LSBA Members, Bar Associations Honored with 2016 YLD Awards The awards were presented by 2015-16 YLD Chair Erin O. Braud and other YLD Council members during a June 8 ceremony, held in conjunction with the LSBA’s Annual Meeting. • Outstanding Young Lawyer Award Alysson L. Mills, a partner in the New Orleans office of the law firm of Fishman Haygood, L.L.P. (Litigation Section), practices in the areas of securities, media and general commercial litigation. She earned a BA degree in French and a BA degree in international studies, magna cum laude, from the University of Mississippi and her master of philosophy degree from Trinity College Dublin. She earned her JD degree, summa cum laude, from the University of Mississippi (editor-in-chief of the Mississippi Law Journal). She was admitted to practice law in Louisiana in 2010. She co-teaches a course on the First Amendment and media law at Tulane University. She chairs the board of the Lycée Français de la Nouvelle-Orléans and serves on the governing boards of the American Red Cross for Southeast Louisiana and the Younger Lawyers Division of the New Orleans Chapter of the Federal Bar Association. She also serves with the Choice Foundation, the governing board of three public charter schools in New Orleans. • Bat P. Sullivan, Jr. Chair’s Award Graham H. Ryan, a business litigation associate in the New Orleans office of the law firm of Jones Walker LLP, received a BS degree, summa cum laude, in finance in 2007 from Louisiana State University and his JD/DCL degree in 2011 from LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center (Louisiana Law Review). He was admitted to practice law in Louisiana in 2011. He serves on the Louisiana State Bar Association (LSBA) Access to Justice Committee’s Disaster Leadership Team and co-chairs the LSBA’s Annual Meeting and Summer School Planning Committee. He was a member of the 2014-15 Leadership LSBA Class. As the Louisiana representative on the American Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division Council, he is responsible for implementing disaster legal services in Louisiana following a presidentially declared disaster. He also chairs HandsOn New Orleans, a nonprofit volunteer center, and provides pro bono legal services to the homeless and veterans at the Father Harry Tompson Rebuild Center in New Orleans. • Chair’s Special Award: YLD Appreciation of Service Kas L. Hargis, a law clerk for Judge John R. Walker of the 32nd Judicial District Court in Houma, received her BA degree in English literature in 2000 from Louisiana State University and her JD degree in 2006 from Loyola University College of Law. She was admitted to practice law in Louisiana in 2007. A member of the 2014-15 Leadership LSBA Class, she is a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association’s (LSBA) Access to Justice Committee and the Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee. She served as the District 3 representative on the LSBA Young Lawyers Division Council and co-chaired the 2015-16 High School Mock Trial Committee. In her community, she is involved with the Houma-Terrebonne Girls on the Run Program. • Chair’s Special Award: YLD Appreciation of Service Carrie L. Jones, a partner in the Baton Rouge law firm of Shows, Cali & Walsh, L.L.P., received a BA degree in mass communication in 2004 from Louisiana State University, an MBA degree in 2005 from Southeastern Louisiana University and her JD/BCL degree in 2008 from LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center. She was admitted to practice law in Louisiana in 2008. Currently a District 5 representative on the Louisiana State Bar Association (LSBA) Young Lawyers Division (YLD) Council, she co-chaired the 2015-16 High School Mock Trial Committee. She was a member of the 2013-14 Leadership LSBA Class and is a member of the LSBA’s Continuing Legal Education Committee. She is vice chair of the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board and a member of the Baton Rouge Bar Association and the Bar Association of the 5th Federal Circuit. She serves on the Louisiana Bar Foundation’s Capital Area Community Partnership Panel. • Hon. Michaelle Pitard Wynne Professionalism Award Judge Karelia R. Stewart serves on the 1st Judicial District Court in Shreveport. Prior to her election, she was a prosecutor in the Caddo Parish District Attorney’s Office and section chief of the Drug Division. She received her undergraduate degree, cum laude, in 2001 from Dillard University and her JD degree in 2004 from Loyola University College of Law. She was admitted to practice law in Louisiana in 2006. While serving as a prosecutor, she partnered with Caddo Parish Schools for a presentation called “Don’t Let This Be You,” conversations with high school students about how to avoid the criminal justice system. She also participated in the job-shadowing program for middle and high school students in the Teen Court Program. For the Louisiana State Bar Association (LSBA), she served on the Board of Governors, in the House of Delegates, on several committees and as the District 8 representative on the LSBA Young Lawyers Division Council. In 2015, she was recognized as one of the “Nation’s Best 40 Under 40” advocates by the National Bar Association and received the organization’s Excellence in Leadership Award. • Pro Bono Award Dwazendra J. Smith, an associate in the Opelousas law firm of Doran & Cawthorne, P.L.L.C., received a BA degree in political science in 2006 from Louisiana State University-Shreveport and her JD degree in 2009 from Southern University Law Center. During law school, she served as Student Bar Association president (2008-09), 2L Class president (2007-08), a member of the Moot Court Board, a pupil of the American Inns of Court and the symposium editor for Southern University Law Center’s second law journal, the Journal of Race, Gender, and Poverty. She is a member of the Lafayette Bar Association and the American Bar Association. She provides pro bono services through the Lafayette Volunteer Lawyers (LVL) program and the Lafayette Bar Association’s Protective Order Panel. She is a member of the LVL panel and current president of the Lafayette Young Lawyers Association. She has provided pro bono services for nearly seven years. • Service to the Public Award The Lafayette Young Lawyers Association’s annual Holiday Giving Program provides services and support to the Acadiana community, donating gifts to needy families and partnering with different charity organizations to provide much needed funding. Letters are written to the Lafayette Bar Association members asking for contributions used to purchase gifts and/or to purchase supplies for the chosen charity. During the 2015 holiday season, the program focused all of its support to Hearts of Hope, an organization that provides free therapy and coping services to children and adult survivors of sexual abuse and assault. Hearts of Hope is the home of the Sexual Abuse Response Center, which provides a 24-hour crisis hotline, emergency room advocacy, crisis intervention counseling, and active prevention education programs in Acadiana area schools. Hearts of Hope also provides forensically trained Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners who conduct and document forensic evidence collections for patients making sexual assault disclosures. • Service to the Bar Award The Baton Rouge Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section offered an educational trip in November 2015 to the Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola Prison) in St. Francisville. The event gave insight into life after incarceration to young prosecutors, public defenders and criminal defense lawyers. The tour consisted of a visit to the museum, the historic Red Hat, a cellblock or dormitory at Camp F, lunch at Camp F and the lethal injection table. The event included a one-hour CLE class presented by a criminal defense attorney and an Angola trustee. With a grant from the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division and assistance from the West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office, the Young Lawyers Section offered transportation, lunch and the CLE at no cost to participants.