Derek A. Walker

Direct Dial Number: (504) 585-7044
email:

Mr. Walker was born in Bogota, Colombia in 1954. He was raised in Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia and later attended The Lawrenceville School. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Duke University in 1976, and a Juris Doctorate degree from Tulane University in 1979.

Mr. Walker has a varied arbitration and litigation practice, involving personal injury and death, contractual disputes, property damage, products cases, business transactions, insurance issues, and other disputes.  These are primarily in representation of maritime, foreign/international, oil and gas, cement, trucking, domestic and foreign insurers, and other corporate clients.

He has tried jury and judge cases throughout the U.S., including Puerto Rico, Florida, Mississippi, Georgia, Texas, Alabama, and California, and has handled numerous arbitrations.  He has been involved in cases involving ship collisions, fires, and explosions, groundings, product failures, product contamination, post-Hurricane Katrina flood and insurance litigation, Lloyds coverage disputes, oil spills, dock damages, attachments/seizure of assets.  Because Mr. Walker is bilingual and bicultural, a considerable amount of his work involves foreign client or claims against foreign companies.  Clients also call upon Mr. Walker to investigate claims abroad and assist with foreign counsel and litigation. He has been a speaker at numerous seminars and conferences for clients and industry on maritime and international matters.

He heads the firm's International Practice Section.  In addition to providing counsel and representation for foreign clients and business interests in the United States, Mr. Walker also represents varied interests seeking to do business, or having litigation, abroad.

Mr. Walker is a member of the American and Inter-American Bar Associations, Defense Research Institute, the American Trial Lawyers Association, Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel, American Waterways Operators, Offshore Marine Services Association, the Southeastern Admiralty Institute, Ibero-American Maritime Association, the American Bar Association Sections on International Law, General Practice, Corporations, Banking and Business Law, Litigation, and the Maritime Law Association of the United States. Mr. Walker is a member of the Louisiana, Texas and Colorado bars and is admitted to federal courts in these states, as well as to the First, Fifth, Eighth and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeal and the U.S. Supreme Court. His languages include Spanish and Portuguese.