One Attorney. Both States.
Admitted in Louisiana since 1997 and Mississippi since 1998. When a matter crosses the state line, that does not have to mean two lawyers, two retainers, and telling the story twice.
Why the state line matters.
Property is governed by the law of the state where it sits. A Louisiana judgment does not transfer Mississippi title, and a Mississippi decree does not clear Louisiana title. When an estate, a family, or a business has a foot in both states, two proceedings are often genuinely required.
Two proceedings, though, do not require two law firms. What they require is one lawyer admitted in both states who can see the whole matter at once — and who knows which questions have different answers on each side of the Pearl River.
Louisiana is not like other states.
Louisiana is the only civil-law jurisdiction in the United States. Its law of successions, property, and family descends from the Civil Code rather than from English common law, and concepts central to it — forced heirship, usufruct, community property, the authentic act — have no true equivalent in Mississippi or anywhere else.
That cuts both directions. Out-of-state counsel who approach a Louisiana matter with common-law instincts get it wrong. And a Louisiana lawyer who assumes Mississippi works the same way makes the mirror-image mistake in a Chancery courtroom that has never heard of a judgment of possession.
Where matters cross the line.
The pattern is more common on the Northshore and the Gulf Coast than people expect. Families here have lived, worked, married, and bought property on both sides of the line for generations.
- A parent dies in St. Tammany owning a camp in Pearl River or Hancock County
- A Mississippi Coast resident owns rental or inherited property in Louisiana
- An estate plan has to work for property held in both states
- One parent relocates across the line and custody follows
- An injury occurs near the state line, and the choice of forum matters
- A business operates on both sides and needs counsel in both
Choosing where to file is its own decision.
Filing deadlines, comparative-fault rules, and damages limits are not the same in Louisiana and Mississippi. Where a matter is brought can change what it is worth and how long there is to bring it.
A lawyer admitted in only one state has an obvious interest in that answer. Being admitted in both means the question can be asked honestly, at the outset, when it can still be acted on.
Two states. One lawyer.
Covington · the Northshore · the Mississippi Gulf Coast
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