E. Blair Schilling

Fishman Haygood Partner Blair Schilling represents clients in a wide range of commercial matters in federal and state court, with a concentration in environmental law. Her practice includes matters involving coastal restoration, land contamination, land use, clean water, getting brownfield sites safely back into commerce, regulatory and permitting, and expropriation issues. In doing this work, Blair represents state government agencies, non-profit organizations, and private companies and individuals, including the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Natural Resource Defense Council, Restore the Mississippi River Delta, and many private landowners. The goal of her environmental practice is to make Louisiana more resilient and encourage future sustainable economic growth in the region.

To that end, Blair often represents landowners throughout Louisiana against some of the oil and gas industry’s largest operators for land loss, oilfield contamination, erosion, and groundwater contamination. Because the cases she handles are highly technical and require a great deal of scientific and operational understanding, Blair is known for immersing herself in the complicated aspects of these matters, as well as for her keen ability to steer her cases in a strategic and effective manner to achieve the overarching goal.

Updated Sep 2025

• Represents Bradish Johnson Co., Limited in a class action against the operators of three pipelines and pipeline canals that stretch along the entire coast of Louisiana from St. Bernard Parish to St. Mary Parish. The lawsuit alleges that the pipeline companies failed to abide by their legal obligations to prevent damage to the land across which their pipelines and pipeline canals traverse, causing massive destruction and land loss. The lawsuit seeks a mandatory injunction against the pipeline companies requiring them to construct projects that will restore the land that has been lost as a result of the breach defendants’ legal obligations. The case is the biggest class action ever filed attempting to hold the pipeline industry responsible for the devastation they have caused to Louisiana’s coastline. (Bradish Johnson Co., Ltd. v. Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, LLC and Kinetica Energy Express, LLC, No. 2023-10295 (E.D. La.));
  
  
• Represents a class of plaintiffs in Louisiana whose property has been damaged by lead-covered telephone cables and associated lead equipment owned, operated, and/or abandoned by Defendants. The case concerns the severe environmental damage to soil and groundwater in areas along Bayou Teche in Louisiana caused by the Defendants’ installation and subsequent abandonment of lead-wrapped telecommunication cables on and under Plaintiffs’ and Class Members’ properties, and the Defendants’ ongoing, decades-long failure to remediate the damage or remove cables no longer in use. The firm filed a class action in early November 2023 seeking injunctive relief for a comprehensive assessment and remediation of the environmental damage to all properties, as well as class-wide compensatory damages. (See Gary Blum, et al. v. AT&T Corp, et al., Case No. 6:23-cv-1748 (M.D. La. 2023));
  
  
• Represents the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, which oversees the Pointe aux Chenes Wildlife Management Area (WMA). The WMA is made up of nearly 34,000 acres of coastal wetlands in Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes and is entrusted to the LDWF. The land provides habitats for many species of fish and wildlife, and it offers valuable ecological functions, namely storm protection and public recreation. The LDWF recently filed a petition for injunctive relief against several pipeline companies for failing to properly maintain the land entrusted to them for their use as pipeline canals. (Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, et al. v. Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., LLC, et al. (17th JDC 2022));
  
  
• Represents Jeanerette Lumber & Shingle Co., which owns over 100,000 acres of land in the Atchafalaya Basin—the most productive ecosystem in the country. The Defendants entered into right-of-way agreements with Plaintiff in order to dredge a pipeline canal and lay a pipeline across Plaintiff’s property. However, Defendants have not complied with or acknowledged the obligations specified in right-of-way agreements under Louisiana law, causing significant damage to the hydrology, sedimentation, and erosion to the land. Four of the five cases have settled. (See e.g. Jeanerette Lumber & Shingle Co., LLC v. American Midstream (MIDLA), LLC, Gulf South Pipeline Company, LP, Chevron U.S.A, Inc., and Chevron U.S.A. Holdings, Inc., Enlink Midstream Operating, LP, and Bridgeline Holdings, LP, No. 87264, 16th JDC, La (Sept. 2018));
  
  
• Represents several environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs), including the Environmental Defense Fund, the National Wildlife Federation, the Natural Resource Defense Council, Louisiana Wildlife Federation, Orleans Audubon Society, Pontchartrain Conservancy, Restore the Mississippi River Delta, and others, providing counsel on legal and regulatory compliance, master planning, and strategic planning. Blair also represents the ENGOs in legal matters, including intervening in a federal lawsuit aimed at derailing the federal permits issued for the $3 billion Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion Project and filing amicus curiae related to the constitutionality of Louisiana’s Community Air Monitoring Reliability Act.

• Class action
• Commercial disputes
• Environmental
• Government and regulatory
• Plaintiff

• Fisheries and aquaculture
• Government and public policy
• Natural resources
• Oil and gas

• J.D., magna cum laude - Loyola University New Orleans College of Law - 2013
• B.A. in Integrated Strategic Marketing - University of Kentucky - 2007

• American Bar Association    
• Louisiana State Bar Association    
• Federal Bar Association – New Orleans Chapter    
• Board of Governors, Louisiana Association for Justice    
• Fellow, American Bar Foundation    
• Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America    
• Legal Counsel/Secretary, Young Leadership Council 2025 Board of Directors    
• Member and Past President, Association for Women Attorneys – New Orleans Chapter    
• Past Bylaws Chairperson, Independent Women’s Organization of Greater New Orleans

• Louisiana  - 2013