); the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE); the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources; and the Louisiana State Police.
Mr. Robinson's vast practice experience covers energy breach of contract and business tort matters, toxic tort and catastrophic casualties such as well blowouts, explosions, fires, oil spills, vessels collisions and allisions and the related property damage, personal injury, wrongful death and insurance and indemnity issues associated with those cases. He has been the leader of firm's catastrophe response team leader for a major oil company, and has responded on behalf of clients to numerous casualties and catastrophes, requiring immediate team response and action.
In the area of drafting drilling contracts and master service contracts, he has in-depth experience, particularly in the analysis of indemnity issues arising under Louisiana, Texas and maritime law.
One of the original members of the firm's litigation practice group in Lafayette, Mr. Robinson often litigates matters requiring an understanding of complex technical issues. These include such areas as metallurgical engineering, bioengineering, explosives and chemical engineering, wetlands loss, multiple oilfield-related technical and engineering disciplines, technical environmental issues, offshore platform construction and neurosurgical procedures. He has a proven ability to master detailed knowledge of these subjects for preparation of expert testimony, cross-examination of opposing experts and overall presentation to the finder of fact.
Mr. Robinson is listed on the Louisiana Civil Mediator Registry and serves as a mediator in energy-related litigation. He is an active leader of several legal organizations, including the American College of Trial Lawyers and Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel. He also serves on the faculty of the trial advocacy program of his alma mater, Louisiana State University Law Center, and as a member, and now a former Chair, of the national Committee for the Teaching of Trial and Appellate Advocacy Committee of the American College of Trial Lawyers, he has worked with other Fellows of the College nationally in teaching trial advocacy to public interest attorneys who provide civil representation to the indigent. He is currently a member of the College's national Jury Committee, and served on the Regent Nominating Committee in 2009.
Honors & Affiliations:
· Louisiana State University Law Center - Trial Advocacy Program, Faculty Member, 1991-2009
· Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel - President, 2005-2006; President-Elect, 2004-2005; First Vice President, 2003-2004; Second Vice President 2002-2003; Secretary Treasurer 2001-2002; Board of Directors, 1999-2001
· Listed on Louisiana Civil Mediator Registry
· American College of Trial Lawyers - Fellow (1998); Committee on Teaching Trial and Appellate Advocacy - Vice Chair 2005-2006, Chair, 2006-2008; Louisiana State Committee - 2006-2008; Louisiana Law School Liaison Committee
· Louisiana State Bar Association - Young Lawyers Section - Chairman, 1981-1982
· Lafayette Parish, Louisiana State, American and Fifth Federal Circuit Bar Associations - Member
· Acadiana Inn of the American Inns of Court - President, 1998-1999
· The Maritime Law Association of the United States
· The Best Lawyers in America, 2005-2012
· Baton Rouge Area "Best Lawyers 2011 Energy Lawyer of the Year"
· Louisiana Super Lawyers, 2007-2012
· United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana - Magistrate Selection Committee - Former Member
· Lafayette Chamber of Commerce - Committee on Aviation, Former Member
· Booth, Lockard, Jack, Pleasant and LeSage, Shreveport, Louisiana, 1974-1975
· United States Army - First Lieutenant, 1969-1970
Presentations:
· Legacy Cases in Louisiana and Texas, October 29, 2009, Liskow and Lewis Oil and Gas Seminar, Houston, Texas
· LSU Trial Advocacy Program, August 10, 2009
· "How to Qualify Your Expert in the Face of a "Daubert Challenge, December 6, 2007, Federal Bar Association, United States District Courthouse, Lafayette, Louisiana
· "Opening and Closing Statements in Environmental Trials," November 8, 2007, Louisiana State Bar Association Section on Environmental Law, New Orleans, Louisiana
· "The Vanishing Trial," Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel Annual Meeting, Maui, Hawaii, May 2006-Panel discussion with Hon. Helen Gillmor, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the District of Hawaii and Hon. Rebecca F. Doherty, United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana
· "Handling Well Blowouts and Other Catastrophes"-Presented with Michael Donaldson, Associate General Counsel, Burlington Resources, Inc. (Now Associate General Counsel, EOG Resources Inc,), July 7, 2005, Hackberry, Louisiana
· "Louisiana Law of Ultrahazardous Activities" Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel Annual Meeting, Sorrento, Italy, April, 2005
· "Handling Catastrophic Events," presented with S. Gene Fendler and G. C. Slawson, Jr., of Liskow & Lewis in seminar entitled "Toxic Torts: What You Need to Know About Your Louisiana Operations," New Orleans, Louisiana, April 29, 2004
· "One-Day Trial Advocacy Program," North Louisiana Legal Services, Inc., July 2003
· In house seminar, October, 2002, to Exxon Litigation Section on handling well blowouts
· Participation in Team Presentations, Acadiana Inn of the American Inns of Court, 1993 - 1999
· Numerous Lectures at the Louisiana State University Law Center on Trial Evidence and Maritime Personal Injury, 1981 - present
· Numerous Panels at Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel Programs
· "Direct Examination," Louisiana State University Law School Trial Advocacy Program