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Matt Woolf

Shareholder

Matt Woolf is the chair of Baker Donelson's Complex Litigation and Class Actions Group and the former chair of the Business Litigation Group. Matt also leads the Firm's Insurance Defense Team, and concentrates his practice on first and third-party insurance defense, coverage, bad faith defense, class actions, and complex commercial litigation.

Overview


  • Tulane University, J.D., 2000, cum laude
  • Duke University, B.A., 1997
  • Louisiana, 2000
  • U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Louisiana
  • U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
  • U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals

Mr. Woolf has more than 25 years of experience defending insurance clients in state and federal courts in multiple jurisdictions. His experience includes numerous lines of private and commercial property and casualty, commercial general liability, life, transportation, professional liability, bad faith, coverage, and third-party defense.

He has considerable experience defending mass and class actions against the insurance industry, as well as administering, managing, and defending large volumes of individual claims and lawsuits arising from catastrophic loss events covering a broad geographic region. Mr. Woolf also represents clients in a wide variety of commercial litigation matters, with particular experience defending clients in class and mass action litigation, and a variety of contractual, fiduciary, and business tort litigation.

  • Extensive representation of national insurance companies in class, mass, and individual first-party property claims arising out of natural catastrophic loss events throughout the Firm's footprint.

  • Successfully defended one of the world's largest hotel companies against an $85 million business tort lawsuit, obtaining a complete defense judgment and recovering $4 million in attorneys' fees.

  • Delivered decisive wins in securities litigation, attaining a $3.5 million summary judgment for seven plaintiffs and obtaining dismissal of a separate $2.9 million lawsuit arising from the sale of securities.

  • Successfully defended four lawsuits, an International Criminal Court (ICC) arbitration, and two appeals to the U.S. Fourth Circuit in securing confirmation of an international arbitral award on behalf of an international petroleum company, which resulted in the dismissal of more than $100 million in claims, and ordered reimbursement to the client of over $730,000 in attorneys' fees and arbitration costs.

  • Represented a state oil company in ICC arbitration and confirmation proceedings arising out of the sale of multiple shipments of gasoline where the claims asserted exceeded $150 million.
  • Represented a state oil company in ICC arbitration and confirmation proceedings arising out of the sale of multiple shipments of crude oil and related antitrust litigation.
  • Defended a Fortune 100 retailer from company owned life insurance class actions in state and federal court.
  • Successfully defended a nationwide retail chain in an eviction lawsuit in a federal district court trial conducted via zoom, securing a judgment that eviction was not warranted. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the judgment.

  • Represented a leading national title insurance carrier in a lawsuit filed by a local bank, alleging a title agent misappropriated escrow funds in multiple commercial transactions. Addressed claims by other insurance carriers and financial institutions.

  • Selected to Louisiana Super Lawyers in Business Litigation (2014 – 2026)
  • Listed as a Louisiana Rising Star (2012, 2013) 
  • Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® for Commercial Litigation and Insurance Law (2013 – 2026); Insurance Litigation (2021 – 2026)
  • Named to the Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America (2024 – 2026)
  • Recognized as a "Top Lawyer" by New Orleans Magazine (2018, 2019, 2022 –  2025)
  • Member – Louisiana State Bar Association
  • Member – New Orleans Bar Association
  • Member – American Bar Association
    • Co-Chair of the Property Subcommittee, ABA Section of Litigation Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee
  • Member – Federal Bar Association
  • Tulane Law Review (1998 – 2000), Managing Editor (1999)
  • Co-presenter – "What to Do When Hurricanes Affect Your Business and Property: Property Insurance and Business Interruption Coverage for Hurricanes," ABA CLE Webinar (October 2017)
  • "What to Do in the Event of a Hurricane – Attending to Insurance Issues," ABA Section of Litigation Roundtable (December 2016)

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