Firm History & Overview

Tom Wagner and Mike Bagot grew up in New Orleans and practiced law together for several years in one of the City’s oldest firms.  When we formed the firm in 1986, our aim was to foster a professional practice which was personal and flexible – for the benefit of client and counsel alike. We hoped to take our work seriously, without taking ourselves too seriously.  We learned that effective and personal representation, which is adaptive to the particular needs of each client, results in long term relationships with our clientele. Over time our practice has grown. Our lawyers represent business and employers in a wide range of commercial, environmental, marine and litigation matters. The Firm also has an extensive practice in insurance, casualty and personal injury litigation.

Our experience includes a wide variety of result-oriented representation in property damage claims and personal injury defense involving major casualties on land, at sea, and offshore, including mobile rigs, pipelines and fixed facilities. In addition to the negotiation and preparation of contracts, and commercial and contract disputes, we counsel clients in connection with environmental laws, liabilities, international treaties and agreements, such as environmental disputes, damages and cleanup from oil and chemical spills, hazardous waste site remediation and insurance coverage disputes.

The Firm’s lawyers routinely appear in many courts across the nation with admission to practice in the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fifth, Seventh and Eleventh Circuits, the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Louisiana, the Southern Districts of Texas and Mississippi, and all state courts in Louisiana and Texas, and many other courts on a pro hac vice basis.

The Firm has earned a distinguished reputation in the practice of admiralty and maritime law, representing shipowners, charterers, marine suppliers, stevedores and insurers in all manner of claims involving personal injuries, property damage, cargo, contractual disputes, collision, grounding, sinking and shipboard fires, as well as extensive experience in passenger vessel cases.