SCIALDONE LAW FIRM - Key Persons
Beyond working in the legal profession, Ms. Cooper is a published freelance writer, including writing a legal column for Business to Business magazine entitled "Legislation and Legalese." She has been a strong supporter of community fundraising for decades, participating in dozens of charitable efforts including chairing the Atlanta Opera Ball. Ms. Cooper is an avid dressage rider and German Shepherd aficionado.
has achieved one of the broadest levels of experience available anywhere in the world for maritime law. His litigation track record covers over two decades of actions in the U. S. and foreign venues, with more than 47 successful verdicts and hundreds of successful mediated agreements, in matters ranging from complex commercial disputes to salvage, major casualties and personal injuries. Mr. Scialdone's trial and appellate practice have produced benchmark decisions on insurance coverage, standards of negligence and strict liability, causation, maintenance and cure remedies, contractual indemnity and insurance rates; most recently producing the historical ruling of Boudreaux vs. Transocean, which established for the first time in the history of the U. S. General Maritime Law the right of a Jones Act employer to recover maintenance and cure payments in a suit for fraud against the plaintiff.
Mr. Scialdone's experience in transactions covers new build and vessel modification agreements, charters, bills of lading, terminal operations, sales agreements, dredging, public works projects, and a variety of security devices, as well as facilitating domestic and international joint ventures. He has successfully concluded more than $4 billion in contracts, financing and joint ventures over the last 20 years.
Mr. Scialdone is the firm's managing partner for all offices. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1966, he received his bachelors degree from Michigan State University in 1989 and his Juris Doctorate from Tulane in 1992. He is a member of the bar of the U.S. Supreme Court and all federal and state courts in Mississippi and Louisiana.
Katherine Halliday has been an associate with the firm since 2020 and focuses her practice on admiralty and maritime law. Ms. Halliday is admitted to the Louisiana bar.
Ms. Halliday received her Bachelor's degree in Philosophy and Art from the University of Mississippi in 2017. She received her Juris Doctorate and Certificate in Maritime Law from Tulane University School of Law in 2020. While in law school, Ms. Halliday completed summer externships for the Honorable Robert H. Walker (United States District Court - Southern District of Mississippi) and the Honorable Jay C. Zainey (United States District Court - Eastern District of Louisiana), as well as a year-long externship for the Honorable Barry W. Ashe (United States District Court - Eastern District of Louisiana).
During her time at Tulane, Ms. Halliday served as a Dean Rufus Harris Peer Fellow mentor to 1L students and as an Admiralty tutor to international students. In 2019, she received the CALI award for the highest grade in both the Collision & Limitation of Liability and Admiralty Personal Injury & Death courses. Ms. Halliday also participated in the Tulane Maritime Law Study Abroad Program in Rhodes, Greece during the summer of 2018.
Pat Patrick graduated from the University of South Alabama and from Tulane Law School in 1984, where he served as Articles Editor for the Tulane Law Review. Prior to the formation of Patrick Miller LLC he was a partner in a large New Orleans law firm. Pat's practice focuses on insurance, tort, indemnity, workers' compensation (state and LHWCA), and maritime issues. He has handled environmental and toxic tort cases in regard to both property damage and personal injury aspects. He handles cases at all levels of the state and federal court systems. He is a registered lobbyist in Louisiana. He has handled matters before agencies such as the United States Customs Service, United States and Louisiana Departments of Labor, the United States Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, the Louisiana Insurance Commission, the Louisiana Commission on Public Ethics, all gaming regulatory agencies in Louisiana and Mississippi, and the Louisiana Department of Public Health. Pat is a member of numerous professional organizations including the Defense Research Institute, Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel, and Association of Average Adjusters of the United States. He is past president of the New Orleans Port of the Propeller Club of the United States, and is a Board member of the International Propeller Club of the United States. Pat is a frequent lecturer and writer on legal education topics, primarily involving insurance, workers' compensation, maritime law, and trial practice.