Christoffer C.
Friend

Position: Partner
Office: New Orleans

Chris Friend is a partner in the Litigation Practice group. He represents oil and gas and chemical companies in commercial and class action disputes, regulatory investigations, and law-enforcement actions.

Chris represents upstream and midstream oil and gas companies, chemical companies, service providers, and contractors across the country in all aspects of regulation and litigation, including property damage, accidents, and insurance claims, toxic tort and bodily injury claims, environmental cases, and related disputes. He also advises clients on regulatory matters and appeals heard before the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources and its Office of Conservation, and other state and federal agencies.

Known as a “hard-hat attorney,” Chris has in-depth knowledge of the technologies underlying his clients’ products and services and works with front-line managers, scientists, in-house counsel, outside experts, and senior executives with equal facility. A highly effective trial attorney, Chris also focuses on the “resolution” aspect of dispute resolution, helping clients clarify their objectives, understand the stakes at hand, and develop effective strategies to minimize operations, financial, regulatory, and reputational risks.

Among other long-term client relationships, Chris has served for many years as principal counsel for a major chemical company in Louisiana. He has represented this and numerous other chemical manufacturers and distributors as plaintiffs and defendants in virtually every type of litigation related to their Louisiana operations, including chemical releases/mass tort exposure, soil/groundwater/surface water contamination, and personal injury claims, as well as property-damage disputes involving turbines, chlorine cells, and brine pipelines.

Chris has also represented clients in mass tort chemical exposure cases, pipe-yard naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) exposure matters, and coastal-erosion litigation. He is currently representing defendants in connection with multiple claims in litigation and arbitration arising from a sinkhole in Assumption Parish, Louisiana, a case in which plaintiffs sought billions of dollars in damages.

In his regulatory practice, Chris has defended clients in cases brought under Act 312, the Louisiana statute that governs remediation actions involving legacy exploration and production (E&P) activity. He also has represented clients in connection with state regulatory proceedings and related regulations governing E&P activity in the state, including Statewide Rule 29-B and the Risk Evaluation/Corrective Action Program (RECAP).

Noteworthy

Lawdragon, “500 Leading Energy Lawyers,” 2025
The Best Lawyers in America®, Environmental Law, Litigation – Environmental (listed annually since 2024)

Experience

Recovered damages from an insurance company on multiple occasions and on behalf of a crane-barge operator, including after it struck a bridge and when it suffered hurricane damage while in the Gulf of Mexico.
Recovered millions of dollars in defense fees from an insurance company, on behalf of a chemical company, for bad-faith refusal to defend the client in a contamination claim.
Defended a chemical company on several occasions against millions of dollars of claimed damages from pipeline leaks at trial and based on subsequent purchaser and prescription defenses.
Represented a chemical company in an ammonia-release mass tort involving 3,000 plaintiffs; defeated class certification and obtained outright dismissal of the vast majority of plaintiffs.
Defeated legacy contamination and multiple NORM and asbestos bodily injury lawsuits against an oil and gas company by invoking and litigating a bankruptcy discharge defense.
Worked with multiple experts to successfully comply with rules and regulations governing all manner of exploration and production (E&P) and chemical activity in Louisiana.