carl@duhonlawfirm.net
Carl M. Duhon is a Lafayette-based attorney with more than three decades of experience representing businesses, financial institutions, and individuals in complex litigation and sophisticated transactional matters. He founded Duhon Law Firm in 1992 and has built a practice known for expedited response to his clients, practical judgment, deep legal knowledge, and results-driven representation across a wide range of industries. All of his clients have his cell phone number and are welcome to call at any time they need assistance.
Throughout his career, Carl has served as outside counsel to banks, oil and gas companies, oilfield service companies, closely held businesses, and corporate clients throughout Louisiana and beyond. His work has included high-stakes commercial litigation, environmental legacy lawsuit defense work, complex real estate transactions, multimillion-dollar collections and foreclosures, bankruptcy matters, and comprehensive corporate counseling. Over the course of his practice, Carl has handled or supervised more than 10,000 legal matters, ranging from single-issue disputes to multi-party, multi-million-dollar matters.
Carl has extensive experience representing financial institutions and businesses in complex litigation and advisory matters, including director and officer liability claims, hostile takeover-related litigation, environmental and contamination claims, large-scale collection and foreclosure proceedings, complex bankruptcy matters, and sophisticated real estate transactions involving multiple properties and multimillion-dollar values.
In addition to litigation, Carl maintains a substantial transactional practice. He regularly advises clients on business formation and governance, mergers and acquisitions, stock and asset sales, franchise agreements, master service agreements, leases, employment and non-competition agreements, confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements, indemnity provisions, and other core business contracts. His real estate practice includes residential and commercial closings, title insurance, servitudes and rights-of-way, foreclosures, tax sales, partitions, construction loans, and litigation involving ownership and boundary disputes.
Carl’s practice also includes extensive work in the oil and gas sector, including lien filing and enforcement, master service agreements, and related commercial disputes. He has represented energy companies and oilfield service providers in both transactional and litigation matters throughout Louisiana, including environmental legacy lawsuit litigation and regulatory-related disputes.
In addition to his business-focused practice, Carl has handled select personal injury matters, generally representing business owners or members of their families, as well as a wide range of general civil litigation matters. His civil litigation experience includes representing both plaintiffs and defendants in complex disputes, coordinating with insurers and insurance-appointed counsel, and managing cases from early investigation through trial, appeal, mediation, and arbitration.
Carl has also represented domestic and international companies in connection with business operations and contractual relationships across multiple jurisdictions. His international experience includes drafting and negotiating non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements, agency and distribution agreements, master service agreements, and memoranda of understanding involving business activities in Argentina, Chile, Malaysia, Algeria, Indonesia, Nigeria, Guyana, Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Brazil, Colombia, and Kuwait.
Carl earned his Bachelor of Science from the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette), graduating cum laude and completing his final 52 hours in one year with a 4.0 GPA. He received his Juris Doctor, cum laude, from Tulane University School of Law, graduating in the top 15% of his class. While at Tulane, he earned the highest grade in Business Transactions and was awarded the Ferdinand F. Stone Scholarship for academic excellence.
In addition to his private practice, Carl has made substantial contributions to the legal profession. He has served as a Louisiana Bar Examination grader for numerous subject areas, including Contracts, Sales and Leases, Partnerships, Security Interests, Suretyship, Arbitration, Prescription, and related topics. He has also taught and presented continuing legal education courses and professional seminars on subjects such as counseling the small business client, collections and foreclosure law, bankruptcy, real estate closings, wage and hour law, wrongful discharge, and employment practices.
Carl is admitted to practice in Louisiana and is a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association and the Lafayette Bar Association. For more than 35 years, he has been trusted by clients throughout Acadiana for his breadth of experience, steady judgment, and ability to handle both complex legal problems and practical business needs.
Education
Juris Doctor, cum laude
Tulane School of Law, Tulane University, 1987
Bachelor of Science
University of Southwestern Louisiana, 1984