Tom S. Easterly

Tom Easterly regularly advises a wide variety of clients with simple and complex business disputes and commercial transactions, and serves as outside General Counsel for multiple entities. His clientele includes individuals, closely-held companies, Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies, Fortune Global 500 companies, and other specialized entities.

Tom concentrates a substantial portion of his practice on the preparation and trial of complex commercial disputes. His work involves construction, real estate, zoning / land use, redhibition, insurance, arbitration, toxic tort, workers’ compensation, breach of contract, bankruptcy and regulatory issues, and the matters in which he is engaged usually involve overlapping subject matter concerns. He has significant experience handling complex personal injury matters as both defense and plaintiff counsel.

Tom is experienced in a wide array of business transactions, including but not limited to corporate and limited liability company transactions, master service agreements, non-competition agreements, secrecy and confidentiality agreements, donations, sales, assignments, forbearance agreements, participant agreements, shareholder agreements, donor advised funds, exchanges, mergers, acquisitions, operating agreements, municipal development agreements, and estate planning.

In the insurance world, Tom regularly represents and advises insurance companies and syndicates, and he provides counsel concerning a broad array of coverage and defense issues. Tom is a past lecturer on insurance and related contract matters. His seminars have included topics such as insurance coverage litigation, effective collection strategies, business contract principles, and bad faith insurance/ extra-contractual liability claims.

Tom is admitted to practice before every Louisiana court, state and federal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court. 

Tom was previously admitted to practice pro hac vice in various state and federal courts located in Texas, Tennessee, and Arizona. ​

His recognitions include local and national accolades from the Baton Rouge Business Report, SuperLawyers, and Best Lawyers in America.

Tom is extremely active within the Baton Rouge and Louisiana community and is either a present or past member of the Baton Rouge Bar Association, the Louisiana State Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, the Defense Research Institute (DRI), Ducks Unlimited (DU), Coastal Conservation Association (CCA), Delta Waterfowl, Land Trust Alliance, Keep Louisiana Beautiful, Baton Rouge Green, and the Mississippi Forestry Association. Tom is also a founding member of the Muscular Dystrophy Association Legal Leaders program and a former Ball Chairman of Le Circle De Bacchus.

Tom is a Past President of Baton Rouge Green and previously served as outside General Counsel to Boy Scouts of America, Istrouma Area Council. Tom is a past Board Member of the Baton Rouge City Club, the University Acres Civic Association, Keep Louisiana Beautiful, and Boy Scouts of America, Istrouma Area Council.

In 2025, Tom joined the Board of Directors of Pennington Biomedical Research Foundation, whose mission is to support the work of LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center, a world leader of metabolic health, chronic disease, and scientific research operating on the 222-acre campus in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Tom and his wife Lindsey live in Baton Rouge with their three children.

First-chair Trial Experience

• Lead trial counsel for a foreign international insurer in a multi-party state court jury trial in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana where plaintiffs asserted claims exceeding $1.2B (1,200,000,000), stemming from business interruption coverage claims following the Covid-19 pandemic, which was favorably settled after trial commenced.
• Lead trial counsel for a national transportation company in a week-long jury trial in East Baton Rouge Parish, in defense of plaintiff’s claim exceeding $12,000,000 in damages, which was tried to defense verdict ($0).
• Trial counsel for Argosy Gaming Company, including a two-week jury trial in the Nineteenth Judicial District Court, involving complex commercial claims valuing more than $500 million.  The claims were substantially limited before trial through successful motion practice, and the plaintiff was ultimately “zeroed” on appeal ($0).
• Lead counsel for a real estate developer in connection with a zoning dispute before the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana adverse to a municipal governmental authority, involving claims for constitutional violations, compensatory damages, and punitive damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, which was favorably settled just before trial.
• Trial counsel for a private chemical manufacturer in a two-week toxic tort trial arising from underground salt cavern storage wells, and in particular, defense of personal injury and emotional distress claims associated with the aftermath of leaking salt cavern storage wells. The case concluded with the client paying $0 for the plaintiffs’ personal injury claims.
• Lead counsel for an Atlanta-based general contractor in connection with enforcing subcontract claims and defending liens arising out of a 330-unit, 20-building apartment complex located in Baton Rouge.
• Lead trial counsel for a local car dealer in defense of a premises liability claim resulting in dismissal ($0).
• Trial counsel for Louisiana State University in defense of breach of contract and tort claims.
• Local and National counsel for a worldwide manufacturer and distributor of heavy compaction equipment, in connection with commercial and personal injury litigation matters arising in Louisiana, Rhode Island, and New York.
• Lead counsel for Helis Oil and Gas Company, L.L.C., in connection with litigation arising out of property damage at an offshore platform in Eugene Island Block 300 involving a subsea “mudline tree” construction project.
• Lead trial counsel in numerous commercial litigation disputes (separate cases) for a group self-insurance fund organized under the Louisiana Revised Statutes.
• Lead arbitration trial counsel for clients involving various business disputes and personal injury disputes.
• Lead trial counsel for a Fortune 500 company in connection with an administrative appeal to the Jefferson Parish District Court adverse to the Jefferson Parish Attorneys’ Office and the Jefferson Parish Counsel, which successfully resulted in issuance of various licenses to sell Class B permits for the sale of high content and low content alcohol.
• Trial counsel for a private closely held company and its principals in a complex commercial dispute before the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana involving commercial claims in excess of $10mm.

• Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center, J.D., 2006
• Louisiana State University, M.B.A., 2005
• University of Georgia, B.B.A., cum laude, 2002

• Harvard / MIT / Tufts – Harvard Mediation Intensive: The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, June 2023

• Louisiana, 2006

• Louisiana (all Courts)
• United States Supreme Court, 2017
• Texas, S.D. TX, 2018 (pro hac vice)
• Tennessee, M.D. TN, 2019 (pro hac vice)
• Arizona, 2025 (pro hac vice), Maricopa County Superior Court

• Baton Rouge Bar Association
• Louisiana State Bar Association
• Federal Bar Association
• Defense Research Institute (DRI)

• “Top Forty Under 40” – Baton Rouge Business Report (2017)
• Louisiana Super Lawyers – “Rising Star” – Business Litigation (2014-2016)
• Best Lawyers in America – Commercial Litigation, Commercial Transactions / UCC Law, Insurance Law (2020-2026)