Look, Up in the Sky!

Most people who travel from Baton Rouge to Shreveport have to either make the four-hour drive on I-49 or board a commercial flight routed through Dallas, Houston or Atlanta, a trip that takes about four hours as well. When Baton Rouge attorney Daniel K. Rester needs to get to Shreveport, however, he simply climbs into his personal Piper Cherokee Six plane and flies the 250 miles himself. It takes about an hour.

Even if he has no particular destination, Rester flies once a week to keep his skills sharp and his qualifications current. When he’s on vacation, though, he finds plenty of places to go. His plane, which can go four hours in the air before it needs refueling, has taken him and his wife, Tammy, to Mexico, Belize, the Virgin Islands and Haiti. In December they flew to the Bahamas and went scuba diving off of small islands accessible only by boat and private aircraft.

Rester started taking flying lessons about 30 years ago. He’s been drawn to airplanes ever since he was a boy growing up near the Baton Rouge airport. “Some people play golf or go fishing. I just like to fly,” he says. “After all these years, I still feel an exhilaration when I leave the ground.”

During the week Rester stays grounded as an attorney at Adams and Reese. Before joining the firm, he worked for what was then Camp Carmouche in Lake Charles. When that firm dissolved in the late ’90s, Adams and Reese tapped him along with a few of his colleagues. “I’m glad they did because it’s one of the better law firms in the country,” says Rester. “It’s a pleasure working here.”

Although he does some real estate and commercial litigation and transactional work, Rester’s focus has been gaming law since 1991, when riverboat gambling first became legal in Louisiana. Now that all of the state’s licenses have been distributed to 15 riverboat casinos and the one land-based casino in New Orleans, his clients are primarily those suppliers or employees who are seeking licenses or appealing decisions barring them from working in the gaming industry.

“Appeals are what you do in gaming now,” Rester says. “Regulators may deem a person unsuitable to hold a gaming license if he has a felony conviction or has unpaid taxes, or for some other reason. It’s a surprise every day. Some things you wouldn’t think should be an issue become an issue. If whatever is preventing them from holding a gaming license is unfounded, it can be appealed. I help our clients get past this obstacle and guide them through the appeals process.”

Rester has never been much of a gambler, but he finds plenty to enjoy at casinos in the ambiance of their facilities, their restaurants and entertainment options. And if there’s a landing strip nearby, all the better.