Jeffrey E. Richardson's practice areas include class action and complex litigation, products liability litigation, personal injury litigation, constitutional litigation and legal ethics. He has represented defendants in numerous complex cases involving allegations of product defects, fraud, discrimination and negligence. For example, when the city of New Orleans became the first municipality in the United States to sue the gun industry, Mr. Richardson played a leading role on the team that successfully defended the gun manufacturers, culminating in the Louisiana Supreme Court rejecting the lawsuit. Morial v. Smith & Wesson Corp., et al., 785 So. 2d 1 (La.), cert. denied, 122 S.Ct. 346 (U.S. 2001). Additionally, Mr. Richardson has had the opportunity to serve as visiting in-house counsel for a Fortune 25 company in New York City, working on complex class action and tort cases in numerous jurisdictions.
Mr. Richardson also has extensive experience defending clients in complex class action cases with multiple defendants. He has served as court-appointed Liaison Counsel for Defendants in several cases in Louisiana state and federal courts in which the plaintiffs have sought statewide and nationwide class certification. For example, in a proposed nationwide class action against the CCA treated wood industry, Mr. Richardson served as Liaison Counsel for Defendants and played a leading role on the defense team that defended removal of the litigation to federal court and defeated class certification. Ardoin v. Stine Lumber Co., et al,, 298 F.Supp.2d 422 (W.D. La. 2003); Ardoin v. Stine Lumber Co., et al, 220 F.R.D. 459 (W.D. La. 2004).
Mr. Richardson grew up in New Orleans and won the Louisiana High School Debate Championship in 1987. Mr. Richardson received his Bachelor of Arts from Emory University, summa cum laude, and his Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center, magna cum laude. In college, he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. In law school, he was elected to the Order of the Coif, was a member of the American Criminal Law Review and received the "Michael Feldman Advocacy Award" for being voted the best litigator by his classmates.
Mr. Richardson has also served as an adjunct professor at Tulane University, teaching "Computers and the Law."
