Attorney Biography

Sonny Shields has over 33 years of experience in construction industry contracts and litigation; construction law; surety law (primarily construction contract bonds); insurance defense (including CGL, first party property and architects’ and engineers’ errors and omissions coverage); products liability; zoning and planning law practice, including administrative hearings; real estate title research; patent, trademark and copyright prosecution and litigation; and general litigation, including appeals.

Mr. Shields has served on the national board of directors for the American Arbitration Association, as the head of its Louisiana construction industry panel and as a member of its panel of arbitrators (including its limited list of arbitrators for its Large, Complex Case Program), and panel of mediators.  He was a member of the Louisiana Supreme Court committee to establish the Civil District Court pilot mediation program and has mediated several hundred cases, primarily in the construction industry.  For many years he has been an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School on the subject or the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure and at Tulane Law School on the subject of Historic Preservation Law. 

Mr. Shields is active in the New Orleans community in the areas of historic preservation, having served as president of the Preservation Resource Center and as chairman of the New Orleans Historic District Landmarks Commission and has delivered more than 200 papers on subjects ranging from negotiation and mediation skills and practices, to numerous aspects of construction and surety law.

Bar Admissions

Admitted to practice before all courts in Louisiana and the United States Courts of Appeals for the Fifth and Federal Circuits, United States Court of Federal Claims, United States Patent and Trademark Office and United States Supreme Court.

Education

• Tulane University School of Law (J.D.)
• Tulane University School of Architecture (B. Arch. & M. Arch.)

Professional Associations and Memberships

• American Bar Association
• Louisiana State Bar Association
• New Orleans Bar Association
• Associated Builders and Contractors
• Associated General Contractors
• Defense Research Institute
• Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel
• National Bond Claims Association
• Surety & Fidelity Claims Institute

Honoraria

• AV Preeminent Rating in Martindale-Hubbell
• Listed in “Chambers and Partners, U.S.A.”
• Listed in “The Best Lawyers in America”
• Listed in “Super Lawyers”
• Listed in “The Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers”