mblackwell@rllaw.com
504-619-6162     c:504-494-2081
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Michael S. Blackwell is a partner and has been with the firm since 2019. Michael represents a wide variety of clients, ranging from general contractors, subcontractors, owners, developers, insurers, and sureties in the construction industry, to companies involved in sales, acquisitions, corporate governance matters, commercial disputes, and zoning and real estate matters. His practice ranges from corporate formation, equity structuring, and governance matters, sales and acquisitions of assets and ownership interests, contract negotiation and drafting, construction disputes involving delays, terminations for default, payment, asset seizure, fraud, labor and employment issues, and in handling all manner of disputes and issues that arise during construction or business. An experienced litigator, Michael has tried cases before arbitration panels, administrative tribunals, judges, and juries. Michael regularly lectures on matters affecting construction clients, engineers on ethics and liability, and construction managers and public entities on changes in Louisiana construction law.

Among other acknowledgments, Michael has served as the Chairman of the Construction Law Committee for the New Orleans Bar Association since 2017. Michael has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America in the fields of Construction Law and Commercial Litigation, and since 2023 has been recognized as a Super Lawyer in the field of Construction Litigation.

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

• Represented general contractor in successfully negotiating a workout agreement between client and client’s surety to protect client assets and continue operations while preventing financial institutions from defaulting client under loan agreements.
• Represented regional general contractor in defending against 180-person collective action lawsuit filed under Fair Labor Standards Act.
• Represented several general contractors in successful resolution of formal serious citations issued by Occupational Safety and Health Administration related to fatalities during construction.
• Represented regional general contractor before Louisiana Fourth Circuit and obtained reversal of summary judgment in favor of material supplier under a Louisiana Private Works Act lien in res nova decision.
• Represented general contractor against masonry subcontractor in termination for default arbitration proceeding and obtained favorable decision.
• Represented general contractor before Louisiana First Circuit and obtained decision holding no-damages-for-delay provision in every state contract issued by Division of Administration, Office of Facility Planning a violation of La. R.S. 38:2216(H).
• Represented regional general contractor in successful reversal of trial court removal of Louisiana Private Works Act lien on large-scale mixed-use development.
• Represented general contractor and surety in lawsuit filed by material supplier for subcontractor and obtained take-nothing jury verdict.

SEMINARS

• AIA Contract Document Workshop – HalfMoon Education (July 2024)
• Louisiana Construction Law Update – CMAA – Gulf Coast Chapter (July 2024)
• Insurance and Bonding for the Construction Industry – LawLine (July 2024)
• Louisiana Lien Law and Construction Law Update – CFMA – Greater New Orleans Chapter (May 2024)
• Panelist – No Perfect Set of Plans: Who Pays? – The Blueprint Conference (October 2023)
• AIA Contract Document Workshop – HalfMoon Education (August 2023)
• Moderator – Construction Law from the Ground Up – Louisiana State Bar Association (March 2023)
• HalfMoon Education, Using AIA Document A201: General Conditions (August 2022)
• CMAA – Gulf Coast Chapter, Louisiana Construction Law Update (October 2022)
• Active CMAR A133, The Blueprint Conference (October 2022)
• HalfMoon Education, AIA Contract Document Workshop (July 2022)
• HalfMoon Education, Deep Dive into AIA Standard Forms of Agreement Between Owner and Contractor (February 2022)
• HalfMoon Education, AIA Contract Document Workshop (October 2021)
• Co-Presenter, New Orleans Bar Association CLE Webinar, July 2021
• Current Issues in Louisiana Construction Law, CMAA Gulf Coast Chapter (July 2018)
• AIA Contract Document Workshop, HalfMoon Education, Inc. (April 2018)
• Construction Law: Advanced Issues and Answers, National Business Institute (March 2018)
• Construction Defect Litigation: From A to Z, National Business Institute (December 2017)
• Recent Developments in Construction Law, CMAA Gulf Coast Chapter (July 2017)
• The Potential Price of Ethics and Liability, Gulf States Engineering Conference (June 2017)
• The Potential Price of Ethics and Liability, Louisiana Engineering Society – New Orleans (March 2017)
• Troubleshooting Construction Project Legal Issues, National Business Institute (December 2016)
• The Potential Price of Ethics and Liability, Louisiana Civil Engineering Conference (September 2016)
• Construction Law: What’s New? CMAA Gulf Coast Chapter (May 2016)
• Construction Law: What do You do When . . . ? National Business Institute (December 2015)
• Construction Law, BuildNOLA Small Business Program, City of New Orleans (November 2015)
• Construction Law in Louisiana, U.S. Department of Transportation Bonding Education (April 2015)

EDUCATION

• University of South Alabama, B.A., English, 2005 J.D.
• Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, J.D., 2009
  • Loyola Law Review, Managing Editor
  • Jerome Prince Memorial Evidence Moot Court Team, Brief Writer/Oralist
  • William L. Crowe, Sr. Scholar
  • Comment, Insurance, Employment, and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008, 55 Loy. L. Rev. 125 (Spring 2009)

BAR ADMISSIONS

• Louisiana, 2009
• Texas, 2015
• U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of Louisiana
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
• U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

• Louisiana State Bar Association
• New Orleans Bar Association
• American Bar Association