Robert D. Sloan, Director, LSU Energy Law Center
LSU Law Center Chancellor Jack Weiss has announced the appointment of Robert D. Sloan as the first director of the LSU John P. Laborde Energy Law Center and as Professor of Professional Practice. The appointments were effective November 1.
The Laborde Center, formally approved by the Louisiana Board of Regents in August, is the first such center in Louisiana and one of a handful in law schools nationwide. The Center will prepare lawyers and leaders for the complex world of 21st century energy law and business.
“With 40 years of legal experience across the globe, Bob Sloan will bring a broad professional and international perspective to the Laborde Energy Law Center,” Weiss said.
“LSU Law’s already considerable contributions to the State’s economic development can only grow as we ramp up our educational focus on energy. The Center will train students to understand and to advance responsible energy-related commerce. We believe that the job market will value their skills greatly,” said Weiss. “Bob Sloan is the perfect choice to lead these efforts.”
Sloan served most recently as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Entergy Corporation, based in New Orleans. Prior to joining Entergy, Sloan served as Vice President and General Counsel at GE Industrial Systems from 1998 to 2003, a subsidiary of General Electric Company that employs 40,000 people worldwide. As the former managing partner in the Brussels office of McKenna Long Aldridge from 1993 to 1998, Sloan’s practice focused on a broad range of transactions, principally in the United States, Western Europe, and Asia.
Sloan is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Harvard Law School. He also serves on the Advisory Board at the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC) and has been voted to become an EPIC Senior Fellow.
“I am very much looking forward to taking on a leadership role at the new LSU Laborde Energy Law Center,” said Sloan. “Starting with a broad and deep range of new courses and programs focused on energy law, we will be striving to build on the tremendous academic strengths found across LSU. Our program will have ties to engineering, geology, and other sciences; to coastal studies; to business and finance — all with the goal of providing graduate students with enhanced training opportunities with a practical, cross-functional approach. At the same time, we aim to make the Center a recognized focal point of academic knowledge, experience, and overall excellence in the energy field.”
The LSU Laborde Energy Law Center will offer a wide range of courses for the concentrated study of energy law. In addition, the Law Center will develop collaborative and cross-enrollment opportunities with the LSU A&M campus in content areas that will enhance the scientific and technical knowledge base of students concentrating in energy law. Various cross-enrollment opportunities at the Law Center will also be available to LSU A&M graduate students seeking greater knowledge of legal, policy, and regulatory matters affecting the energy sector. “Our graduates pursuing the study of energy law will be ‘prepared for practice’ and ready to assist with complex projects involving teams of interdisciplinary professionals in the energy industry,” said Weiss.
The Laborde Center also will offer enhanced continuing legal education of attorneys in the energy field and serve as a repository of research and a source for consultation with law firms and businesses throughout Louisiana and beyond.
Earlier in his career, Sloan was a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Pepper, Hamilton & Scheetz from 1987 until 1992 and was the Vice President and Head of the Sovereign Credit Management Division at the First National Bank of Chicago from 1984 to 1987. From 1982 to 1984 Sloan served as General Counsel of the Multinational Force and Observers, the ten-nation peacekeeping organization which was established in 1982 to supervise the security arrangements under the 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty.
Sloan worked for the U.S. State Department in the Office of the Legal Adviser From 1977 to 1982, where he specialized in the field of nuclear non-proliferation and politico-military policy. Sloan began his legal career in 1973 as Assistant General Counsel and then General Counsel to the Minority of the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
