Lafayette attorney Jami Lacour Ishee is a partner in the firm of Davidson, Meaux, Sonnier, McElligott, Fontenot, Gideon & Edwards, LLP, with a defense practice focused in premises liability, products liability, general insurance defense, and the defense of railroads in damages, personal injury, derailment and FELA claims. She has obtained numerous favorable summary judgment rulings and settlements for her clients and, in only nine years of practice, has had the opportunity to bring multiple high-value cases to verdict in state jury trials. Many of these cases involved multiple millions of dollars in claimed damages, resulting in favorable defense verdicts. She also represents plaintiffs in personal injury claims and has volunteered her time to provide pro bono representation in various family law matters.

She currently serves as president of the Lafayette Bar Association Young Lawyers Section, is a member of the board of directors for the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel and is a subcommittee chair for the Young Lawyers Section Steering Committee for the Defense Research Institute. She was a two-time Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel Frank L. Maraist Award finalist and, most recently, received the 2023 Hon. Michaelle Pitard Wynne Professionalism Award, presented by the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division. This is recognition from her peers, an honor she is most proud of, and a virtue she strives to demonstrate to herself, young lawyers and more seasoned attorneys through her daily litigation practice.

Shreveport attorney Alexandra E. Vozzella is the youngest and first female partner of Ayres, Shelton, Williams, Benson & Paine, LLC, in Shreveport, where she primarily handles commercial litigation, including business disputes and breach of contract claims, along with employment-related claims, property disputes, and estate and succession disputes. She has extensively litigated oil, gas and energy cases, and products liability claims. She represents a local political subdivision and has gained extensive experience in government law, including open meetings law, public records law and public bid law.

Since returning to her hometown of Shreveport and joining the Ayres law firm, she has gained substantial litigation experience, including pre-trial motions and hearings, arbitration experience, and jury and bench trial experience. Most recently, she and one of her law partners obtained a successful verdict for their client in a highly complex breach of contract matter following a seven-day jury trial. She also recently prevailed in the arbitration of a complicated and highly contested commercial dispute, recovering both a substantial award and attorney fees for her client.

Vozzella’s professional recognitions include Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch 2023; Louisiana Super Lawyers, Louisiana Rising Star (Litigation) 2020-2023; and being named one of Shreveport-Bossier’s Top Attorneys by SB Magazine 2022-2023. She is a member of the Defense Research Institute and the Shreveport Bar Association.

She obtained her BA degree in mass communication in 2012 from Louisiana State University. She earned her JD degree and Graduate Diploma in Comparative Law, magna cum laude, in 2016 from LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center. While in law school, she received the Paul M. Hebert Scholar Award, the Dean’s Scholar Award and several CALI Awards for Excellence. She was a member of the Public Interest Law Society, and, as a 3L, was picked to participate in the law school’s first tutoring program, where she tutored 1L’s in Basic Civil Procedure.

She is married to Justin Suchy.

Candace B. Ford is an attorney in the Baton Rouge office of Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, LLP. She joined BSW after serving as an assistant parish attorney for the City of Baton Rouge/Parish of East Baton Rouge and serving as a federal law clerk to Judge Brian A. Jackson of the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Louisiana. At BSW, her practice focuses on commercial litigation in administrative, state and federal court.

She received a BA degree, summa cum laude, in 2013 from Northwestern State University and her JD degree, magna cum laude, in 2017 from Southern University Law Center, ranked in the top 5% of her class.

Outside of the office, Ford has worked consistently to cultivate and encourage the young people in the community to maintain a progressive interest in the trajectory of their lives by laying the foundation for unity, ethics and success. For example, as the chair of both the Baton Rouge Bar Association’s Teen Court and Youth Education programs, she has the unique opportunity to work directly with the youth in the Baton Rouge community and has devoted a substantial amount of time to this effort. She is passionate about Teen Court, having served as a Teen Court attorney (advocate) while in high school. After joining the Teen Court Committee in 2019, she quickly became its chair in 2020. As the chair, she helped to transition the program from live meetings and events to virtual meetings, hearings and training sessions due to COVID-19. She serves as a co-trainer for training sessions and as a judge for Monday night hearings. As a trainer and a judge, she influences middle and high school students by sharing her legal experience, knowledge of the court process, and sense of civic responsibility.

