Tad Bartlett

Practice Focus

Appellate Group, Class Actions/Mass Actions/MDLs, Environmental

H.S. Bartlett III (“Tad”) heads up Fishman Haygood’s Appellate Practice Section, as well as practicing more broadly in the firm’s Litigation Section. Tad joined Fishman Haygood as special counsel after practicing in a diverse range of legal areas for more than twenty years. He first practiced under the Louisiana student practice rule in 1999 as a member of the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic, before graduating magna cum laude and Order of the Coif from Tulane Law School in 2000. While at Tulane, Tad served for a year as a research assistant to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (U.S. Supreme Court) and Judge James L. Dennis (U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit) for a class on comparative human rights law. After graduating, he served as a judicial clerk for Judge Dennis, then developed his litigation and appellate practice at the law firms of Liskow & Lewis and Krebs, Farley & Pelleteri. In 2009, he joined the team of attorneys at Jones, Swanson, Huddell & Garrison, where he headed up that firm’s appellate practice across both its commercial and environmental litigation areas, working closely with Fishman Haygood’s litigation group on environmental and complex commercial matters where the two firms were co-counsel.

Tad was an integral part of a multi-firm team that developed the coastal litigation practice regarding land-loss on behalf of both landowners and governmental entities. In addition, Tad has been deeply involved in numerous complex commercial cases, from preferential rights disputes to bet-the-company litigation, as well as construction litigation.

Since 2019, Tad has served on Tulane Law School’s faculty as an adjunct professor, teaching an advanced seminar on Coastal Law Litigation & Policy each spring. He currently serves as an advisory board member of the Tulane Institute of Water Resources Law and Policy.

Tad also runs the Take the Fifth blog, which digests all opinions released by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, summarizes all opinions designated for publication, and tracks statistics on opinion releases from the Circuit.

Tad lives in Metairie with his wife, Nicole, and their three children. Tad is also a writer, with short stories and essays published in the Oxford American, Bitter Southerner, Massachusetts Review, Carolina Quarterly, Stockholm Review of Literature, and many others, including a piece named as a “notable” essay by Best American Essays 2017.

Education

J.D., magna cum laude, from Tulane Law School, 2000
- Managing Editor of the Tulane Law Review
- Order of the Coif
M.F.A. from University of New Orleans, 2015
B.A., magna cum laude, from Spring Hill College, 1994

Clerkship

James L. Dennis of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 2000-2001

Publications / Presentations

Publications

“A Year of Transition at the Agenda-Setting 5th Circuit,” Law360.com (Dec. 20, 2023)
Cases & Materials, 30 No. 1 PIABA B. J. 105 (2023)
“Professionalism Through Creativity: A Fully Integrated Look at What it Means to Be an Attorney,” Briefly Speaking, June 2019
“Judge Clark Concludes Act 544 is Unconstitutional,” Louisiana Bar Journal, February/March 2015
“Not Dead Yet: The Imposition of Arbitration Awards Against Non-Party Sureties,” Surety Claims Institute Newsletter, January 2007 (co-authored with David Krebs)
“Recent Developments: Court to Decide Crucial Coastal Restoration Issues,” Louisiana Bar Journal, August 2004
“Leaving Communities Behind: The Evolving World of Environmental Justice,” Louisiana Bar Journal, August 2003 (co-authored with Robert Holden)
“Latest Chapter in Shintech Story: Addis Site Selection Survives IT Analysis,” 7.3 Louisiana Environmental Lawyer 15, 2002
“The Small Business Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act: New Hope for New Orleans Brownfields?,” Briefly Speaking, 2002
“Plan Ahead for Disaster Recovery,” Briefly Speaking, 2001
“Determining Whether a Title VII Plaintiff Class’s ‘Aim is True’: The Legacy of Allison v. Citgo Petroleum Corp. for Employment Discrimination Class Certification Under FRCP 23(b)(2),” 74 Tulane Law Review 2163, 2000
“Is NEPA Substantive Review Extinct, or Merely Hibernating? Resurrecting NEPA Section 102(1),” 13 Tulane Environmental Law Journal 411, 2000
“‘The Swamp’s a Hell of a Place to Die, Ain’t It?’: How Objective Reasonableness Has Stagnated the Flow of Fourth Amendment Deadly Force Law at Its Juncture with the Qualified Immunity Defense,” 74 Tulane Law Review 301, 1999

