Peter J. Rotolo

For over twenty-five years, Peter Rotolo has represented international, national, and regional clients in every facet of litigation, with a particular depth of knowledge and strategy in complex civil and commercial actions and disputes, including individual, multi-party, multi-district, and class action litigation. Peter is the Practice Area Coordinator for Chaffe McCall’s Litigation Section and is a Partner in the firm’s New Orleans office. He has extensive experience litigating and arbitrating high-stakes, high-profile cases.

Peter’s successful pharmaceutical and medical device litigation includes matters involving multi-district litigation.  He has served on expert, deposition, and strategy teams in numerous multi-district litigation actions.

Peter has worked extensively identifying, retaining and working with local and national experts in various multi-district litigations and individual actions. He has been recognized as an experienced litigator who has the ability to recruit and prepare experts for trial.

Peter has worked closely with clients on the defense against unfair trade practice claims brought by state attorneys general. In addition, he has handled numerous litigation matters involving tobacco product liability, other product liability, insurance matters, complex lease disputes, banking, commercial contract disputes, personal injury, and nuisance actions. He has handled all aspects of litigation, including nationwide depositions and discovery, arguing motions, trial, and appellate arguments.

Peter’s recent success includes a multi-million-dollar arbitration award on a timber lease dispute that spanned several years as well as success on significant dispositive motions in several cases.

Peter has successfully appeared before federal and state district and appellate courts. He has argued twice before the Louisiana Supreme Court and on numerous occasions before Louisiana appellate courts. He has also been involved in trials, depositions, arbitrations, and expert work outside of Louisiana.

Before joining Chaffe McCall, Peter had a civil litigation and insurance defense practice in North Louisiana. Clients also benefit from insights Peter gained while clerking for the Honorable Pike Hall, Jr., Associate Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court.

Peter completed the intensive 40-hour Mediation Skills Training at Northwestern University in Chicago in May of 2024. He is available for private mediations as part of his practice.

PRESENTATION AND PUBLICATIONS

• Panelist, Optimizing Initial Pretrial Mass-Tort MDL Conference, MDL Bench-Bar Conference, Rabiej Litigation Law Center, Northwestern University, Chicago, September 28-29, 2023.
• Panelist, Causes of MDLs Delay – Defense Perspective, Protracted Actions in MDLs, Rabiej Law Center, Cleveland State University College of Law, June 13-14, 2024.
• Panelist, Experts, Discovery Mass-Torts MDLs Bench/Bar Leadership Summit, Rabiej Law Center, Charleston School of Law, March 13, 2025.
• Peter has given continuing legal education presentations on topics involving complex litigation and trial preparation, including a presentation to the Defense Research Institute’s Products Liability Seminar Young Lawyers’ Session and the Defense Research Institute, Toxic Tort, and Products Liability Seminar on continuing a law practice after a disaster.

HONORS AND AWARDS

• Selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® for Product Liability Litigation – Defendants and Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions, 2018 – 2024
• Selected as a “Local Litigation Star” for General Commercial and Product Liability by Benchmark Litigation, 2019- 2025
  
• Selected in the 2021 Leadership in Law class by New Orleans CityBusiness
• AV Preeminent® Peer Review Rating in Martindale-Hubbell
• Named as a “Top Lawyer” in Products Liability in New Orleans Magazine 

• Served as lead trial counsel in a week-long federal court trial involving breach of contract and unfair trade practices claims
• Served as lead counsel in high-profile noise nuisance litigation involving a local hospital
• Assisted liaison counsel in a large pharmaceutical multidistrict litigation (MDL), leading expert retention, development, and deposition preparation and taking numerous plaintiff, prescribing physician, and treating physician depositions
• Assisted liaison counsel in a pharmaceutical MDL with expert retention and litigation strategy, including taking trial plaintiff and prescribing and treating physician depositions
• Successfully recovered millions of dollars for a client in a complex arbitration involving a timber lease dispute
• Prepared and defended company witnesses for deposition and conducted numerous plaintiff and treating physician depositions in pharmaceutical MDL proceedings; also successfully removed outside contingency counsel from representing the Louisiana Attorney General in the matter
• Prepared and defended sales representative depositions and conducted plaintiff and treating physician depositions in another pharmaceutical MDL
• Conducted plaintiff and treating physician depositions in several medical device MDLs
• Conducted numerous plaintiff depositions and assisted with the Louisiana bellwether trial in an MDL involving an agricultural product
• Drafted and argued numerous dispositive and pre-trial motions in state and federal court.
• Orally argued before the Louisiana Supreme Court, several Louisiana Courts of Appeal, and federal courts