Yigal Bander

225.383.9703 | Email Me | Baton Rouge, LA. |  

Yigal Bander was born in New York City and grew up in Michigan.  He moved back to New York with his family when he was 12.  Yigal’s lifelong interest in community affairs and commitment to social justice expressed itself as early as age 14 when he was president of his local Teens for Johnson-Humphrey organization during the 1964 presidential election. 

After graduating from high school at 17, Yigal went to Israel to study Hebrew and live on a kibbutz.  He attended Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he was active in student government.  He graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in humanities.  After serving in the Israel Defense Forces, he worked for the Israel Ministry of Finance for three years as an organization and methods analyst before returning to the U.S. with his wife and two young daughters. 

Yigal and his growing family – two more daughters were born – lived in Philadelphia, Alabama, and Florida before coming to Baton Rouge in 1985.  Yigal served for five years as Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Baton Rouge and then embarked on a career in clinical social work, having received his MSW from Louisiana State University in 1989.  He became a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.

Yigal always dreamed of being a lawyer.  In 1994, with his wife Ellen launched on her own career as a public school teacher, and his children able to look after themselves, Yigal started law school at Louisiana State University, where he was awarded the Phelps Dunbar Scholarship.  He made Law Review and graduated in 1997 in the top quarter of his class.  He practiced with Kleinpeter & Schwartzberg, LLC until January of 2010, when he joined Manasseh, Gill, Knipe & Belanger, PLC.

Yigal is admitted to practice in Louisiana, New York, and the District of Columbia, and before the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Western, and Middle Districts of Louisiana.  He is a member of the Louisiana State and Baton Rouge Bar Associations and the Louisiana Association for Justice.  He is rated “AV Preeminent” by Martindale-Hubbell and 5.0 by AVVO.

Yigal frequently writes and speaks on a number of different legal subjects, and consults for other attorneys on ethics, liens and subrogation claims.  His articles have been published in “Around the Bar” (Baton Rouge Bar Association), “Louisiana Advocates” (Louisiana Association for Justice), “Verdict” (Georgia Trial Lawyers Association), “The Justice Bulletin” (South Carolina Trial Lawyers Association), and Louisiana Law Review.  Yigal has written six articles in the past two years on civil rights and constitutional law for “Louisiana Advocates,”   including “Vindicating Constitutional Rights – A Procedural Primer” (December 2021), “Discrimination and the Civil Rights Acts” (January 2022), “The Religion Clauses of the First Amendment” (August 2022), and “’Anti-Zionism’ and Civil Rights” (February 2023).

Yigal practices in the areas of personal injury (car crashes, industrial accidents, premises liability, etc.), criminal defense, civil rights, professional disciplinary defense, and general civil litigation. 

 Yigal is a trial lawyer who fights for his clients.  He enjoys seeing cases through from start to finish, whether through settlement, trial, or appeal.  He gives his personal attention to every case he takes.  He knows what it was like not being a lawyer for the first 47 years of his life, and tries to remain courteous and compassionate even under the stress of a busy and adversarial legal practice.

Some of Yigal’s most notable cases are Edwards v. Vannoy, — U.S. –, 141 S.Ct. 1547, 209 L.Ed.2d 651 (2021); Thomas v. Varnado, 511 F.Supp.3d 761 (E.D.La. 2020);  State v. Papizan, 2017-0028 (La.App. 1 Cir. 11/2/17), 256 So.3d 1091, writ denied, 2017-2028 (La. 10/29/18), 255 So.3d 572;  Pence v. Austin, 2015-1371 (La.App. 1 Cir. 2/26/16), 191 So.3d 608; Reno v. East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, 697 F.Supp.2d 659 (M.D.La. 2010);  Stoshak v. East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, 2006-0852 (La.App. 1 Cir. 2/21/07), 959 So. 2d 996, writ denied, 2007-0633 (La. 5/11/07), 955 So. 2d 1281; and Ernest v. Petroleum Service Corp., 2002-2482 (La.App. 1 Cir. 11/19/03), 868 So. 2d 96, writ denied, 2003-3439 (La. 2/20/04), 866 So. 2d 830. 

The ACLU has recognized Yigal as a “Defender of Civil Liberties.”  The Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers presented Yigal with its “10:1 Blackstone’s Order” award for the Papizan case.

Yigal continues to act on his decades long interest in public affairs and social justice.  In the early 90s, he served as Chair of the Capital Area United Way Admissions Committee and of the Social Action Committee of the Louisiana chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.  He was a candidate for State Representative in 1999.  In November of 2004, he spent a week in New Mexico as a volunteer Voter Protection attorney.  In 2006-2007, he volunteered his legal services to oppose the creation of what he and others believed to be a re-segregated school district.   And in 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 Yigal served as chair of the Civil Rights Section of the Louisiana Association for Justice.

When not working for his clients, Yigal enjoys classical music and opera, reading, travel, watching sports, and getting beat by his grandson Joshua in one-on-one basketball.  Yigal is a pro-Israel activist and serves on the Baton Rouge Executive Council of American Isreal Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Yigal and Ellen are the parents of Rina, Orli, Debbie, and Rachel, and the ecstatic grandparents of Joshua and Nico.  

BAR ADMISSIONS

Louisiana, 1997;  New York, Pennsylvania (inactive), District of Columbia, 2006.

U.S. Supreme Court, 2005

U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, 1999

U.S. District Courts for the Eastern (1998), Western (2000), and Middle (1997) Districts of Louisiana.

EDUCATION

Louisiana State University

            J.D., 1997

            Top 25%

            Member, Law Review

Louisiana State University

            M.S.W., 1989

            4.0 GPA

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

            B.A., 1975 (Humanities)

            Magna Cum Laude

REPRESENTATIVE CASES

Edwards v. Vannoy, — U.S. –, 141 S.Ct. 1547, 209 L.Ed.2d 651 (2021)

Thomas v. Varnado, 511 F.Supp.3d 761 (E.D.La. 2020)

State v. Papizan, 2017-0028 (La.App. 1 Cir. 11/2/17), 256 So.3d 1091, writ denied, 2017-2028 (La. 10/29/18), 255 So.3d 572.

Pence v. Austin, 2015-1371 (La.App. 1 Cir. 2/26/16), 191 So.3d 608.

Reno v. East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, 697 F.Supp.2d 659 (M.D.La. 2010).

Stoshak v. East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, 2006-0852 (La.App. 1 Cir. 2/21/07), 959 So. 2d 996, writ denied, 2007-0633 (La. 5/11/07), 955 So. 2d 1281.

Ernest v. Petroleum Service Corp., 2002-2482 (La.App. 1 Cir. 11/19/03), 868 So. 2d 96, writ denied, 2003-3439 (La. 2/20/04), 866 So. 2d 830. 

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS

Baton Rouge, Louisiana State, and District of Columbia Bar Associations.

Louisiana Association for Justice – Chair, Civil Rights Section, 2021-2022, 2022-2023.

Hearing Committee Member, Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board, 2008-2010.