Loulan J. Pitre, Jr.
Loulan Pitre leads our Louisiana offices and focuses his work on project development, construction, and operations in the Louisiana coastal zone. His law practice concentrates on the most challenging aspects of doing business in and protecting the vulnerable environment of Louisiana’s working coast, including entity formation and governance, complex land rights issues, construction procurement and management, environmental and coastal permitting issues, and dispute resolution.
He has represented energy and other industrial companies, real estate developers, financial institutions, ports, levee districts, and other public entities, and players in the construction and service industries such as contractors, engineers, and material suppliers. While serving as a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008, he was intimately involved in the development of the state’s coastal restoration and protection program and large transportation infrastructure projects such as the elevated highway to Port Fourchon. He has carried that knowledge and experience into his law practice.
Mr. Pitre is very familiar with the Louisiana law concerning public and private finance, procurement, and contracting. His experience includes traditional finance and procurement methods for both public and private projects, such as bidding and requests for proposals, as well as more innovative methods such as public-private partnerships, securitization, and toll bonds. Mr. Pitre has wide experience with the major federal environmental statutes and their Louisiana counterparts. He is ranked in Chambers, BestLawyers, and SuperLawyers, and is a frequent speaker and writer. He is an experienced negotiator and is trained in both arbitration and mediation. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Law at Tulane Law School.
Mr. Pitre is also extremely well known for his practice in legacy litigation in which landowners and public entities sue oil and gas companies alleging environmental damage from oil and gas exploration and production operations. These cases often involve claims in the hundreds of millions of dollars. As lead trial counsel in Meaux et al. v. Hilcorp et al., he defended two oil and gas exploration and production companies from claims of environmental damage. After a three-week trial, plaintiffs asked the jury for over $60 million dollars. Instead, the jury’s verdict resulted in no liability for defendants, a result that withstood appeal.
Mr. Pitre grew up in Cut Off in southern Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, which has grown in the past century from a collection of small Cajun French fishing villages to the central hub of the Gulf of Mexico deepwater oil and gas industry at Port Fourchon. Thus, from an early age he has understood the intricate challenges of living and working on the Louisiana coast. At South Lafourche High School, Mr. Pitre was a National Merit Scholar, a Presidential Scholar (one of 121 nationwide), and a Telluride Association Summer Program Scholar (one of 20 nationwide). He then spent seven years at Harvard, where he earned his bachelor and law degrees and numerous honors. He wrote his Harvard College magna cum laude honors thesis about a 19th century village on the Louisiana coast and his Harvard Law School senior paper about aspects of the Louisiana Constitution. He then returned to Louisiana, ultimately serving his home town as attorney to the Greater Lafourche Port Commission during a period of explosive expansion and as a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives.
- Best Lawyers® Natural Resources Law Lawyer of the Year, New Orleans, 2023
- Best Lawyers® Oil and Gas Law Lawyer of the Year, New Orleans, 2023
Best Lawyers in America®, U.S. News & World Report, 2013-2023
Energy Regulatory Law
Environmental Law
Litigation - Environmental
Natural Resources Law
Oil and Gas Law
Chambers USA, Louisiana, 2011-2022
Environmental Litigation, Band 1
Louisiana Super Lawyers, Thomson Reuters, 2014-2021
Environmental Litigation
- Leadership in Law Hall of Fame, New Orleans CityBusiness, 2019-2022
Top Lawyers, New Orleans Magazine, 2021
Oil & Gas Law
- Driving Forces Recipient, New Orleans CityBusiness, 2020
Louisiana Super Lawyer Top 50, 2017
Environmental Litigation
- Best Lawyers® in Environmental Litigation Lawyer of the Year, New Orleans, 2015
Top Lawyers, New Orleans Magazine, 2013
Environmental Law
- Leadership in Law, New Orleans CityBusiness, 2009
New Orleans, Louisiana 70130
