The Family of Law

A lot of people who have reached Hunt Downer’s station in life would have long ago retired.

 But that’s not in the plans for the Houma attorney, whose resume also includes the titles general — as in Louisiana Army National Guard — and speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives.

 “Every day you learn something new and every day for the last 46 years I have been learning something new,” is how this dean of the local bar, now partner emeritus at the firm of Waitz & Downer, views the plusses of remaining in practice.

 Downer is proud that the firm bearing his name holds close to traditions created at its inception when founded by the late Joseph L. Waitz. The two met when Downer was a law student working at Saadi’s menswear in downtown Houma. Waitz would come in for clothing. The attorney, knowing Downer was in law school, proposed that he do research for him.

 “It was in 1971 and 1972 when I was a senior at Loyola,” Downer recalled. “I am still so thankful to have been with Mr. Waitz all these years, to have been trained and mentored by him.”

 Today, Mr. Waitz’s mark remains on the firm in a big way. Attorneys at the firm include his children Joe Waitz Jr.,who is the Terrebonne Parish District Attorney and of counsel; Mary Waitz Riviere; Doug Waitz in Lafayette; and John Waitz in Baton Rouge. The next generation includes Joe Jr.’s son, Joseph Waitz III and David Pellegrin Jr.

 Hunt Downer points to all of his life experiences as helpful to his practice of law, calling each and every of them, working as a roughneck and roustabout to driving a school bus among them, as benefitting his ability to help clients.

 “At the end of the day, more times than not, I was the only person in the courtroom with a maritime background,” Downer said. “I would learn the language, the technical terminology, and gained knowledge of how it could be applied to law. If you told me you were on a rig and what you were doing, I understood what could go wrong.”

 Downer, who began as a young attorney with dreams of public service, and the more experienced barrister Mr. Waitz, made a good team, working together more like family members than law partners.

 Downer is very proud of how members of the firm covered his absences during his Gulf War activation and various other military deployments. He is proud as well of the services the firm quietly provided — often on a pro-bono basis — for military personnel as well as dependents and veterans.

 While his own current status as a senior firm member draws from a long time in practice and experience, Downer says the younger firm members bring equally valuable components to the firm, which means clients get the best of several worlds in their representation.

 “There is a lot that they handle,” he said of the next generation of Waitz & Downer lawyers. New technology and ways of grasping it are essential to 21st Century representation.

 The firm’s chief focus has been on personal injury, and an example of how technology has changed the way personal injury law is practiced relates to medical technology.

 “Football players brought traumatic brain injury out into the open, and next came the military,” said Downer, who learned a lot about military applications for medical technology during years of service in the Louisiana Army National Guard.

 Waitz & Downer attorneys understand the importance of determining the long-term effects of head injuries and can bring that information to light thanks to new medical technology used by doctors. Concussions may be temporary but the damage can be permanent. New imaging techniques are among the tools used by doctors to find the extent of an injury, and the firm can use that information to protect a client’s rights against employers or other parties with financial responsibility.

 The care with which clients are handled reflects the family-like atmosphere at the firm overall.

 “Our philosophy is when you are our client you are part of our extended family,” Downer said. “Mr. Waitz instilled that into us and into me. You are not a number; you are not a dollar sign; you are a person who has an issue that we wish to help with and we are going to treat you as we would any member of our family.” •