Robert P. Lombardi
Shareholder
Email: rpl@kullmanlaw.com
Office:
504-596-4127

Personal

An enthusiast in experiencing and learning about new cultures, Bob is a devoted traveler who has visited six continents. He will visit the seventh, Australia, in 2023. Bob is the past president of the Greater Memphis and Shelby County Equal Opportunity Counsel, a former Memphis State University chapter president of the Lions Club International, and was previously named Outstanding Lion of the Year.

EDUCATION

  • University of Memphis School of Law, J.D., summa cum laude, 1999
  • U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, 1992
  • Webster University, M.A., 1984
  • University of Rhode Island, B.S., 1979

Admissions

  • Louisiana, 1999
  • Louisiana Supreme Court
  • United States Supreme Court
  • United States Second Circuit Court of Appeals
  • United States Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals
  • United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
  • United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals
  • United States Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals
  • United States Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals
  • United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
  • United States Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals
  • United States District of Columbia Court of Appeals
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana
  • U.S. District Court, Middle District of Louisiana
  • U.S. District Court, Western District of Louisiana
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Arkansas
  • U.S. District Court, Western District of Arkansas
  • U.S. District Court, District of Colorado
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan
  • U.S. District Court, District of North Dakota

Memberships

  • Louisiana State Bar Association
  • New Orleans Bar Association

thought leadership

Recognition

overview

"My clients tell me that I'm an integral part of their organization. That’s gratifying for me. I like to familiarize myself with every aspect of their businesses. When issues arise, I draw on my hard-science, academic background and take a disciplined, detail-oriented approach to legal analysis and combine that with a broad-view perspective. This helps me craft innovative and efficient solutions."

Practice Overview

Highly regarded litigator Robert “Bob” Lombardi defends employers in a range of individual, class, and collective actions brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), and state wage-and-hour laws. Serving a broad base of clients in sectors such as energy, retail, high tech, and manufacturing, Bob skillfully advocates in bench and jury trials nationwide. He tries cases in a variety of venues, including in many federal and state courts, and maintains an active appellate practice that involves appeals, writs, and amicus briefs. Additionally, Bob has helped set groundbreaking precedents and establish new laws.

With a keen ability to dig deep to uncover the relevant facts and issues of a case, Bob forms a comprehensive understanding of the nature of the plaintiff’s work, their decision-making process, and many other key details. The knowledge enables him to form a coherent story that depicts the realities of the job and counters any minimization of the plaintiff’s responsibilities in the matter. Such framing, in turn, leads to advantageous outcomes for Bob’s clients.

Working closely with his clients, Bob provides salient guidance to management and imparts useful and relevant information through training sessions and seminars. He enjoys consulting with clients to help them stay compliant with regulations and establish workplace policies that stave off trouble down the road, including employee claims of harassment and discrimination. Bob vigilantly tracks and updates clients on new developments, not only in laws and regulations, but in plaintiff’s bar theories and strategies for bringing actions against employers.

Prior to attending law school, Bob worked at positions that laid a solid foundation for his legal career. In the U.S. Army he served as a program manager and analyst for the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization, which helped him develop valuable skills such as statistical analysis, critical path modeling, dynamic modeling, project management, teaching and mentoring, effective communications, and deadline adherence. In his operations research/systems analysis role, Bob considered his job was to first understand systems, then analyze them and explain his analysis to decision makers.

Bob’s work as a corporate human resource manager for a national retail chain seasoned him in managing employment law litigation, developing personnel policies, investigating and responding to employee complaints, advising management on a wide variety of employment and wage-and-hour issues, and conducting training for supervisors. Both experiences provided him with highly valuable insight into employers’ perspectives, problems, and priorities. His value as a resource was summed up in a comment made by a district manager during a deposition. The manager was asked, “What do you do if you have an employee problem or a legal complaint?” The manager responded, “Simple, 1-800-call-Bob.”