How Can I Help You Move Forward?

My years of experience in coverage litigation have helped me negotiate favorable settlements for my clients and prevail in even the most complex and novel coverage arguments. I have always believed an important component of successful advocacy is attention to detail, for which I am widely known.

Overview

Heather Sharp is a coverage attorney whose practice involves primarily third-party liability claims arising under commercial general liability insurance policies, with a special focus on construction defect claims. She also has considerable experience in suits involving toxic torts, such as environmental contamination and latent diseases resulting from long-term exposure to hazardous substances. Heather’s practice includes advising insurers in connection with pre-litigation decisions, issuing coverage opinions, drafting reservation-of-rights and declination letters, and vigorously defending liability insurers when they are brought into suits by parties claiming insured status or by plaintiffs pursuant to Louisiana’s Direct Action Statute. 

Heather also defends insurance companies in first-party property cases involving residential and commercial properties damaged by disasters such as hurricanes, hail storms and fire. Additionally, she has extensive experience in both evaluating coverage under inland marine insurance policies and defending insurers in suits involving these policies. 

Following law school, Heather gained valuable experience in the commercial litigation section of Louisiana’s largest law firm, after which she joined Lugenbuhl’s Insurance Group In 2010. 

Outside the Office

Heather enjoys reading, cooking, bike-riding, and traveling with her husband, Ryan. 

Education

  • Louisiana State University School of Law, J.D., 2005
    • Order of the Coif
  • Louisiana State University, B.S., cum laude, 2001

Admissions

Bar Admissions

  • Louisiana

Court Admissions

  • All Louisiana State Courts
  • U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Louisiana

Professional

  • Louisiana State Bar Association 
  • American Bar Association 
  • Federal Bar Association 
  • Baton Rouge Association of Women Attorneys 
  • Defense Research Institute 

  • Super Lawyers: Rising Stars (2018-2019) 

  • “New ISO Forms Impact Construction Contracts,” Insurance Coverage Law Bulletin (September 2013) 
  • Contributing writer, the “Take Five” series (a sequence of articles published by the American Bar Association’s Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee explaining the basics of commercial general liability coverage) 

Heather 's Insights