Jeff Richardson joined Adams and Reese in 1994 and focuses his practice on class action and complex litigation, but also devotes a large portion of his practice to appellate litigation.
Jeff’s practice has included:
- Defending numerous clients in high-stakes product liability litigation. For example, Jeff represented several gun manufacturers sued by the City of New Orleans, the first municipality in the United States to sue the gun industry. He 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. 2001).
- Representing defendants in class action cases and serving 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, he 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). Jeff also defeated class certification against a hospital in Hebert v. Ochsner Fertility Clinic, 102 So. 3d 913 (La. App. 5th Cir. 2012). He also served as liaison counsel for defendants in a tobacco lawsuit that was perhaps the largest class action lawsuit in Louisiana history.
- Understanding the defense of complex litigation from the client side. Jeff served as visiting in-house counsel for a Fortune 25 company in New York City and worked on complex class action and tort cases in numerous jurisdictions.
- Successfully representing plaintiffs and defendants in appeals worth millions of dollars. For example, Jeff handled a successful appeal for a New Orleans grocery store chain, defending one of the largest verdicts in a Hurricane Katrina-related lawsuit.
Jeff is currently the firm’s Liaison Partner for New Business and has also served as the Chairperson of the firm’s Ethics Committee.
Jeff also has a passion for technology, and as part of the firm’s Technology Committee for over a decade, Jeff has been very involved in expanding the firm’s use of technology to meet the needs of clients. Jeff also enjoys helping lawyers and clients use technology to improve their professional and personal lives, and he publishes iPhone J.D., a website for attorneys who use iPhones and iPads that was recently named the best technology blog by the ABA Journal. Jeff has also served as an adjunct professor at Tulane University, teaching “Computers and the Law.”
Jeff received his J.D., with high honors, from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1994, and earned his B.A., with highest honors, from Emory University in 1991.
When he isn’t absorbed in law and technology, Jeff also loves to play the piano.
Articles and Publications
- Apps for the Lawyer's iPhone, Law Practice, March/April 2010, Jeff Richardson
- Comparative iPhone App Review: Documents to Go Versus Quickoffice Mobile Office Suite, TechnoLawyer: TechnoFeature, August 4, 2009, Jeff Richardson
- iPhone vs. Blackberry: iPhone, Law Practice, January 2009, Jeff Richardson
- Apple Offers Adams and Reese More for the Money: Why We Use Macintoshes, U.S. Business Litigation, December, 1996, Jeff Richardson
- McDermott v. AmClyde: A Path Towards a Proportionate Fault Rule in Section 905(b) Actions, 19 Tulane Maritime Law Journal 283, Summer, 1995, Robert Couhig, Douglass Freret and Jeff Richardson
- It's Not Easy Being Green: The Scope of the Fifth Amendment Right to Counsel, 31 American Criminal Law Review 145, Fall 1993, Jeff Richardson
- False Statements, 30 American Criminal Law Review 659, Spring 1993, Jo Ann Gambale and Jeff Richardson
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