News & Knowledge

Congratulations to FormanWatkins Associate Margaret McLaughlin and Partner Tim Gray who were recently recognized by New Orleans CityBusiness as 2024 Leadership in Law honorees. This is an especially significant honor, as Margaret is the first Firm Associate to earn the distinction. For 20 years, the publication has recognized area professionals in the field of law for their career and community accomplishments. To see the full list of honorees, click here. Margaret joined the firm in 2018 and quickly established herself as a vital team member in the products liability and premises liability litigation practice areas. She has a proven track record of success in court having represented a Fortune 50 energy company in multiple Louisiana trials, specializing in cross-examination preparation and briefing on intricate law issues. Currently, she is dedicated to representing a Fortune 100 client in premises and products liability cases across Louisiana and Texas and representing a Fortune 200 client in the coordination of its national toxic tort docket. Complementing her professional achievements, Margaret is an active member of the Firm’s Pro Bono Committee, earning Pro Bono Star distinction since 2020. Notable pro bono successes include drafting impactful briefs that overturned USCIS denials and securing Special Immigrant Juvenile Status for a young Guatemalan client.  She has been selected to The Best Lawyers in America® Ones to Watch in Commercial Litigation and Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions (Defendants), Personal Injury Litigation (Defendants) and Product Liability Litigation (Defendants). She has also been selected to the Louisiana Rising Stars by SuperLawyers. Tim has served as national […]

The Forman Watkins & Krutz New Orleans office has been awarded a Top Workplaces honor for 2024 by The TimesPicayune and The New Orleans Advocate. Top Workplaces are determined solely by employee feedback gathered through a third-party survey administered through Energage LLC. The anonymous survey uniquely measures 15 culture drivers that are critical to the success of any organization including alignment, execution, and connection. Only 80 out of nearly 1,000 companies in the Greater New Orleans area earned this distinction. The firm has previously received the honor in 2020, 2022 and 2023. (The awards were suspended in 2021 due to Covid-19.)

The Firm is pleased to announce that Etienne René has joined the New Orleans office as an Associate. A 2016 graduate of LSU’s Hebert Law Center, Etienne has practiced as a toxic tort defense litigation attorney for a Fortune 10 oil company along with other contractor and product defendants throughout his career. He additionally spent two years on the West Coast brokering commercial real estate transactions and working with a growth engine start-up company. He is admitted to practice before the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts for the U.S. District Courts, and all Louisiana courts.  Among his many accomplishments while in law school, Etienne was accepted as an intern with The Honorable Jay C. Zainey, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, accepted as an extern with The Honorable James Brady of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, received the CALI Award For Excellence: Federal Civil Procedure I, participated in the Robert Lee Tullis Moot Court Competition, and served as Senior Articles Editor for the LSU Journal of Energy Law and Resources.

On February 5, 2024, New Orleans attorneys Charles Abbott and Chandler Agee guest lectured a Toxic Tort Class at LSU Paul M. Herbert Law Center. With both second year and third year law students in attendance, Abbott and Agee provided practical experiences and advice pertaining to various toxic tort related topics and issues, including, but not limited to, causation, expert witnesses, and Daubert challenges of expert witnesses, as well as overviews of epidemiology and toxicology. This is Abbott’s eleventh year guest lecturing in the Toxic Tort class at LSU and will be the first in a series of Toxic Tort classes that he and fellow FormanWatkins attorneys will guest lecture this semester.

Congratulations to FormanWatkins Partners Charles Abbott and Tim Gray who were recently recognized by New Orleans CityBusiness as 2023 Leadership in Law honorees. For 19 years, the publication has recognized area professionals in the field of law for their career and community accomplishments. To see the full list of honorees, click here.  Charles joined the firm in 2017 as a partner and has served as lead counsel or co-counsel on cases in very diverse practice areas. He routinely serves as lead counsel/co-counsel on significant, high-dollar commercial, contractual, business interruption, tort, admiralty/maritime, products liability, construction, and toxic tort cases pending in both federal and state courts throughout Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. He is Martindale-Hubbell® AV Preeminent® Peer Rated, a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America and has been selected to The Best Lawyers in America® in Commercial Litigation and Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions (Defendants), a Louisiana SuperLawyer since 2014, and as a Top Lawyer for Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions by New Orleans Magazine. He is a CityBusiness “Leadership in Law” Hall of Fame Honoree. Tim has served as national trial counsel to several defendants in toxic tort litigation and has tried cases in several states in that capacity. He also represents parties in commercial disputes in Louisiana and Mississippi ranging from straightforward breach of contract actions to more complex matters involving multiple parties. Tim’s commercial practice has included representation of a real estate investment trust in acquisitions, dispositions and financings, as well as representation of local Louisiana individuals and companies […]

The Forman Watkins & Krutz New Orleans office has been awarded a Top Workplaces honor for 2022 by The Times-Picayune and The New Orleans Advocate. Top Workplaces are determined solely by employee feedback gathered through a third-party survey administered through Energage LLC. The anonymous survey uniquely measures 15 culture drivers that are critical to the success of any organization including alignment, execution, and connection. Only 71 out of nearly 1,000 companies in the Greater New Orleans area earned this distinction.  

On March 30, 2022, New Orleans attorneys Jordan Nixon and Charles Abbott guest lectured at LSU Law School. The lecture was the second one in a series of Toxic Tort classes guest lectured by attorneys from FormanWatkins at LSU Law School this semester. The lecture, presented to second and third year law students, focused on all aspects of asbestos, silica, and benzene litigation and discussed many of the scientific, as well as practical, issues and topics regularly encountered in their practices.

FormanWatkins is excited to announce that Jean Folsom, Ruth Huskey, and McCann LeFeve have been promoted to Partner!

On March 21, 2022, New Orleans attorneys Charles Abbott and Margaret McLaughlin guest lectured at LSU Law School. This is the second time that Mr. Abbott and Ms. McLaughlin have taught together a toxic tort class at LSU Law School, consisting of second and third year law students.

The Firm is excited to announce that Jordan Nixon and Trey Watkins, respectively, received the 2021 FormanWatkins Pro Bono Star and Civic Star awards!