Ford received the 2023 ABA’s “On the Rise – Top 40 Young Lawyers” Award and was selected for the Leadership LSBA 2022-2023 Class, which further highlights her extraordinary accomplishments in the legal profession.

New Orleans attorney Casey C DeReus is an attorney at Bragar, Eagel & Squire, PC, where she handles consumer class actions and complex litigation. She received a BA degree, cum laude, in 2010 from the College of William and Mary, a MA degree in 2012 from Tulane University, and her JD degree, magna cum laude, in 2016 from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law.

Recently, she launched a successful campaign to amend the Louisiana Rules of Professional Conduct regarding imputation of conflicts of interest. Under former Rule 1.10, Louisiana attorneys could not be screened for conflicts of interest. This meant that any attorney with a conflict within a firm prevented the entire firm from working on a case. She realized that the Louisiana rule deviated from majority rule — which allows for timely screening — so she submitted a proposal to the Louisiana State Bar Association to revise the rule. The Louisiana Supreme Court recently approved changes to the rule to allow for timely screening. She considers this her greatest contribution to the legal profession.

DeReus has handled more than 1,000 first-party property insurance claims, successfully appealed dismissal of a facially prescribed case on contra non valentum grounds, and filed the first class action lawsuit in the nation against TikTok for BIPA violations, resulting in a $92 million settlement. More recently, she has been involved in consumer protection cases against vehicle manufacturers, including a suit against Hyundai and Kia for theft-prone defects that made the news due to a TikTok challenge.

Marksville attorney Rosario J. (Ross) Piazza, a native of Marksville, has always aspired to become an attorney and to practice law with his father, Angelo Piazza III, and oldest sister, Alissa Piazza Tassin, at Piazza Law Office.

His journey toward accomplishing his dream began at Louisiana College in Pineville where he received degrees in history and psychology. While at Louisiana College, he was named to the Dean’s List multiple times and was a member of Phi Alpha Theta (National Historical Honor Society), Psi Chi Honor Society (National Psychology Honor Society) and Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society.

He received his JD degree in 2020 from Southern University Law Center. He now practices civil and criminal law in his family’s firm, Piazza Law Office, with his father and sister. He also serves as indigent defender of juveniles and the parents of DCFS cases in Avoyelles Parish.

Piazza is a captain JAG officer in the U.S. Army/Louisiana Army National Guard. He recently married Megan Rockhold of Alexandria. The newlyweds are Avoyelles Parish residents and living their dream on the Red River.

He loves his career and is optimistic in a future of serving the public and helping people.   

Baton Rouge attorney Claire A. Stevenson is currently serving as legislative liaison for the Office of Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she is a graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana (2017) and Southern University Law Center (2020).

She has a demonstrated history of working in policy and governmental affairs. Prior to her work in the Governor’s Office, she served as an attorney for the Judiciary Committee of the Louisiana House of Representatives. While in law school, she served as a law clerk for the Southern University System General Counsel and has worked for the State of Louisiana in a variety of capacities and agencies, including the Office of the Attorney General, the Louisiana State Senate and as an intern for the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus.

As the daughter of two Baton Rouge natives, Stevenson enjoys serving the people of Louisiana, the state that has given her so much and that she now proudly calls home. She is a passionate advocate for her community, working alongside members of the Louisiana Legislature and other public officials to advance legislation and policies for the betterment of all of Louisiana.

Stevenson invests much of her time volunteering with organizations such as The Links, Incorporated, the Junior League of Baton Rouge and the Kaleidoscope Foundation. Outside of her professional roles, she enjoys spending time with friends and family, cheering on the Saints, and taking classes at Orangetheory Fitness.

Lafayete attorney Katelyn E. Bayhi, an attorney at the NeunerPate law firm, practices in the areas of commercial litigation, toxic torts, environmental litigation and maritime.

