News & Knowledge

We are pleased to announce that FormanWatkins won the 2024 Mississippi Free Legal Answers’ State Summer Associate Challenge, accounting for more than 50% of the answers submitted from firms state-wide! Free Legal Answers is a national program coordinated by the American Bar Association where attorneys can respond to legal questions from income-eligible individuals. This past summer, our Jackson summer clerks joined members of our firm’s litigation team to participate in Mississippi’s Free Legal Answers Summer Associate Challenge.The team of volunteers fielded 26 questions during two sessions covering a myriad of matters.  

FormanWatkins is pleased to announce that Will Brand has joined the Jackson office as an Associate. Will is no stranger to the firm, having clerked for two summers while pursuing his law degree at the University of Alabama. Upon graduation, Will served as a judicial clerk to the Honorable Kristi H. Johnson, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, and to the Honorable Cory T. Wilson, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. During his time at Alabama Law, Will distinguished himself academically and professionally, serving as Senior Editor for the Alabama Law Review and a member of the Alabama Law Moot Court Board. He was also awarded the Raynold Chiz Full Academic Scholarship and earned Best Paper honors in Legal Writing, Torts, and Banking Law. In his new role as Associate, Will will focus on general litigation bringing his well-rounded legal knowledge and dedication to providing excellent service to the firm’s clients.

FormanWatkins is pleased to announce that Malissa Wilson has been appointed by Mississippi Bar President Meade Mitchell to chair this year’s Public Information Committee! The Public Information Committee maintains and develops programs and resource materials for disseminating to the public concerning the law, the legal profession and the system of justice. Additionally, it oversees the Bar’s media relations strategy, and along with Bar staff, serves as the Bar’s liaison with the media. The work of the Bar is in large part accomplished through the work of its Committees. Malissa has served on the Bar’s Diversity Committee, received the Bar’s Distinguished Service Award and most recently was recognized with the highest distinction of the organization when she was named a Fellow of the Bar.

Congratulations to FormanWatkins Associate Margaret McLaughlin and Partner Tim Gray who were recently recognized by New Orleans CityBusiness as 2024 Leadership in Law honorees. This is an especially significant honor, as Margaret is the first Firm Associate to earn the distinction. For 20 years, the publication has recognized area professionals in the field of law for their career and community accomplishments. To see the full list of honorees, click here. Margaret joined the firm in 2018 and quickly established herself as a vital team member in the products liability and premises liability litigation practice areas. She has a proven track record of success in court having represented a Fortune 50 energy company in multiple Louisiana trials, specializing in cross-examination preparation and briefing on intricate law issues. Currently, she is dedicated to representing a Fortune 100 client in premises and products liability cases across Louisiana and Texas and representing a Fortune 200 client in the coordination of its national toxic tort docket. Complementing her professional achievements, Margaret is an active member of the Firm’s Pro Bono Committee, earning Pro Bono Star distinction since 2020. Notable pro bono successes include drafting impactful briefs that overturned USCIS denials and securing Special Immigrant Juvenile Status for a young Guatemalan client.  She has been selected to The Best Lawyers in America® Ones to Watch in Commercial Litigation and Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions (Defendants), Personal Injury Litigation (Defendants) and Product Liability Litigation (Defendants). She has also been selected to the Louisiana Rising Stars by SuperLawyers. Tim has served as national […]

The Forman Watkins & Krutz New Orleans office has been awarded a Top Workplaces honor for 2024 by The TimesPicayune and The New Orleans Advocate. Top Workplaces are determined solely by employee feedback gathered through a third-party survey administered through Energage LLC. The anonymous survey uniquely measures 15 culture drivers that are critical to the success of any organization including alignment, execution, and connection. Only 80 out of nearly 1,000 companies in the Greater New Orleans area earned this distinction. The firm has previously received the honor in 2020, 2022 and 2023. (The awards were suspended in 2021 due to Covid-19.)

FormanWatkins Partners Win Gault, Fred Krutz and  and W.G. Watkins have again been recognized and ranked by Chambers and Partners in the Chambers USA Guide for 2024. The guide also highlighted the firm’s work in general commercial litigation defense matters in Mississippi. Win Gault (Litigation: General Commercial) W.G. Watkins (Litigation: General Commercial) Fred Krutz (“Senior Statesperson” for Mississippi Litigation: General Commercial) London-based Chambers and Partners annually ranks the leading firms and lawyers across the United States, as well as internationally. Rankings are based upon independent research that assesses each firm and lawyer’s technical legal ability, professional conduct, client service, commitment and other client-valued qualities. The Chambers USA guide is widely recognized by industry-leading companies and organizations across the nation.

The Firm is pleased to announce that Etienne René has joined the New Orleans office as an Associate. A 2016 graduate of LSU’s Hebert Law Center, Etienne has practiced as a toxic tort defense litigation attorney for a Fortune 10 oil company along with other contractor and product defendants throughout his career. He additionally spent two years on the West Coast brokering commercial real estate transactions and working with a growth engine start-up company. He is admitted to practice before the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts for the U.S. District Courts, and all Louisiana courts.  Among his many accomplishments while in law school, Etienne was accepted as an intern with The Honorable Jay C. Zainey, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, accepted as an extern with The Honorable James Brady of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, received the CALI Award For Excellence: Federal Civil Procedure I, participated in the Robert Lee Tullis Moot Court Competition, and served as Senior Articles Editor for the LSU Journal of Energy Law and Resources.

The Mississippi Bar Foundation’s Board of Trustees unanimously selected Malissa Wilson as one of twenty new Fellows of the Foundation. The Fellows designation is the Mississippi Bar Foundation’s highest honor, as only 10% of the lawyers in Mississippi are eligible for membership. Fellows are selected for membership based not only on their excellence as a lawyer, but also by their dedication and service to the public and profession. Their selection is recognition by their peers that the attorney has achieved the highest level of professionalism, competence, and leadership.

FormanWatkins attorneys Nick Giallourakis, Mitch McGuffey, and Spencer Ritchie celebrated alongside PraCon Global Investment Group and TopGolf during the groundbreaking ceremony for Topgolf’s sports entertainment facility that will anchor the 77-acre mixed use development of Prado Vista at Ridgeland. The FormanWatkins team successfully provided zoning counsel in petitioning the City of Ridgeland to allow an overlay district for the Prado Vista development to include a Topgolf venue.  FormanWatkins will continue to assist with development of the project, which is set to include a national grocery store, two high-end hotels, more than 100,000 square feet of office, retail and restaurant space, an entertainment venue, 228 homes for sale, and a river walk.

The FormanWatkins Sports Compliance-NCAA team of W.G. Watkins,  Courtney Hunt, Chelsea Lewis and Mitch McGuffey successfully helped a Division I student athlete secure a two-time transfer waiver from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), allowing him to immediately compete following his second transfer. The student-athlete’s waiver application was initially denied by the NCAA. While NCAA transfer rules are currently on hold pursuant to an agreement of several State Attorneys General and the NCAA, at the time, the rules required student-athletes to sit out a year of competition following a second transfer between universities, unless the NCAA granted a waiver for an athlete to compete immediately.  The NCAA stated, “Student-athletes must demonstrate and adequately document a personal need for medical or safety reasons to depart their previous school.” After working with the university to prepare submissions for the appeal and submitting documents to the NCAA on behalf of the student-athlete, the FormanWatkins team was able to successfully demonstrate the student-athlete met the requirements for a waiver. The FormanWatkins team was in the process of helping two additional student-athletes appeal waiver denials, at the time the rules were enjoined. The team is pleased that all three of their clients are now playing.