Bill Jarman is a partner in the Baton Rouge office of Kean Miller. He is one of the founding members of the firm and practices in the litigation group. With over 35 years of legal experience, Bill represents local, national and international energy and industrial clients in litigation involving a wide variety of substantive areas such as oil and gas litigation, pipeline expropriation, NORM, environmental litigation, toxic tort, commercial litigation, products liability, and the underground storage of natural gas, petroleum, and other liquid and gaseous materials. Bill is a widely respected trial strategist for Fortune 100 industrial, chemical and energy companies, and is a renowned negotiator. He has been recognized for his trial skills by his peers by having been named a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers in 1993. Bill is listed in The Best Lawyers in America (Woodward/White 2004-2009) in Business Litigation, Commercial Litigation, Energy Law, and Oil & Gas Law.  He is also listed in Chambers USA – "America's Leading Business Lawyers (Litigation, 2003-2004, 2005-2006, 2007-2008), and Louisiana Super Lawyers (2008).

Bill has particular experience in litigation involving energy, environmental, toxic tort, products liability, and commercial issues.

Representative Experience

• Amicus briefs submitted on behalf of the Louisiana Oil & Gas Association, the American Petroleum Institute and the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil & Gas Association in multiple major oilfield environmental cases.
• Negotiation of remediation projects in oil field contamination projects with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources.
• Negotation of settlement with Department of Justice in resolution of CERCLA claims in the Petro Processors litigation in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana involving a waste disposal site in Devils Swamp, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana.
• Representation of a professional uniform company regarding water discharge claims brought by citizens group.
• Successful representation of an injection well firm in a challenge to an environmental permit in the Court of Appeal.
• Defense of a docket of over 50 legacy oilfield site contamination and NORM lawsuits for major and independent oil and gas companies involving soil contamination, shallow groundwater alleged contamination, and drinking water aquifer alleged impacts.
• Defense of major oil and gas producer in royalty underpayment litigation.
• Managing liquid petroleum products pipeline right of way acquisition for pipeline subsidiary of major oil company.
• Representation of key players in the U.S.pipeline industry for over 30 years in a wide variety of expropriation/condemnation and land use matters.
• Representation of a major pipeline company in a 75 mile pipeline expropriation/condemnation project from Garyville, Louisiana to East Feliciana Parish, north of Baton Rouge. The pipeline will carry liquefied petroleum products.
• Defending toll manufacturers and pharmaceutical manufacturers in federal and state court products liability actions.
• Successful condemnation action for a Texas-based energy supplier of a multimillion dollar underground storage facility.
• Representation of a major oil company in lease/royalty litigation involving millions in royalties before the Louisiana Supreme Court.
• Defense of specialty chemicals company in environmental responsibility law suit in Houston, Texas.
• Representation of clients with regard to the underground storage of natural gas, petroleum, and other liquid and gaseous materials.
  

Education

Bill earned his B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Louisiana State University in 1970 and his J.D. from the LSU Law Center in 1973.

Admissions

• Admitted to bar, 1973, Louisiana; 1996, Texas

Memberships

• Baton Rouge, Louisiana State and American Bar Associations
• Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel
• The State Bar of Texas
• Louisiana Law Institute
• Institute for Energy Law
• Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers
• Fellow, International Oil and Gas Foundation
• Member, Advisory Board, Center for American and International Law (Institute for Energy Law)
• Member, MidContinent Oil and Gas Association

Community Service

• Board of Directors and Past President, Cancer Services of Greater Baton Rouge.
• Member, Advisory Board, Department of Industrial & Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Louisiana State University.
• Member, Board of Directors, College of Basic Sciences Council, Louisiana State University.
• Member, President, Board of Directors, Louisiana Arts and Science Center.
• Member, Chairman, St. Aloysius School Board.
• Chairman, St. Joseph's Children's Home.
• Member, Board of Directors, LSU Anglo-American Art Museum.
• Member, Board of Directors, Baton Rouge Speech and Hearing Foundation.
• Member, Board of Directors, Association for Retarded Citizens, Baton Rouge, Inc.
• Member, Board of Directors, Baton Rouge Green.
• Chair, LSU Law Center Annual Environmental Seminar Committee (2004-present)
  

Articles, Publications and Presentations

Louisiana Supreme Court Clarifies Mineral Lessee's Surface Restoration Obligations in Terrebone Parish School Board v. Castex Energy
Awardable Damages in Environmental and Toxic Tort Cases in Louisiana
Trends in Upstream Litigation
Corbello - The Aftermath

Lecturer

• Post Trial Motions:  Articulating the Standards for JNOV vs. New Trial, LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Center for Continuing Professional Development, Fundamentals of Civil Litigation, April 10, 2008.
• The Role of Environmental Agencies and Standards in Property Damage Litigation: Corbello and its Aftermath (Act 1166), Louisiana State University, Environmental Law Seminar, May 7, 2004.
• Corbello, The Aftermath, April 2, 51st Louisiana Mineral Law Institute, 2004, by G. William Jarman and Pamela R. Mascari.
• Trends in Upstream Environmental Litigation: The Impact of Corbello and Grefer, 55th Annual Program on Oil and Gas Law, The Institute for Energy Law, The Center for American and International Law, Houston, Texas, February 19-20, 2004 by G. William Jarman and Pamela R. Mascari.
• Legal Barriers and the Impact of Litigation on Drilling and Production, Center for Energy Studies, Louisiana State University, October 27, 2003.
• Awardable Damages in Environmental / Toxic Tort Cases, Louisiana State Bar Association, 4th Annual Class Action/Mass Tort Symposium, October 24, 2003, by G. William Jarman and Pamela Mascari.
• Awardable Damages in Environmental / Toxic Tort Cases, Advanced Environmental & Toxic Tort Issues, LSU Law Center, 2002, by G. William Jarman and Pamela R. Mascari.
• The Litigation Aftermath of Katrina, 57th Anual Conference on Oil and Gas Law, February 16, 17, 2006, Institute for Energy Law, The Center for American and International Law.