Terrence Knister

Practice Areas

Appellate

Arbitration & Mediation

Class Actions

Commercial Litigation

Construction

Environmental & Toxic Tors

Insurance

Oil, Gas and Energy Litigation and Arbitration

Oil, Gas and Energy Regulatory

Career

Terry Knister has 40 years of litigation experience in bench and jury trials as well as appeals. His practice focuses on energy, environmental, construction and toxic tort litigation; he has defended individual, mass tort and class action lawsuits.

For over two decades, Terry has defended oil and gas companies in numerous “legacy” lawsuits asserting environmental damage claims typically in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Terry's trial strategy for these cases includes formulating concise discovery for obtaining the most information for the least cost. He is intently involved in selecting key expert and fact witnesses and preparing them for effective testimony at deposition and trial. Where actual environmental damage has occurred, Terry is involved in advising the client with respect to any remediation program required as part of the settlement.

Terry has also helped to formulate the immediate response to emergency situations while they are occurring. These situations have involved oil and gas pipeline ruptures, oil and gas well blowouts, chemical railroad car explosions and derailments and asbestos contamination of buildings, including schools. In these emergency situations, Terry has been involved in the prompt identification of potential hazards, notification of all potentially interested regulatory agencies and potential damage control with regards to the immediate effect of the emergency situation to human health, wildlife and the environment. A key issue in these emergency situations is the identification and involvement of expert witnesses on an expedited basis.

Terry has been an invited speaker at the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Environmental Litigation seminar and has previously spoken at legal programs sponsored by the Association of Corporate Counsel, American Association of Professional Landmen, Defense Research Institute, corporations and insurance companies in the areas of environmental and toxic tort litigation, class actions, mass torts and case management. Terry has served as lead counsel in numerous lawsuits involving allegations of historic and ongoing oil and gas production activities (“legacy” litigation), personal injury and property devaluation/damage caused by hydrocarbon and chemical releases, hazardous materials such as Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM), asbestos, asbestos containing materials, silica, lead, ethylene dichloride, nitrogen tetroxide and pesticides and remediation. A number of these matters have included thousands of plaintiffs seeking extensive monetary damages in both class action and mass tort cases.

Terry also has in-depth experience in admiralty, maritime personal injury (Jones Act and Longshoreman and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act), Occupational Safety and Health Act, workers' compensation, products liability, premises liability, redhibition and individual chemical exposure.

He has dealt with state and federal regulatory agencies, including the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, Louisiana State Police, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Texas Railroad Commission, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, U.S. Coast Guard, Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of Labor - Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Recognitions:

- Named a New Orleans Magazine Top Lawyer - Environmental Law

- Recognized in the 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America Guide

- 2025 The Best Lawyers in America® for Commercial Litigation, Energy Law, Environmental Law, Litigation – Construction, Litigation – Environmental, Oil and Gas Law (listed in publication since 2010)

- Selected to Louisiana Super Lawyers, Super Lawyers (Thomson Reuters), 2011 – 2013, 2015 to Present

- Named a 2022 Leadership in Law Honoree by New Orleans CityBusiness

- Louisiana Bar Foundation - Louis Moreau-Lislet Fellow

- The Lamar Order of the Law Alumni Chapter of The University of Mississippi Alumni Association

- Rated Martindale-Hubbell® A-V Preeminent™

- Listed in A.M. Best's Directory of Recommended Insurance Attorneys