Biography

Mr. Babst’s practice is concentrated in civil and business litigation and in governmental relations. He has extensive experience in trial courts, before administrative agencies, and before appellate tribunals in the areas of antitrust, intellectual property, securities fraud, civil RICO, products liability, insurance coverage and insurance regulation, contract disputes, professional malpractice, corporate governance and shareholder rights, environmental law, federal and state employment law, toxic torts, and workers' compensation.

Mr. Babst has also been engaged in the field of governmental relations, focused on civil justice issues in Louisiana, since 1988. Successful legislative efforts with which he has been associated include the enactment of the Louisiana Products Liability Act in 1988; punitive damages, solidary liability, and comparative fault reforms in 1996; the enactment of class action reform in 1997; the reform of principles relating to forum non conveniens in 1999; and the legislative repeal of the Louisiana Supreme Court's declaration of a free-standing cause of action for recovery of medical-monitoring expenses, also in 1999.

He is a member of the adjunct faculties of the law schools at both Tulane and Loyola (New Orleans), where he is a lecturer in Legislative and Administrative Advocacy under the auspices of the Public Law Center. Mr. Babst graduated cum laude from Yale College in 1971 (BA, honors in philosophy) and from the Tulane University Law School (JD) in 1976. He has lectured on various topics, from healthcare antitrust to the management of complex litigation, before the American Tort Reform Association, industry groups, fellow lawyers, and law school classes and has written for various legal publications.