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, Head of the firm’s Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices group and is a Partner in the 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 to identify, retain, and work with local and national experts in various multi-district litigation and individual actions. He is recognized as an experienced litigator with the ability to recruit and prepare experts for trial.

Peter has experience working 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.

Prior to joining Chaffe McCall, Peter maintained a civil litigation and insurance defense practice in North Louisiana, representing clients in a broad range of complex matters. He also represented clients in employment-related matters and continues to draw on that experience in his representation of clients in employment-related class and collective actions and other sophisticated employment litigation. Peter also draws upon the experience he gained while serving as a law clerk to the Honorable Pike Hall, Jr., Associate Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court

In May 2024, Peter completed Northwestern University’s intensive 40-hour Mediation Skills Training program in Chicago. He draws on this training in his practice and is available to serve as a private mediator.

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.

PRESENTATION AND PUBLICATIONS

• Panelist, They Did What?!?! The Latest in Plaintiffs’ Bar Tactics, 2026 IADC Product Liability Roundtable, Pfizer Headquarters, New York, NY, September 22, 2026.
• 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