The Louisiana State Bar Association's (LSBA) Young Lawyers Section Council is spotlighting young lawyer Dana M. Douglas from New Orleans. Douglas is a shareholder in the law firm of Liskow & Lewis, P.L.C. She received a BA degree from Miami University in 1997 and her law degree from Loyola University College of Law in 2000. While at Loyola, she was editor-in-chief of Loyola's Public Interest Law Journal. Upon graduation, she served as a judicial clerk to Hon. Ivan L.R. Lemelle, United States District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana, 2000-01. Her areas of practice are business litigation, energy litigation and intellectual property.

Aside from her practice, Douglas has been very busy within the Bar. She currently serves on the LSBA's Board of Governors and previously served as chair of the LSBA's Minority Involvement Section. She has been a member of the LSBA's Diversity Committee, Access to Justice Committee and Intellectual Property Law Section. A member of the 2006-07 Leadership LSBA Class, Douglas subsequently co-chaired the 2008-09 Leadership Class. Under her leadership, the 2008-09 class implemented, for the first time, a collaborative project where young leaders of the Bar from across the state worked on two projects: a statewide art project for high school students and a reception for first-time attendees at the LSBA's Annual Meeting.

Douglas currently serves on the board of directors of the New Orleans Bar Association (NOBA) and is a past chair of the NOBA Young Lawyers Section. She also has been involved with the NOBA Minorities in the Profession Committee and Intellectual Property Committee.

She received the American Bar Association's Minorities in the Profession Scholarship and previously served on the ABA Public Service Committee. She is the inaugural president of the Women's Energy Network for southeast Louisiana. The Women's Energy Network is a group of more than 800 women working in a variety of energy-related professions, from banking to traditional oil and gas disciplines.

Douglas serves as a commissioner on the New Orleans Civil Service Commission, a quasi-judicial and policy-making body that exercises oversight of activities of the city's Civil Service Department, decides employee appeals of disciplinary action, and adopts rules and establishes policies that regulate the conduct of labor and management in the merit system.

She was a member of the Louisiana State Law Institute, a volunteer judge for the Orleans Parish Juvenile Court Teen Court Program and a board member for the New Orleans Children's Bureau. She was selected as one of the top 50 "Leaders in Law" in New Orleans.

Nicholas J. Zeringue, a native and resident of Thibodaux, La., is the owner/managing partner of the law firm of Nicholas J. Zeringue Attorney at Law, L.L.C. His practice focuses on personal injury/maritime defense, commercial litigation, mortgage-backed securities (MBS) litigation, maritime contracts, real estate transactions and workers' compensation.

Zeringue earned a BS degree in international trade and finance from Louisiana State University in 1993. He earned his master's degree in business administration from the Tulane A.B. Freeman School of Business and JD degree from Tulane Law School, both in May 1997. He was admitted to practice in Louisiana in 1998.

He is currently a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association's House of Delegates, Legislation Committee, Nominating Committee and Community Action Committee (past chair). He is a member of the Lafourche Parish Bar Association (past president) and Terrebonne Parish Bar Association. He is a Louisiana Bar Foundation Fellow. He is trained as an attorney-mediator and is listed in A.M. Best's Review of Insurance Attorneys.

Upon completion of his post-graduate degrees, Zeringue worked as a financial analyst with Mavesa, S.A. in Caracas, Venezuela. When he returned to the United States, he practiced as an associate trial attorney in Lafayette at the law firm of Davidson, Meaux, Sonnier & McElligott, L.L.P., then as in-house counsel and senior management representative for the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans. Prior to opening his own law firm in June 2006, he worked with the Law Offices of Christopher H. Riviere, A.P.L.C., in Thibodaux.

In addition to his many professional associations, Zeringue is heavily involved in "Hooks for Hearts," a philanthropic organization dedicated to raising money for the American Heart Association to aid in medical research pertaining to cardiovascular disease. He currently serves on the board of directors for that organization.

Kevin P. Fontenot, a native of Basile, La., is an associate at the law firm of Scofield, Gerard, Singletary & Pohorelsky in Lake Charles. His practice focuses on general defense and commercial litigation, including personal injury defense, products liability, toxic tort and employment law. He earned a BA degree in political science from Northwestern State University in 2003, graduating magna cum laude. He earned his JD degree and bachelor of civil law degree from Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center in 2006. He was admitted to practice in Louisiana in 2006. While in law school, Fontenot was awarded CALI awards in contracts and legal research and writing.

He is a member of the Southwest Louisiana Bar Association and serves on its Young Lawyers Section board. He also is a member of the Southwest Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel.

Fontenot is active in his community. He serves as an executive board member of the Lake Charles Kiwanis Club, a member of the Lake Charles Toastmasters, a parishioner of Our Lady Queen of Heaven and a volunteer Teen Court judge. As a Teen Court judge, he provides guidance for a jury composed of teens who decide the community service sentencing for other teens charged with minor crimes. He also is a visiting lecturer at McNeese State University where he teaches business law.

He and his wife, Lynsay Fontenot, also a practicing attorney, are expecting their first child in October.