Press Release

NEW ORLEANS—Jones Walker is pleased to announce that Louis E. Buatt, formerly Assistant Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources for the Office of Coastal Management, is affiliating with the firm as special counsel. Mr. Buatt has served in Louisiana state government positions for nearly seventeen years, including Acting Assistant Secretary and Secretary of the Mineral and Energy Board, as Assistant Secretary for the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality as well as serving as General Counsel to that agency.

William H. Hines, managing partner of Jones Walker, was pleased to make the announcement. "Lou Buatt is a dedicated, hard-working public servant and he brings that same ethic and commitment to his approach to the private practice of law. Our firm has been richly endowed with talented attorneys from Louisiana state government such as Marjorie McKeithen, former Secretary of the Mineral and Energy Board, and Warren Fleet, former Commissioner of Conservation and General Counsel for the Department of Natural Resources, and the insight and experience they have brought to the firm has been invaluable to our clients. Lou will continue that same level of representation in the areas of environmental law focusing on regulatory and transactional matters. He has been a tireless advocate for coastal restoration and a creative problem-solver in the face of relentless challenges. Although Lou will not be able to practice before the Office of Coastal Management for a period of two years under the government ethics rules, he will have no restrictions as to practicing before the Department of Environmental Quality, and he will be able to immediately enhance the firm's capabilities in the environmental arena."

Mr. Buatt obtained an LL.M. in Energy and Environmental Law from the University of Houston Law Center. He also has a Bachelor of Science in Geology from Louisiana State University. He serves currently on the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority and the Louisiana Environmental Education Commission. He is an ex officio member of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Financing Corporation and represented the state of Louisiana on the Gulf of Mexico Alliance.

Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrère & Denègre L.L.P. with more than 300 attorneys, provides a comprehensive range of legal services to a national and international corporate client base through offices in Alabama, Arizona, the District of Columbia, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas.

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