Smyser Kaplan & Veselka partner Shaun Clarke has joined Phelps Dunbar as a partner in New Orleans and Houston, as the criminal defense and civil trial lawyer returns to New Orleans, where he had practiced prior to Hurricane Katrina.

Clarke said he joined Am Law 200 firm Phelps Dunbar at the beginning of May, after nearly eight years at Smyser Kaplan. At Phelps Dunbar, Clarke rejoins his mentor Harry Rosenberg, a senior partner who is a former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana who had hired Clarke as an assistant U.S. Attorney.