Sessions, Israel & Shartle

In 1958, Cicero Sessions and Ralph Fishman teamed up to create the firm now known as Sessions, Fishman, Nathan & Israel.

At the time, Cicero Sessions was among New Orleans most able trial lawyers and Ralph Fishman was recognized as one of the most astute real-estate lawyers in the South. These two attorneys built a law firm concentrating on real estate, business law, and litigation.

While retired as of December 31, 2018 after more than 60 years of practice, our most famous attorney is Max Nathan, Jr. Max lead the largest and what is now regarded as the most premier estate and trust practice in Louisiana. When building the Firm and the estate and trust practice, Max represented thousands of clients and was uniformly respected by his colleagues and the judiciary throughout Louisiana. For over 50 years, Max was a professor of law teaching security rights at Tulane Law School. For an equally long time, Max taught the bar review course to graduate law students throughout the state so they could pass the Louisiana Bar Exam. Max has taught thousands of Louisiana lawyers under the age of 75 who are now practicing in Louisiana.

The Firm's practice has broadened steadily since its founding. Besides real estate, business law, and all types of litigation, our major specialties today include banking, bankruptcy and credit relations, consumer law (defense), insurance law and tort defense, health care, labor and employment, products liability, trusts and estates, and tax.

While started in New Orleans, we now have offices in Atlanta, Buffalo, Chicago, Dallas, Flemington (NJ), Fort Collins (CO), Metairie (LA), Philadelphia, San Diego and Tampa.

Practice Areas	No. of Attorneys
Bankruptcy	1
Corporate	4
Labor & Employment	4
Litigation	16
Trusts and Estates	3