future-focused

Frank Aulenta

504.556.4045

“Trials are about persuasion. What makes persuasion easier? For me, it’s three things: I prepare really hard, I have a knack for translating complex material into simpler, more understandable arguments, and I get along well with others. Combining those traits helps obtain superior results.”

Overview

Keith Jarrett is a distinguished trial lawyer with extensive experience in complex, high-stakes litigation.  He is a Fellow of both the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers — honors extended by invitation only to a select group of outstanding litigators.

Keith represents clients in major maritime, environmental, and energy-related disputes.  His lead trial experience includes matters involving:

  • Well blowouts, and pipeline and drilling rig accidents
  • Environmental contamination and coastal erosion lawsuits
  • Vessel collisions and maritime casualties
  • Wrongful death, personal injury, occupational disease, and diving-related incidents
  • Ship construction disputes
  • Oil spills and pollution claims
  • Indemnity and insurance coverage disputes
  • Class-action defense

He has also litigated cases arising from catastrophic explosions and fires, engineering malpractice, property and industrial construction disputes, and oilfield reservoir damage.

Keith served as Liskow’s President and Managing Partner from 2009 to 2015.  Before joining the firm, he clerked for the Honorable Alvin B. Rubin of the United States Court of Appeals, sailed as an engineer and deck officer aboard oceangoing vessels, and served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Naval Reserve.

Highlights

Notable Experience

Maritime

  • Currently representing a state government in pursuit of damages suffered by critical infrastructure in a notable ship allision.
  • Obtained a multi-million dollar jury verdict for extra costs incurred by a major oil company after a survey vessel collided with its chartered drilling rig
  • Defended a major oil company from claims arising out of a well blowout and the sinking of a semi-submersible drilling rig
  • Successfully defended an independent oil company at trial from multi-million-dollar lawsuit by a pipeline owner who claimed its pipeline was damaged by a semi-submersible drilling rig
  • Represented pipeline owners in trial seeking damages for a pipeline that was struck by a drilling rig that broke free during a hurricane
  • Obtained a multi-million-dollar verdict in favor of a pipeline owner whose transmission line was damaged by a pipelay barge
  • Obtained favorable result for a shipyard with a multi-million-dollar builder’s risk claim for an oil tanker that suffered major structural damage during construction
  • Defeated class certification in a lawsuit alleging the monopolization of marine salvage services after Hurricane Katrina
  • Defeated class certification for a vessel owner facing allegations that toxic fumes escaping from a barge injured citizens in nearby city
  • Obtained a favorable result for vessel owner in multi-million-dollar claim against a shipyard for cost overruns associated with construction of a dive support vessel
  • Regularly defends a leading marine construction company from suits by maritime workers claiming injury through offshore construction and diving operations

Environmental

  • Defended a major oil company in a Clean Water Act penalty trial following an oil spill of national significance
  • Successfully defended several oil companies in a claim by state agency seeking billions of dollars for alleged marsh loss in south Louisiana
  • Defending a major oil company from claims by parish governments seeking damages for land loss allegedly caused by non-compliance with environmental permits
  • Defended a major oil company at trial from claims by a land owner seeking billions of dollars in damages for alleged oilfield contamination resulting from decades of oil and gas production
  • Defended a jury trial against a major oil company accused of contaminating 18,000 acres of marsh through 40 years of oil and gas production

Other

  • Prevailed in over 200 Daubert motions striking unreliable expert testimony on medical causation, resulting in dismissal of those lawsuits
  • Obtained a $21 million jury verdict for a large independent oil company in suit seeking indemnity for monies spent in settlement of disputed wrongful death claims
  • Obtained a jury verdict against insurer for bad faith handling of a first-party toxic mold claim
  • Secured a defense jury verdict in favor of an oil company accused of injuring a truck driver during the loading of a supply vessel
  • Defended an exploration company from claims on behalf of seven workers killed during a well blowout that occurred during snubbing operations in the deadliest such accident in U.S. history
  • Defended a production company from claims filed on behalf of four workers killed during a tank explosion during start-up operations at an on-shore oil production site

Involvement

Professional

  • Tulane Admiralty Law Institute, National Advisory Board
  • International Academy of Trial Lawyers
  • American College of Trial Lawyers
  • New Orleans, Louisiana State and American Bar Associations
  • Maritime Law Association of the United States
  • Southeastern Admiralty Law Institute
  • Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel
  • Louisiana Bar Foundation

Community

  • U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Alumni Association

Recognition

  • International Academy of Trial Lawyers, Fellow
  • American College of Trial Lawyers, Fellow
  • Lawdragon "500 Leading Litigators in America," 2023-2025
  • The Best Lawyers in America®, Admiralty and Maritime Law, 2010–2026
  • Benchmark Litigation, Local Litigation Star, 2018-2023
  • Louisiana Super Lawyers, Transportation & Maritime, 2010–2026
  • Louisiana Super Lawyers, Top 50 Attorney in Louisiana, 2024
  • Best Lawyers® "Lawyer of the Year," Admiralty and Maritime Law, New Orleans, 2022
  • New Orleans Bar Association’s Arceneaux Professionalism Award, 2022
  • New Orleans Magazine's List of "Top Lawyers," 2015–2019
  • New Orleans Bar Association's Distinguished Maritime Lawyer Award Recipient, 2016
  • Chambers USA – America's Leading Lawyers for Business – Litigation: General Commercial, 2013–2017
  • New Orleans CityBusiness Leadership in Law Award, 2011

Credentials

Education

  • U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (B.S., with Highest Honors, 1980)
  • Tulane University Law School (J.D., summa cum laude, 1985)
    • Order of the Coif (Top 10%)
    • Tulane Law Review, Editor, 1984-1985

Bar Admissions

  • Louisiana, 1985

Court Admissions

  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District, Louisiana
  • U.S. District Court, Middle District, Louisiana
  • U.S. District Court, Western District, Louisiana

Clerkships

  • Law Clerk to the Honorable Alvin B. Rubin, Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 1985–1986

What's Trending With R. Keith

View All