Derek A. Walker
Partner
Derek Walker is a Partner in the New Orleans office of Chaffe McCall and heads the firm’s International Practice Section. He has served as lead counsel in various areas of arbitration and litigation, including:
- Business transactions
- Contractual disputes
- Insurance issues
- Personal injury and death
- Property damage
- Products cases
Derek works closely with corporate clients in a full range of industries including maritime, foreign/international, oil and gas, cement, trucking, domestic and foreign insurers. He has tried jury and judge cases throughout the U.S., including Puerto Rico, and has successfully handled numerous arbitrations. His experience includes cases involving:
- Attachments/seizure of assets
- Dock damages
- Fires and explosions
- Groundings
- Lloyds coverage disputes
- Oil spills
- Product failures/product contamination
- Post-Hurricane Katrina flood and insurance litigation
- Ship collisions
Native of Bogota, Colombia, and raised in both Peru and Bolivia, Derek uses his international experience to advise clients abroad and represent foreign clients and business interests in the United States. Derek also represents varied interests seeking to do business, or having litigation, abroad and has a considerable amount of experience working with foreign clients or claims against foreign companies. He has successfully investigated claims abroad and assisted with foreign counsel and litigation.
Derek attended the Lawrenceville School and received a Juris Doctorate degree from Tulane University in 1979. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Duke University in 1976. Derek is bilingual in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. He has been a speaker at numerous seminars and conferences on maritime and international matters. Derek 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.
HONORS AND AWARDS
- Selected for inclusion in Louisiana Super Lawyers, 2007 to present
- Named as a Top Lawyer in Admiralty & Maritime and International Arbitration by New Orleans Magazine, 2014-2019, 2021-2023
- Rated AV Peer Review, Martindale-Hubbell’s highest ranking by peers for ethical standards and legal ability
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
- Member of the American and Inter-American Bar Associations
- Member of Defense Research Institute
- Member of the American Trial Lawyers Association
- Member of Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel
- Member of American Waterways Operators
- Member of Offshore Marine Service Association
- Member of the Southeastern Admiralty Institute
- Member of Ibero-American Maritime Association
- Member of the American Bar Association Sections on International Law, General Practice, Corporations, Banking and Business Law, Litigation,
- Member of the Maritime Law Association of the United States