Born and raised in Baton Rouge, she is a graduate of Parkview Baptist School (2013), the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (2017) and Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center (2020). During law school, she served as the notes and comments editor for the Journal of Energy Law and Resources and was a national semifinalist on the John R. Brown Admiralty Moot Court Competition Team and the Tom Fore Phillips National Moot Court Competition Team. She also externed for Judge Carol B. Whitehurst, U.S. magistrate judge for the Western District of Louisiana.

Bayhi’s favorite part about being an attorney is helping others solve their problems when the answer isn’t always obvious. She participates in pro bono cases, primarily protective order hearings. In 2021, she was recognized as an Outstanding Pro Bono Attorney by the Lafayette Bar Association and received the Steven James Matt “Beyond the Books” Award. She enjoys participating in pro bono work as a means to help in the fight against domestic abuse.

In her community, she is a provisional member of the Junior League of Lafayette and a member of the Acadiana Area Alumnae Chapter for Kappa Delta sorority. When she is not practicing law, she enjoys spending her Friday nights cheering on the Carencro High School Golden Bears, Saturdays cheering on the Ragin Cajuns and Sundays cheering on the New Orleans Saints and Cincinnati Bengals (because, go Joe!)

Lake Charles attorney Keifer G. Ackley, an attorney at the Hoffoss Devall Law Firm, LLC, in Lake Charles, practices in the areas of motor vehicle accidents and hurricane insurance claims. Born and raised in southwest Louisiana, he is a graduate of Sulphur High School (2014), McNeese State University (2018) and Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center (2021), where he served as class president all three years.

Ackley has always known that he was coming home after law school to practice. He is passionate about serving the resilient people of his community and fighting for them when they are not treated fairly. Right out of law school, he has been able to do so by representing southwest Louisianans in their hurricane insurance claims. The devastation from Hurricane Laura crippled the community he loves and the road to recovery has been far from easy. But collectively, through the efforts of many, southwest Louisiana has made tremendous progress in a short time. He takes pride in being part of this rebuilding process as southwest Louisiana is roaring back stronger and better than ever.

His favorite part about being an attorney is the interactions with his clients. As someone with deep roots in southwest Louisiana, Ackley is able to connect with his clients and their situations on a personal level which truly brings out his compassion and enthusiasm. He thoroughly enjoys building rapport with his clients early on and guiding them along the way towards a great result at the very end.

In his community, he is a longtime volunteer for Special Olympics Louisiana and is an avid supporter of McNeese Athletics. When not practicing law, he enjoys all things Louisiana —sports teams, food, breweries, nature and culture.
 

Attorney Thomas P. Sanderson is an assistant district attorney (ADA) in the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office (JPDA), where he serves as a lead prosecutor in the felony trials division for District Attorney Paul D. Connick, Jr. He graduated, cum laude, from Louisiana State University, receiving dual degrees in criminology and anthropology. He earned his JD degree in 2010 from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law (chief of staff of the Trial Advocacy Program and three-time national competition advocate and national competition coach).

Prior to law school, Sanderson served as a legal assistant at the JPDA, then continued his prosecutorial career as a law clerk for the JPDA and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana, before becoming an ADA in Orleans Parish. After five years of serving as an ADA for the JPDA, he clerked for Judge Stephen C. Grefer of the 24th Judicial District Court for four years, then returned to prosecuting felony trials for the JPDA in March 2021.

He has served as first-chair counsel on multiple serious felony offenses, including murders, rapes and robberies, and recently obtained convictions at trial on two homicides and an aggravated burglary. He is frequently called upon to mentor younger attorneys at the District Attorney’s Office due to his extensive trial experience and ability to instill confidence in attorneys learning how to analyze and build a case for trial. He relies on the mentorship he received as a young prosecutor from multiple senior attorneys whose patience and guidance imparted in him the skills to lead a successful prosecution.


Sanderson served for the past two years as a director on the Jefferson Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division (2020-21). He proudly holds the title of co-captain and position of pitcher for the JPDA’s softball team. When not working, he can be found going on adventures and making memories with his two young sons.

