Thomas F. Gardner is a registered mechanical engineer, a technical assistance auditor, and a former vice president and general counsel of a regional engineering and architectural firm and a construction lawyer with more than twenty-five years of experience.  Mr. Gardner has extensive hands‑on experience in multiple facets of the construction industry.  Mr. Gardner has worked as an apprentice iron worker, as a plastics and ceramics materials testing technician, as an HVAC sales engineer and as district manager for York International.  In the early 1980's, Mr. Gardner was also practicing as a licensed engineer in responsible charge of millions of dollars of mechanical construction projects.

Mr. Gardner was admitted to practice law in Louisiana in 1982.  Mr. Gardner has handled complex private and public construction disputes, litigation, contract negotiations, administrative hearings and arbitration proceedings.  Mr. Gardner has also served on the Panel of Arbitrators of the American Arbitration Association and has completed the National Institute for Trial Advocacy ("NITA") intensive trial skills program.  In 2001, Mr. Gardner was appointed a judge, pro tem, for the First Parish Court in Jefferson Parish.  Additionally, Mr. Gardner has served as a Special Master in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Mr. Gardner has represented clients in state, federal and bankruptcy courts, in state and federal administrative hearings, in courts of appeal, and in arbitration and mediation proceedings.  Additionally, Mr. Gardner has represented clients before the Armed Services Board of Appeals (ASBCA), the Postal Services Board of Appeals (PSBCA), and in the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Mr. Gardner is admitted to practice before all Louisiana State Courts, the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Mr. Gardner also served as an adjunct professor of law at Loyola University, teaching a course on construction liens. 

Mr. Gardner also qualified as a certified high school coach, and he has served as the head golf coach of Dominican High School. 

Mr. Gardner has presented seminars sponsored by the following entities:

• Louisiana State Bar Association

• Jefferson Bar Association (Louisiana)

• New Orleans Bar Association

• Texas State Bar Association (Construction Law Symposium)

• Lorman Educational Systems

• American Institute of Architects ("AIA")

• American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers ("ASHRAE")

• American Concrete Institute ("ACI")

• American Society of Plumbing Engineers ("ASPE")

• American Society of Mechanical Engineers ("ASME")

• Louisiana Engineering Society ("LES")

• American Society of Civil Engineers ("ASCE")