Jones Walker LLP announced today that the firm elected five new partners. Special counsel attorneys Meghan E. Smith and Christopher M. Wappel and associates Luke Falgoust, Tyler J. Rench, and Graham H. Ryan were promoted to partnership effective January 1, 2019.

Smith is a member of the Litigation Practice Group in the New Orleans office and has worked in defense of numerous major corporations, including oil and gas companies, chemical manufacturers, and engineering/construction firms in state and federal litigation and private arbitration. She has extensive experience managing expert witnesses and consultants in connection with litigation matters and regulatory compliance issues. Smith is a proponent of pursuing creative resolutions in the early stages of a dispute, with an eye toward saving clients' money and resources.

Wappel is a member of the Corporate Practice Group in the New Orleans office and focuses on commercial lending and finance. He represents borrowers, agents, and lenders in structuring, negotiating, and documenting senior and subordinated, secured and unsecured, and bilateral and syndicated credit facilities, including acquisition, asset-based, oil and gas, real estate, receivables, vessel, and working capital financings. Mr. Wappel also has extensive experience in providing commercial finance, debt and equity securities offerings, non-consolidation, and true sale legal opinions.   

Falgoust is a member of the Corporate Practice Group in the New Orleans office and focuses on the areas of commercial lending and finance, commercial transactions, and corporate governance. He has experience representing borrowers and financial institutions in connection with secured and unsecured syndicated credit facilities, asset-based finance transactions, acquisition and working capital facilities, and various types of finance lease transactions involving transportation assets such as vessels and aircraft.

Rench is a member of the Litigation Practice Group in the New Orleans office. He focuses on defending class actions and civil RICO cases, and also handles oil and gas and banking disputes. Mr. Rench has broad-based experience representing clients in federal and state courts, as well as in alternative dispute resolution. Mr. Rench is active in the Louisiana legal community and is involved in local non-profit and civic organizations.

Ryan is a member of the Litigation Practice Group in the New Orleans office. He concentrates his practice on commercial civil litigation and appeals in federal and state courts and in dispute resolution. Mr. Ryan represents a broad regional and national client base that spans banking, healthcare, construction, and energy. Mr. Ryan's cross-industry litigation experience includes business and contact disputes, banking litigation, real estate disputes, torts, First Amendment, ethics, and other areas of complex litigation. Mr. Ryan is an active member of the legal profession and community on a local, statewide, and national level.