Robert Ratliff

For more than 25 years, Robert Ratliff has been an immigration court judge, a city law director, and a sole practitioner attorney.

For just over a year, Attorney Ratliff presided at LaSalle Immigration Court in Jena, Louisiana, over a detained case docket.

For more than eight years as a city law director, he was the city prosecutor, and represented the City in all legal affairs, safeguarding its rights in matters associated with Worker’s Compensation, Title VII, EEOC, ADA, FMLA, OSHA, EPA, utility regulations, and municipal income tax collection; as necessary, he retained the services of outside counsel and oversees performance. He administered procurement, contracts, franchises, and utility agreements; exercises the authority to negotiate the key terms, conditions, and pricing of all contracts.

Attorney Ratliff represented the City in negotiations with labor unions; worked with three unions to eliminate unlimited accrued sick leave for municipal employees from the collective bargaining agreements. He pioneered the launch of a municipal property maintenance office; led efforts to modernize the property maintenance code, enforce penalties against property owners for violations, and demolish abandoned and blighted structures.

He also established formal policies, procedures, and manuals to govern employee conduct and employee relations, substantially mitigating risk and lowering exposure to liability.

Attorney Ratliff was recognized for bringing multiple legal matters in-house, eliminating costs associated with the use of outside counsel by over $250K in the first four years; and for renegotiating a sewer separation with the United States Environmental Protection Agency, resulting in the withdrawal of a 10-year, $50MM demand.