Telecommunications & Utilities

Gordon Arata is proud to have successfully represented Louisiana’s leading companies in the utilities, cable and telecommunications industries for years. From start-up telecom companies to large cable television and internet service providers to regulated public utilities, we have dedicated ourselves to providing quality legal services to our clients as they face a broad spectrum of legal, regulatory and political issues. We have defended large scale subscriber class actions based on service outages, land-use and rights-of-way disputes, mass tort and environmental claims. We also litigate and manage standard fare lawsuits and regulatory actions, including rule making proceedings and violation challenges.
In the cable and telecom industries, we play a leading role in providing guidance and legal representation to national companies serving multiple Louisiana parishes and municipalities.

We offer advice, guidance and service to clients regarding:

• Local and state franchising
• Cable video, data, telecom and related services
• 5G and microcell regulation and franchising
• Public rights of way
• Fiber optic capacity use and service agreements
• Indefeasible rights of use agreements
• Consumer subscriber agreements
• RFPs, RFQs, public bids and state and local procurement
• Gaming, including non-gaming supplier permitting and background checks
• Litigation in federal and state court
• Employment and independent contractor disputes
• Fiber cut subrogation and recovery claims
• Fiber optic business interruptions
• Service outage complaints
• Land use and property damage
• State and local tax matters

Led by a core group of industry attorneys, our telecom and public utility industry team also includes attorneys from multiple practice areas in the firm, including employment, land use and commercial litigation. Each team member offers a wealth of experience in specific practice areas, experience that is necessary in the ever-evolving world facing our cable, telecom and utility clients.