Selected Lectures and Presentations

Panelist, “Appeals: Winning Your Appeal at Trial,” Masters of the Courtroom CLE, Dec. 14, 2023
Panelist, “Public Trust Doctrine: An Evolving Legal Theory for an Evolving Coastline,” State of the Coast Conference, June 2, 2023
Moderator, “Legal Ramifications Surrounding the Latest Scientific Evidence in Pipeline Canals and Land Loss,” State of the Coast Conference, May 31, 2023
“Casting Shadows: Discussing the Intersections of Creativity and the Law, the Work-Work Balance, and Race and Law,” 2019 Lunchtime CLE Series, New Orleans Bar Association, May 8, 2019
“Developments in Federal Removal Jurisdiction: ‘Arising Under,’ CAFA Amount in Controversy, Master Limited Partnerships, and Learning the Hard Way,” 2018 Procrastinators’ Program, New Orleans Bar Association, December 28, 2018
“Crisis on the Coast: The Evolution of Duty and Who Gets to Make the Call,” 2017 LSBA Energy and Environmental Law Summit, LSBA, November 14, 2017
“LUTPA: Its Balanced Use and Evolution (a Practitioner’s Perspective),” Louisiana Consumer Protection Act Roundtable, American Tort Reform Association, January 29, 2016
“SLFPA-E v. Tennessee Gas Pipeline, et al.: Duty and the Coast (or, What Now?),” 20^th Annual Summit on Environmental Law and Policy, Tulane Law School Environmental & Energy Law Society February 28, 2015
“Ethics and Social Media Traps for Lawyers,” 2014 Procrastinators’ Program, New Orleans Bar Association, December 16, 2014

Representative Matters

Morgan City Land and Fur Co. v. Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., L.L.C., 325 So. 3d 1051 (La. 10/12/2021), affirming in part Morgan City Land and Fur Co. v. Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., L.L.C., 319 So. 3d 437 (La. App. 4 Cir. 4/21/2021): Successfully reversing district court summary judgment that pipeline companies did not have a duty to maintain canal widths.
Vintage Assets, Inc. v. Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., L.L.C., 20-0065, 20-0066 (La. App. 4 Cir. 3/19/2020) (unpub.): On competing writ applications, successfully had trial court summary judgment affirmed in part that held that pipeline companies had a duty to maintain canal widths where servitude agreements required pipeline canals not exceed a certain width, and successfully had trial court summary judgment ruling reversed in part on holding that this duty to maintain canal widths also applied to servitude agreements that did not state a specific canal width.
LeMon v. National Football League, 277 So. 3d 1166 (La. 2019): Successfully petitioned Louisiana Supreme Court for expedited writs to reverse appellate court and trial court and dismiss unfair trade practice, fraud, and conspiracy claims brought by ticket holders against major sports league and other defendants arising from officiating actions and policies.
Red Barn Motors, Inc. v. NextGear Capital, Inc., 915 F.3d 1098 (7th Cir. 2019): Successfully brought 23(f) appeal on behalf of plaintiff to vacate district court’s decertification of class of used car dealerships asserting breach of contract claims against automotive financing company.
Louisiana Oil and Gas Ass’n, Inc. v. Caldwell, 2016 WL 687144 (La. App. 1 Cir. 2/18/2016): Successfully defended appeal of judgment granting regional flood protection authority’s requested declaratory relief regarding its authority to retain outside counsel to represent it in claims arising from coastal land-loss issues.
Represented the City of New Orleans against its underwriter and remarketing agent for claims arising from the issuance of variable rate demand obligations and accompanying interest rate swaps, resulting in a settlement following a federal trial.
Represented the Board of Commissioners of the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East in a highly publicized coastal land loss case against dozens of oil and gas production and development corporations and in a related challenge to a recently-enacted Louisiana statute.
Represented an energy-transport startup company against Cargill, Inc. and Cargill’s local affiliate, asserting breach of contract and tortious interference with contract following collapse of a transportation facilities project valued at $1 billion.
Represented a non-profit entity in corporate formation and governance issues, and contract compliance issue, in administering a multi-million-dollar program to rebuild 100 houses in the historic Tremé neighborhood following Hurricane Katrina.

Practice Focus

Recognition

Named the Best Lawyers® “Lawyer of the Year” in Environmental Law (2019)
Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® in Environmental Law and Appellate Practice (Since 2018)
Named a New Orleans CityBusiness Leader in Law (2017)
Listed in Super Lawyers in Environmental Litigation, Appellate, Business Litigation (Since 2015)
Awarded the Pro Bono Publico Award by the Louisiana State Bar Association (2007)

Bar Admissions

Louisiana
U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of Louisiana
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
U.S. Supreme Court