Paul C. Thibodeaux

Fishman Haygood partner Paul Thibodeaux has thrived in some of the most complex commercial litigations in the country for more than 20 years. With a background in civil engineering, Paul is a trial lawyer whose practice focuses on environmental and construction litigation for both plaintiffs and defendants. He routinely represents business interests, as well as individuals and landowners.

Over the course of his career, Paul has successfully taken a lead role in many high-profile matters, including the Hard Rock Hotel collapse litigation; Napoleonville sinkhole litigation; BP oil spill multi-district litigation; and the Hurricane Katrina-related Murphy oil spill class action litigation. He routinely represents developers in construction disputes regarding large multi-family commercial and hotel projects.

Paul has tried numerous cases before judges and juries involving complex engineering-related issues, obtaining multimillion-dollar verdicts in favor of plaintiffs. Additionally, he has handled multiple environmental and regulatory matters regarding petrochemical operations and emissions, including Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act claims. Recently, Paul successfully represented a large landowner in litigation to require a large oil company to plug and abandon wells and decommission an abandoned oil field.

Paul is a member of the American Bar Association and the Louisiana State Bar Association, and he is a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office registered patent attorney. Paul is also a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and an EIT member of the Louisiana Professional Engineering and Land Surveying Board. He is part of the American Intellectual Property Law Association and is a Fellow of both the Construction Lawyers Society of America and the American Bar Foundation.

Paul has been a past volunteer with the United Way in New Orleans, assisting with intellectual property and other business advice. He has also volunteered in a similar capacity with the St. Bernard Project, now known as SBP, an organization which works to shrink the time between natural disasters and recovery.

Paul is recognized by Lawdragon in its 500 Leading Litigators in America (since 2024), Green 500: Leaders in Environmental Law (since 2023), and 500 Leading U.S. Energy Lawyers (since 2023) guides. He is also a Benchmark Litigation “Future Star.”