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Meet the Team

Juan LaFonta

Juan LaFonta
Attorney

Juan LaFonta is an attorney with 20 years of experience managing a personal injury law practice in New Orleans, Louisiana. ​ He has won multiple trials and negotiated millions of dollars in settlements. ​
 
LaFonta was elected to the Louisiana State Legislature in 2005 and represented District 96, which includes historic neighborhoods such as Faubourg, Marigny, Treme, and Gentilly. ​ He became the chair of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus, making him the first freshman legislator to be elected to a caucus in U.S. history. ​
 
LaFonta is committed to economic development in his community and has worked to ease the tax burden on local businesses to create jobs. ​ He has also championed efforts to rebuild Charity Hospital and expand healthcare coverage and requirements on insurance companies. ​
 
After Hurricane Katrina, LaFonta served on the House Special Committee on Disaster Planning, Crisis Management, Recovery, and Long-Term Revitalization. ​ He successfully negotiated 1.2 billion dollars for the Gulf Coast region. ​In addition to his legal and legislative work, LaFonta is an adjunct professor of Public Health Law at Dillard University and a member of the Louisiana Latino Commission. ​
Andrew Jacoby

Andrew Jacoby
Attorney

Licensed in both Texas and Louisiana

Andrew Jacoby has been an environmental litigator since 2009. His case work involves helping people affected by oil and gas operations, landfills, radiation sources, and other types of environmental damage and public health threats. He has also represented a solar industry trade group. His work includes the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, CERCLA, RCRA, Price-Anderson Act, CZMA, SDWA, FIFRA, and other environmental laws. He is a long-time volunteer for environmental and public health advocates in Louisiana, drafting legislation to protect Louisiana’s most vulnerable citizens from public health threats posed by powerful industry. Mr. Jacoby has a J.D. from Tulane Law School and a business degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

Jack Harang

Jack W. Harang
Attorney

Licensed in Louisiana

Jack Harang is a graduate of Loyola Law School who has practiced law in Louisiana for 50 years.  Since that time, he has litigated in approximately a thousand criminal and civil jury trials in thirty states.  Throughout his career, he has handled many complex litigations cases, in the areas of pharmaceutical, environmental, maritime, toxic torts and mass disaster litigation, and he has served as lead and co-lead trial counsel in numerous mass tort litigation. 

His honors and distinguishments include:
  • Presenting to the American Trial Lawyers Association on jury trials and punitive damages
  • Presenting before the American Bar Association on getting punitive damages, and nursing home litigation
  • Awarded the President Eisenhower’s Trust Fund Fellowship Exchange Program to present about our legal system and jury trials in both Russia and China 
  • Having cases featured in numerous national media publications
  • Winning groundbreaking litigation in the fields of nursing home litigation, NORM (exposure to naturally occurring radioactive material as a result of oil field pollution), and punitive damages 
  • Co-founded the Nursing Home Litigation Section of the American Trial Lawyers Association 

Significant Cases:

  • Barryhill and Bolian vs. Beverly Enterprises,  USDC So. Dist. MS. 1986: The First Quality of Life Nursing Home Case which was instrumental in effectuating the Nursing Home Reform Act in the United States.
  • In Re:  New Orleans Train Explosion: Phyllis Laney vs. CSX Railroad. New Orleans train explosion represented more than 9,000 New Orleans residents. Won a $3.25 billion verdict.
  • Greffer vs. Exxon Mobile: Obtained punitive damages and remediation costs resulting from NORM contamination of a thirty-acre pipe yard. Won a $1.56 billion dollar verdict.

601 Poydras Street, Suite 2345, New Orleans, Louisiana 70130

Barry-Cooper
Barry J. Cooper, Jr.

Attorney

Licensed in Louisiana and Texas

Barry J. Cooper, Jr. is a partner in the Cooper Law Firm, LLC and is a practicing plaintiff attorney licensed in Louisiana and Texas with extensive experience in complex litigation support for class actions and multi-district litigation. ​

He has been involved in various class actions and multi-district litigation cases, including the Bogalusa Chemical Release, Propulsid Product Liability Litigation, Vioxx Litigation, Oil Spill by the Oil Rig "Deepwater Horizon," National Prescription Opiate Litigation, John C. Kitchin, Jr., et al. vs. Bridgeton Landfill, LLC, et al., Tamia Banks, et al. ​ vs. Cotter Corporation, et al., and Shannon Dassig, et al. ​ vs. Honeywell International, Inc., et al. ​

He has been admitted to the bar in Louisiana and Texas, as well as the United States Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, and U.S. District Court, Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Louisiana. ​

He is a member of professional organizations such as the Louisiana State Bar Association, American Bar Association, and American Association of Justice. ​

He holds a J.D. from Loyola University New Orleans School of Law, an MBA from Loyola University New Orleans, and a B.S. ​ from the University of New Orleans. ​​ He is also an instrument-rated commercial licensed pilot and a member of the Vieux Carré Property Owners, Residents & Associates Board of Directors.

Celeste-B
Celeste Brustowicz

Licensed in Louisiana, California, and Mississippi

Celeste Brustowicz is licensed to practice law in three states: Louisiana (since 1985), California (since 2005), and Mississippi (since 2012). ​
She has a Juris Doctor degree from Louisiana State University, Paul M. Herbert School of Law, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Louisiana State University. ​

Celeste has extensive legal experience, including managing civil litigation, such as mass tort and class action cases, and trying cases in federal and state courts. She has also argued in various appellate courts, including the Louisiana Supreme Court and the federal Ninth Circuit. ​

She has worked at several law firms throughout her career, including Cooper Law Firm, Burglass & Tankersley, Rinos & Martin, and Bienvenu, Foster, Ryan & O’Bannon. At these firms, she handled a wide range of cases, including medical malpractice, commercial litigation, insurance defense, civil rights, and municipal liability. ​

Celeste is a member of multiple professional associations, including the New Orleans & Louisiana State Bar Associations, the Mississippi State Bar Association, the California State Bar Association, the American Bar Association, and the American Association for Justice. She has also served as a bar examiner for the Louisiana State Bar. ​

Mathew-C
Matthew Camm

Since earning his J.D. from the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center in 2014, Matthew Camm has devoted his practice to representing victims of corporate wrongdoing in class action, mass tort and other complex cases involving environmental disasters, toxic exposure, dangerous medical drugs and devices, defective products, and consumer and securities fraud.  Among other matters, he currently litigates on behalf of communities impacted by radiation contamination in Illinois, Missouri and Ohio.  

His prior experience includes helping hundreds of working people and small business owners in south Louisiana and across the Gulf Coast secure compensation for losses suffered in the wake of the BP oil spill, as well as working directly for co-lead counsel in the landmark litigation brought by cities, counties and states to hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable for the opioid crisis.