Mark J. Spansel

Mr. Spansel is a senior partner in Adams and Reese's New Orleans office. As a trial lawyer with more than 30 years of experience, Mr. Spansel concentrates his practice in the areas of commercial litigation and complex litigation, environmental and toxic tort litigation, and energy and maritime litigation. He is a partner and has held numerous leadership positions within the firm, including serving four terms as a member of the executive committee, chairman of the executive committee, practice team leader, member of the strategic planning committee, and member of the expansion committee.

Mr. Spansel has served as trial and coordinating litigation counsel for a major international energy company for 30 years, obtaining successful trial verdicts and outcomes in casualty and commercial litigation arising in connection with offshore and onshore drilling operations. He has also represented a Fortune 500 oil and gas refinery in litigation and corporate matters for more than 15 years in cases involving environmental exposure, commercial, casualty, environmental regulation, and transactional matters.

Mr. Spansel frequently lectures on maritime law and offshore/oil field liabilities at professional and industry seminars, including the Petroleum Insurance & Environmental Protection Conference, the Loyola Longshore Conference, and the PSAM-II, an international conference devoted to the design and operation of technological systems and processes. He has been a regular speaker at IRMI's Construction Risk Conference since 1984 and at its Energy Risk and Insurance Conference since its inception. He also has coauthored several articles on maritime law for its Risk Report and was honored with the Words of Wisdom speaker's award presented at the Construction Risk Conference in 2007. Mr. Spansel is coauthor of "Maritime Contract Indemnity Provisions," "Insuring Indemnity Obligations in Maritime Contracts," "Maritime Contracts and Additional Insured Status," "Maritime Personal Injury Law," "The Longshore Act Including OCSLA," "The Defense Base Act," and "The Nonappropriated Fund Instrumentalities Act."

He is a member of the Maritime Legislation Committee; the Louisiana State, Federal, and American Bar Associations; the Louisiana and New Orleans Associations of Defense Counsel; and the Mariner's Club of the port of New Orleans.

In his community, Mr. Spansel serves as an Advisory Board member for Tulane Law School Center for Energy. He serves on the Steering Committee for the New Orleans Peace Project, which he helped form with faith and business leaders to mitigate violence and murder in New Orleans. Mr. Spansel serves on the Board of Directors of the East Jefferson Hospital Foundation. In the past, he served on the Executive Committee of Greater New Orleans, Inc., and is involved in the Super-Region Committee. Mr. Spansel has also served on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Jefferson Parish Chamber of Commerce and was the Chamber's general counsel. He was also a member of the Jefferson Business Council. He formerly served as the cochair of the Christian Brothers School's Capital Campaign and was the chairman of the 2010 Archbishop's Community Appeal. He still serves the Appeal as a core member. Mr. Spansel is a New Orleans native and received his juris doctorate and undergraduate degrees from Tulane University.