Chehardy Sherman Williams

Focus and range of practice

The practice spans more than ten areas of law from a base in the Greater New Orleans area. It runs from business and corporate work through taxation, estate planning and successions, healthcare, personal injury, premises liability, labor and employment, criminal defense, family law, and real estate. A dedicated Trial Team carries the firm's litigation.

That range points to a general practice rather than a single focus. Corporations, small businesses, individuals, and families all appear on the client list. Someone with a tax question and someone with an injury claim can both be served by the same team, which is a fair part of the appeal here.

How the firm is built

The firm dates to 1989 and is organized as a Louisiana limited liability partnership. It runs three offices, with the main one in Metairie and further offices in New Orleans and Hammond. That footprint keeps its attorneys close to courts across Southeastern Louisiana.

Three co-managing partners lead it: Lawrence E. Chehardy, David R. Sherman, and James M. Williams. Their focuses differ: tax and public finance, transactional work, and litigation. That spread puts advisory and courtroom practice under the same leadership, which is not always the case at a firm of this size.

The people behind the practice

Founding partners

Lawrence E. Chehardy is a founding partner and co-managing partner. He earned a B.B.A. in 1974 and a J.D. in 1977, both from Loyola University New Orleans. He served as Jefferson Parish Assessor from 1977 to 2010, and he has chaired the Louisiana Tax Commission since 2016.

His background gives the firm unusual depth on tax and public finance. He has testified before legislative committees on Louisiana property tax laws and exemptions, and he has held offices that include President of the Louisiana Assessors' Association. In my opinion, that record is a real asset for a client with property tax questions.

David R. Sherman is the other founding partner and a co-managing partner. He has sat on the management committee since the firm's start. He holds a J.D. from Loyola University School of Law, earned in 1977, and an LL.M. in Taxation from Boston University, earned in 1978. His work is transactional, covering taxation, business and tax planning, corporate matters, estate planning, and healthcare.

Tax and estate work

Steven E. Hayes is a partner whose practice centers on estate planning, successions, and both individual and corporate taxation. He holds a B.A. from Pfeiffer College earned in 1978, an M.B.A. from Tulane University earned in 1981, and a J.D. from Tulane University earned in 1984. That training lines up with a firm that treats tax as a core part of its work rather than a side service.

A wider bench

The partnership reaches past its founders and case managers. Patrick R. Follette and Edwin T. Murray are also named as partners, which signals a group larger than the three co-managing names at the top. For a client, a deeper bench can mean more hands available when a matter grows or shifts.

The Trial Team and courtroom work

Litigation sits under a named Trial Team, led by James M. Williams, the firm's head of litigation and one of its co-managing partners. He has practiced law since 1998 and serves as trial counsel. The team takes on mass torts and class action litigation, and its attorneys appear in parish, state, and federal courts in Louisiana and elsewhere.

The litigation roster is split by function. Matthew A. Sherman manages mass torts and class action work. Inemesit U. O'Boyle, who completed her law degree at Tulane in 2005, acts as lead strategist and plaintiff litigation manager, representing plaintiffs in civil litigation, personal injury, and business disputes. Daniel E. Buras, Jr. manages defense litigation, and Cedric Richmond handles public policy and government relations.

Other partners round out the courtroom side. George B. Recile, who holds a B.A. from Tulane earned in 1975 and a J.D. from Loyola earned in 1978, works in general civil litigation, personal injury, domestic matters, business litigation, and employment and labor law. Tiffany Delery Davis handles general litigation, alternative dispute resolution, and personal injury matters, including products cases. As a reviewer, I find the plaintiff and defense split under one roof a useful thing to know before you make the first call.

Signals for prospective clients

Two details stand out from the public record. The firm produces Health Law Talk, a podcast focused on healthcare law, which shows steady attention to that field beyond day-to-day files. Its tax work is anchored by partners with formal tax degrees and, in one case, decades in public tax office.

The spread of practice areas and the three offices suggest a firm meant to serve a region rather than one narrow field. Clients in Metairie, New Orleans, and Hammond reach the same group of attorneys. For anyone weighing a general-practice firm in Southeastern Louisiana, that reach and that range of work are practical points to set on the scale.