LSBA Board of Governors

---

Valerie T. Schexnayder is a mediator with Schexnayder Mediation Services, LLC, in Baton Rouge. She has practiced for more than 35 years with a large firm, a small firm and an international corporation in the areas of complex tort litigation and environmental litigation. She also served as a Louisiana State Bar Association (LSBA) Distinguished Access to Justice Pro Bono Fellow, partnering with the Baton Rouge Bar Association to expand its pro bono outreach to veterans and their families.

She received a BBA degree in 1986 from Loyola University and her JD degree, cum laude, in 1989 from Tulane University Law School. She was admitted to practice in Louisiana in 1989.

Schexnayder will serve as secretary and editor-in-chief of the Louisiana Bar Journal for one more year. She served on the LSBA’s Board of Governors (Fifth Board District) from 2017-20. She served in the LSBA’s House of Delegates, representing the 19th Judicial District from 2011-17 and the 24th Judicial District from 1999-2005. She is a member of the Bar Governance Committee and served on the Continuing Legal Education Committee from 1999-2002. She served on the Access to Justice Commission from 2018-20. She served as the Young Lawyers Division’s Second Board District representative from 1996-98. She received the 1999 LSBA Young Lawyers Division’s Michaelle Pitard Wynne Professionalism Award. She is a member of the Baton Rouge Bar Association, currently serving as chair of the Pro Bono Committee. 

In her community, she serves on the board of directors for the Capital Area Finance Authority’s board of trustees and Tiger Athletic Foundation. Additionally, she serves as a sustaining adviser for the Junior League of Baton Rouge, where she previously served on the board of directors. She previously served as chair of the Emerge Foundation board of directors and as a lector for Most Blessed Sacrament Church.

Schexnayder and her husband Todd have been married for 36 years and are the parents of two adult sons.