Chamberlain, Bruce A.

Timothy W. Cerniglia, was born on July 28, 1950, in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Dr. Albert and Elise Cerniglia. He attended the University of Southwestern Louisiana and Louisiana State University in New Orleans before going to Louisiana State University School of Law. Mr. Cerniglia received his Juris Doctorate in May of 1974, and was admitted to the Louisiana Bar on October 6, 1974. He was admitted to the Texas Bar on June 3, 1994. Mr. Cerniglia is licensed to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the United States District Court for the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Louisiana, and the Southern and Western District of Texas, as well as the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

After law school, Mr. Cerniglia became an Assistant District Attorney for the Parish of Orleans. During the four years he served as an Assistant District Attorney, he rose from being a Section Attorney to Chief of Trials Division, and then to the Head of the Career Criminal Bureau, a federally funded nation wide program. He practiced for six years in the Texaco Legal Department as a Trial Attorney in the Litigation Section, handling cases ranging from offshore injuries to major complex litigation and class action lawsuits. In June of 1984, he joined the firm of Adams & Reese, where he became a partner, staying until June of 1991 when he started his own firm, The Cerniglia Law Firm. On September 1, 1998, he merged with the firms of John M. Sharp, P.L.C., and Shaw, Weaver, Colvin & Henry, to become Sharp, Henry, Cerniglia, Colvin & Weaver, L.L.C., later Sharp, Hymel, Cerniglia, Colvin, Weaver & Davis, LLC.

First and foremost, Mr. Cerniglia is a trial lawyer. Those who know him consider him to be the consummate trial advocate, extremely comfortable before a jury. Having tried over a hundred jury trials and dozens of bench trials, he has an excellent understanding of what it takes to persuade the trier of fact on any given point. Mr. Cerniglia has handled cases in many diverse jurisdictions including the Supreme Court of New York, the County Court of Common Pleas of South Carolina, District Court of Maryland, District Court of Pennsylvania, Muskogee County Court of Oklahoma, United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, United States Eastern District of Arkansas, Fulton County Court in Georgia, Broward County Circuit Court in Florida, United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, Clark County Court, Nevada, Superior County Court of Sacramento, California, and several state and federal courts in Texas. He has been involved in complex litigation, class actions, as well as cases involving complex technical issues.

In addition to his trial experience, Mr. Cerniglia has briefed and argued appeals before the Louisiana Supreme Court, all of the five Louisiana Courts of Appeal, and the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Mr. Cerniglia also has extensive experience with computer animations designed to explain and educate complex matters and issues to juries, and has published articles in the Defense Law Journal and the American Journal of Trial Advocacy on the admissibility of computer generated exhibits. He made presentations involving computer generated animations at seminars put on by the Louisiana Bar Association, and he made presentations in Chicago, Illinois, Washington, D.C., and New York, New York on the use and admissibility of computer generated exhibits, as well as to the Harry Phillips' American Inn of Court for the 20th Judicial District, Nashville, Tennessee. He designed and produced a training seminar for a major offshore drilling company on accident investigation and reporting, and has made several presentations before groups such as the Acadiana Safety Congress and the Work Boat Symposium in New Orleans. He has developed mock jury trials, directed and participated in jury research, as well as help formulate telephone surveys of community attitudes toward specific issues in high profile cases.
Mr. Cerniglia is a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association, the Texas Bar Association, the Maritime Law Association, and the Fifth Circuit Bar Association. He has also practiced before the Louisiana Department of Conservation and the Louisiana Mineral Board. His clients have included Airborne Freight Corporation, DHL Worldwide Express, Mega Crane International, Inc., Transocean Offshore Inc., Shell Oil Co., Texaco, Inc., Zurich North America, and the United Kingdom Mutual Steamship Assurance Association (Bermuda), Ltd.

Mr. Cerniglia resides in Waveland, Mississippi.