Patrick S. Ottinger

Patrick S. Ottinger, a partner in the Lafayette firm of Ottinger Hebert, L.L.C., has been in private practice since 1973, concentrating in oil and gas (onshore and offshore), renewable energy projects, and corporate, banking and commercial matters, with emphasis on financial transactions, project financing, real estate and eminent domain. He received a BS degree in 1971 from the University of Southwestern Louisiana and his JD degree in 1973 from Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center. He also is admitted to practice in Texas.

An experienced arbitrator and mediator in oil and gas matters, Ottinger is affiliated with The Patterson Resolution Group and is listed on the AAA Energy Panel and on the Energy Arbitrators List of the Institute for Energy Law. He completed formal mediation training through the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Pepperdine University School of Law.

He is a Fellow of the Louisiana Bar Foundation and served on its board of directors from 2003-07. He served as president of the Louisiana State Bar Association in 1998-99. Ottinger is a member of several Louisiana State Law Institute committees, chairs the Advisory Council of the Institute on Mineral Law, is an adjunct professor at LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center and was recognized as a 2014 Distinguished Achievement Honoree by the Law Center. In 2017, he was inducted into the Lafayette Bar Association’s Hall of Fame.

Ottinger has authored and/or contributed to several books and articles, including A Course Book on Louisiana Mineral Rights in 2011, Louisiana Mineral Law Treatise in 2012 and Louisiana Mineral Leases: A Treatise in 2016.

Ottinger received a plaque and $1,000 has been donated in his name to The Lafayette Bar Foundation.

Emmett C. Sole

Emmett C. Sole, a member of the law firm Stockwell, Sievert, Viccellio, Clements & Shaddock, L.L.P. in Lake Charles is the recipient of the 2017 Louisiana Bar Foundation’s (LBF) Boisfontaine Trial Advocacy Award. The award was presented at the Louisiana State Bar Association’s (LSBA) Annual Meeting in June in Destin, Florida.

Mr. Sole is rated "AV Preeminent" by Martindale-Hubbell and has been peer-reviewed and listed in Best Lawyers in America and Louisiana Super Lawyers. He has served as a Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of Louisiana in boundary litigation and Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act litigation. Mr. Sole is Chair Emeriti and past president of the Louisiana State Law Institute and has been a member of the council for over thirty years. Additionally, he has served as Reporter of the Special Advisory Committee on Attorney's Fees, and is active on the Security Devices Committee and other committees of the Institute. 

Mr. Sole is a Charter Fellow of the Louisiana Bar Foundation and a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He has served the Louisiana State Bar Association as a member of the Board of Governors, House of Delegates, Nominating Committee, and is Immediate Past-Chair of the ADR Section and Vice-Chair of the Fidelity, Surety and Construction Law Section. He has been active in the Southwest Louisiana Bar Association, the American Bar Association and the INternational Association of Defense Counsel. 

Mr. Sole received this award in recognition of his long-standing devotion to and excellence in trial practice and for upholding the standards of ethics and consideration for the court, litigants, and all counsel. The award was established through an endowment to the LBF in memory of Mr. Boisfontaine, who served as president of the LSBA and of the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel. Donations from Sessions, Fishman, Nathan & Israel, L.L.P., the Boisfontaine family and friends established the fund. Mr. Sole received a plaque and $1,000 has been donated in his name to The Southwest Louisiana Law Center in Lake Charles.

Christine Lipsey

Christine Lipsey, a member of the law firm McGlinchey Stafford PLLC, is the recipient of the 2016 Louisiana Bar Foundation's (LBF) Curtis R. Boisfontaine Trial Advocacy Award. Ms. Lipsey will receive a plaque and $1,000 was donated in her name to the Innocence Project New Orleans (IPNO). The award was established through an endowment to the LBF in memory of Mr. Boisfontaine, who served as president of the LSBA and of the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel. Donations from Sessions, Fishman, Nathan & Israel, L.L.P., the Boisfontaine family and friends established the fund. Lipsey is widely recognized throughout the state and region as a leader in commercial litigation. Based in Baton Rouge, she has more than 30 years of experience in litigation representing both small and large businesses, insurance companies, state agencies, lenders, and corporate and limited liability company constituents. Ms. Lipsey helps clients solve their most complex and challenging litigation problems in a variety of subject areas, particularly focusing on breach of contract, unfair competition, RICO, antitrust, corporate fiduciary, and class and mass action matters.

Eugene J. Sues

Eugene J. Sues is a civil litigation defense attorney with more than 40 years of trial experience in the areas of medical malpractice defense, products liability, general tort, and governmental liability. Since 1984, he has specialized in defense of physicians and hospitals in medical malpractice cases. In 1974, he joined the Alexandria Firm of Gold, Weems, Bruser, Sues and Rundell where he currently practices. During his tenure with the Gold Firm, he has successfully litigated as lead counsel jury and bench trials in the above areas of practice which involved serious personal injuries and wrongful death. He has also argued successfully many cases before the Louisiana appellate courts and Louisiana Supreme court. He leads the medical malpractice defense section of the Gold Firm and heads a staff of five other defense attorneys in the Gold Firm specializing in medical malpractice defense. Throughout his career, he has taken a special interest in training young lawyers in the Gold Law Firm in ethics and the art of advocacy in the courtroom.

Gene previously served as a law clerk on the Second Circuit court of Appeal in 1970. From 1970 to 1974 he was a captain in the United States Army Judge Advocate General Corps and served as a criminal prosecutor and Head of Military Affairs.

Gene was elected as a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers in 2009. He has been listed in “The Best Lawyers in America” from 2012 to the present date. He has also been named in several yearly editions of Louisiana Super Lawyers in the area of medical malpractice defense. He is a master of the bench Crossroads-American Inn of Court of Alexandria-Pineville and a fellow in the Louisiana Bar Foundation. He has been named as an associate in the American Board of Trial Advocates, and he was elected in 1990 as a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel., Gene has served on the Interprofessional Committee of the Louisiana State Bar Association and has been engaged in other bar association work at the local level.

He is married to Sandra Cole Sues. They have three children and five grandchildren.