Lloyd J. Lunceford

Of Counsel

Lloyd Lunceford serves as Of Counsel at Taylor Porter where he has been practicing law since 1984. Mr. Lunceford is engaged in a general civil practice with emphases in higher education, mass communications, commercial litigation, and church property laws. He also has expertise in the application of the Louisiana Public Records and Open Meetings Acts, which affect all municipal, parish, and state agencies.

Mr. Lunceford is admitted to practice in all Louisiana state courts, in the federal district courts for the Middle and Eastern Districts of Louisiana, the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States. Additionally, he has been admitted to the courts of several other states by special appointment.  Mr. Lunceford is a former member of the section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities: First Amendment Rights Committee of the American Bar Association. He has variously been a member of the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, American, and Federal Bar Associations, and a member of the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel, the Christian Legal Society, the Inns of Court, and the National Association of College and University Attorneys. Mr. Lunceford has served as a guest lecturer at the Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University and at the LSU Law Center. He also has spoken at Continuing Legal Education seminars and at church property symposia throughout the United States.

Mr. Lunceford is the co-author of "Libel and Privacy Law and Practice in Louisiana" (National Business Institute) and is the general editor of the 478 page legal treatise, A Guide to Church Property Law: Theological, Constitutional and Practical Considerations (2nd ed. 2010, Reformation Press). He also has authored articles on topics including professional ethics, church/state relations, and document confidentiality, which have appeared in the Louisiana Bar Journal, the Baton Rouge Bar Journal, and other publications.


Recent notable cases and related legal matters include:

  • Lead counsel or co-counsel for mainline churches in twenty five states in successfully obtaining court judgments in favor of local church property ownership free of denominational trust claims, or successfully negotiating receipt of quitclaim deeds from the denomination.
  • Lead counsel in Louisiana Supreme Court case establishing right of public access under the Louisiana Public Records Act to applications for public employment.
  • Lead counsel for the Louisiana Supreme Court’s Judicial Campaign Oversight Committee in federal litigation, obtaining pre-trial dismissal of challenge to constitutionality of campaign ethics code.
  • Lead counsel in obtaining pre-trial dismissal on First Amendment grounds of public figure plaintiff’s defamation suit against media defendants.
  • Lead counsel in appellate decision preserving constitutionality of case-specific epidemiological data gathered by state health officials and medical researchers.
  • Lead counsel in appellate decision establishing constitutional right of public access to most internal affairs disciplinary records upon conclusion of police investigations.
  • Counsel in Louisiana Supreme Court case establishing scope of qualified immunity granted under state law to physicians engaged in medical peer review, obtaining pre-trial dismissal of state and federal suits.
  • Advisor to LSU Health Sciences Center Admissions Department in the application of new U.S. Supreme Court guidelines on the use of diversity in enrollment.
  • Counsel in Louisiana Supreme Court case important to mineral interest owners that established that under French arpent survey system the sidelines of tracts that front the curve of a river cannot be simultaneously perpendicular to the front and parallel to one another but must necessarily diverge or converge.

Mr. Lunceford is actively involved in the Baton Rouge community. He is a member of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation and Louisiana Bar Foundation. He has been a volunteer for the Istrouma Council of the Boy Scouts of America (Assistant Scoutmaster, Troop 7) and has served as an arbitrator for the Baton Rouge City Court small claims division. He is a member of First Presbyterian Church, where for thirty five years he has variously served as deacon, elder, teacher, district and national commissioner, and legal counsel. He was a charter member of the Board of Governors of the Baton Rouge Christian Counseling Center, and is a former State Secretary for the Louisiana Civil Service League and a former member of East Baton Rouge Parish GOP Executive Committee.

The Layman Video Series

Lloyd Lunceford, lawyer and emeritus board member of the Presbyterian Lay Committee, answers a series of questions that churches frequently ask. Each video is 3-5 minutes long. To see each video, click on the title.

Video #1:  Introduction to Lloyd Lunceford

Video #2:  Where do we even begin?

Video #3:  How do we retain a lawyer?

Video #4: What is the relationship between a local litigator and a national church property expert?

Video #5:  Do civil courts have the right to hear a church property dispute?

Video #6: Can our church leave the denomination and also maintain possession of our property?

Video #7: What is a trust? Are there different kinds of trusts? How do trusts relate to ownership?

Video #8: Has there always been a trust clause? Is the new trust language (from the early 1980s) a brand new thing?


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