Lowe Stein, LLC

Focus and practice areas

Three areas carry most of the firm's stated attention: business law, family law, and insurance defense. Around that focus, the firm lists more: appeals, business and commercial law, litigation, real estate, estate planning and succession, and tax. The range covers much of ordinary civil practice. As a reviewer, I read that spread as a firm built to keep a client's business and personal legal work under one roof.

Family and estate matters

Family law gets the most detailed description on the firm's pages. The work covers divorce, child custody, spousal support, and property division. The firm also drafts prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, which set financial terms before or during a marriage. In Louisiana, marital property follows community property rules, so who acquired an asset and when can shape how it is divided.

Louisiana law sets a required period of living apart before a no-fault divorce becomes final, and the length depends on whether the couple has minor children. Custody and support matters run through the state's district courts, and they often involve financial disclosure and negotiation before any hearing. A firm that handles divorce alongside property division and support can carry a case through those connected steps. In my opinion, keeping those threads with one team helps when a single dispute touches money, children, and property at once.

Estate planning and succession round out the personal side of the firm's work. In Louisiana, succession is the process of settling a deceased person's estate, and the state's forced heirship rules can give certain children a protected share. Planning ahead with wills and related documents is how families set terms before that process begins. The firm lists this work alongside its family and tax practices, where those questions often meet.

Business and insurance defense

Two of the three named focus areas point at companies. Business and commercial law covers the contracts, disputes, and everyday legal questions a company faces, and the firm pairs it with litigation and appeals for matters that reach a courtroom. Insurance defense means representing an insurer or its policyholder once a claim becomes a lawsuit. That work moves through both state and federal courts, and it often begins well before trial, at the pleading and discovery stages.

The firm also lists real estate and tax among its areas. Real estate work in Louisiana touches property transfers and title questions, and the state's civil law system gives some of those matters their own rules. The firm's tax practice connects to its business and real estate work, where company, property, and tax questions often overlap. Appeals sit across all of it, since a business or family ruling can be challenged in a higher court. Louisiana's appellate courts review the trial record for legal error, and a strong appeal usually turns on how the lower court applied the law.

Education and Title IX matters

The firm's education law work reaches beyond students to faculty and staff. It covers disciplinary proceedings and Title IX cases at universities. These cases can affect a student's standing, a degree, or an employee's job, so the stakes reach past the campus hearing itself. Title IX is the federal law covering sex discrimination in schools that receive federal funding, and campus cases usually move through a school's own hearing process, with its own timeline and standards.

This line of work is more specific than the firm's civil and business matters, and it connects to the litigation and family experience already on the roster. A campus disciplinary case calls for attention to deadlines, written evidence, and the standard the university applies to each stage. Students and staff in those proceedings often want counsel who reads the school's rules closely.

How the team is built

Seven attorneys appear on the firm's pages. Robert C. Lowe and Melanie C. Lockett both hold board certification in family law. Mark S. Stein holds board certification in tax. The other named attorneys are Max J. Cohen, Paula H. Lee, Gregory S. Marsiglia, and Alexandra N. Baird.

Board certification in Louisiana comes from a state board that reviews an attorney's experience, references, and a written exam before it is granted. Two attorneys certified in family law and one certified in tax give the firm named depth in two of the areas it puts forward. As a reviewer, I read the roster as concentrated: the certifications line up with the family law and tax work the firm names.

Reach and length of practice

The firm says it has been in practice for more than 40 years, though the site does not list a specific founding year. It works with both individuals and businesses. From its New Orleans base, it states that it serves clients across the country and internationally. For a Louisiana firm, national reach usually means handling matters for out-of-state clients with Louisiana connections, or working alongside counsel in other states.

The overall picture is a long-running general civil firm with a stated emphasis on business law, family law, and insurance defense. Its listed practice areas cover both business and personal legal needs: commercial disputes, appeals, estate planning, and succession. Two of its attorneys hold board certification in family law, and one holds board certification in tax.