Murphy J. Foster, III Partner—Baton Rouge Phone: 225.381.8015 Fax: 225.387.5397 murphy.foster@bswllp.com

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Murphy Foster is a partner in the Baton Rouge office of Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, L.L.P. and a member of the firm’s Management Committee. His principal areas of practice include employment and traditional labor law, as well as construction litigation. He has successfully litigated a number of high profile employment and construction cases. Mr. Foster is the past Chairman of the Labor & Employment Law section of the Louisiana State Bar Association. He is currently Chairman of the Labor & Employment Practice section and the Construction Industry team of the firm with over thirty years of experience representing business in labor and construction matters. Recently, Mr. Foster was recognized by Chambers, USA, America’s Leading Business Lawyers as “the best known labor and employment attorney in Baton Rouge” and Who’s Who Legal as “one of Louisiana’s top flight labor lawyers.” As General Counsel to the states largest contractor trade association, Mr. Foster is also respected for his extensive experience in litigating large construction related disputes. Mr. Foster’s aggressive litigation reputation is respected throughout the region.  Chambers describes Mr. Foster as, “An experienced, assertive attorney” who “puts a bit of fear into opponents …”

Education

Paul M. Hebert Law School, Louisiana State University, J.D., 1979

Admissions

1979, Louisiana State Courts, Eastern, Middle & Western Districts of Louisiana, Fifth, Eighth, and Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, U.S. Supreme Court

Professional Associations

Louisiana State Bar Association, Labor & Employment Law Section, Past Chairman. 

Fellow to the Louisiana State Bar Foundation.

Member of the American Bar Association.

General Counsel to the Louisiana Pelican Chapter of the Associated Builders & Contractors (state’s largest contractor organization comprised of over 300 members).

General Counsel to The Recreation and Park Commission for the Parish of East Baton Rouge.

General Counsel to the Greater Baton Rouge Industry Alliance (an organization of over 50 industrial and manufacturing concerns including chemical and petrochemical plants in Louisiana).

General Counsel to the Louisiana Motor Transport Association.

General Counsel to the Louisiana Airport Manager’s Association.

Member of The Associated General Contractors of America

Publications

Practique du droit des affaires aux Etats-Unis’s, a French treatise on law in the United States authored by Ralph H. Folsom and Alain A. Levasseur, contributing author.

Louisiana Employment Laws & Regulations published by LABI Press, co-author.

Author: “Polygraphs in Employment,” BNA Retail/Services Labor Report and BNA Employee Relations Weekly.

Presentations

Mr. Foster has authored numerous papers and has addressed hundreds of conferences pertaining to Labor & Employment law over the past twenty-five years in and around the Southern United States.

Community Involvement

"Super Lawyers, Labor & Employment"

Past Chairman of the Board of the Istrouma Area Council for the Boy Scouts of America.

Boy Scouts of America Silver Beaver Award.

Eagle Scout

Past Chairman of the Board of Prevent Child Abuse Louisiana.

Past Member of the Board of Directors of Louisiana Arts & Science Center.

Past Member of the Board of Directors of the Cancer Society of Baton Rouge.

Member Baton Rouge Rotary Club.

Member of the Louisiana Committee of 100.

Planning Member, Tulane Law School, Multi-State Labor & Employment Conference

“Chambers, USA, America’s Leading Business Lawyers,” Labor and Employment, 2009, 2010, 2011.

“The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers” .

“Who’s Who Legal”

Instrument Rated Commercial Pilot.

Awards and Honors

Listed in the 2012 edition of Louisiana Super Lawyers in the area of Employment & Labor

Ranked in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business for Louisiana - Labor and Employment since 2009, and for Construction in 2012.

Representative Matters

Represented employers in numerous union organizational campaigns.

Represented employers interest in over 100 trials and arbitrations in employment and labor related disputes.

Handled scores of union representation campaigns and conducted union avoidance seminars for employers.

Handled decertification campaigns and elections involving former unionized employers.

Negotiated in excess of 100 collective bargaining agreements between unions representing management.

Enjoined unlawful strikes and pickets in union - management disputes.

Successfully prosecuted and defended hundreds of millions of dollars in commercial and highway heavy construction disputes across Southern U.S.