Ebony S. Morris is an associate attorney in the New Orleans office of Garrison, Yount, Forte & Mulcahy, LLC. She is a graduate of Southeastern Louisiana University (BA, cum laude, 2011) and Southern University Law Center (JD, cum laude, 2014). She became a member of the Louisiana Bar in 2014 and is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Louisiana and the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

She is a member of the New Orleans Bar Association, the Greater New Orleans Chapter of the Louis A. Martinet Legal Society, Inc. (2021-22 president), the Defense Research Institute, the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance and the National Bar Association. She is also a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Morris has extensive experience in defending premise liability, product liability, trucking liability, retail and hospitality liability, and mass tort litigation matters. In those areas, she represents product manufacturers, corporations, national franchise restaurants, insurers and their policyholders through all phases of litigation. She has successfully obtained summary judgment in favor of a premises owner seeking additional insured status under a commercial general liability policy and has successfully obtained summary judgment in favor of a restaurant franchise owner in a premises liability matter.

She was selected for inclusion in the 2020, 2021 and 2022 Louisiana Super Lawyers “Rising Stars” Lists; 2021 New Orleans CityBusiness “Ones to Watch;” the National Black Lawyers “Top 40 Under 40;” the 2020 Lawyers of Color “Hot List;” the National Association of Women Lawyers 2021 Rising List; and the 2021 New Orleans Gambit’s 40 Under 40 Class.

She is also a recipient of the 2021 Young Outside Counsel of the Year Award from the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance, the 2020 Outstanding Young Woman Lawyer Award from the National Bar Association Women Lawyers Division, and the 2021 Louis A. Martinet Award from the Greater New Orleans Louis A. Martinet Legal Society, Inc.

New Orleans attorney Krystin M. Frazier-Santiago brings a decade of legal experience and knowledge to her practice. Licensed in Texas and Louisiana, she has practiced for many years as an accomplished attorney in environmental law, oil and gas legacy litigation, business law and real estate law. She has been recognized as a Louisiana Super Lawyers’ Rising Star.
 
She began her practice with King Krebs & Jurgens’s environmental group. Later, she practiced with the oil and gas and environmental group at Kelly Hart & Pitre until she began her solo practice career. In her solo practice, she uses her big law firm skills and experience while serving her clients, but is able to bring a personal touch to her client relations.
 
With her firm Frazier-Santiago, LLC, she assists her clients in real estate transactions, environmental and oil and gas matters, estate matters and business law matters. She also manages the firm’s title and real estate settlement practice and services several real estate developer and lender clients. She is also general counsel for small businesses across the Gulf Coast region. She strongly believes in making her clients feel like they are her only client.
 
A north Louisiana native, Frazier-Santiago was born in Ruston and later moved to Grambling during her high school career. She graduated valedictorian from Grambling State University and was one of the top-ranking graduates of her class at Southern University Law Center. She is a proud member of Alpha Kapa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and has a passion for promoting generational wealth in the community. She enjoys presenting programs on business law, title law, environmental law and estate planning in underserved communities.
 
After law school, she made New Orleans her home. When not practicing law, she enjoys activities centered around spending time with her husband and daughter.

Baton Rouge attorney David C. Fleshman, born and raised in Baton Rouge, received his undergraduate degree from Louisiana State University, where he was a member of the LSU basketball team. After receiving his JD degree from LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center, he joined Roedel Parsons from 2011-19. He recently joined the Baton Rouge office of Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, LLP, as part of the Construction Team.
 
The primary focus of his practice has been a blend of general litigation, business transactions, construction law, sports law and contract law. In addition to representing individuals and private companies, he also has represented Louisiana governmental entities, including the Ernest N. Morial Exhibition Hall Authority (the New Orleans Convention Center), the Louisiana Stadium & Exposition District, the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans, the Louisiana International Gulf Transfer Terminal and the New Orleans Aviation Board. Through this representation, he has extensive experience in matters involving public bid and procurement law, open meetings and public records law, public bid protests and disputes, construction contracts, and public-private partnerships for the construction of large public projects in Louisiana, such as the new North Terminal at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and the Louisiana International Gulf Transport Terminal Project.
 
Fleshman represents professional and amateur athletes, coaches, agents, venue owners and businesses in the wide-ranging and rapidly evolving arena of sports law, including in matters involving name, image and likeness contracts and compliance; interpretation and enforcement of NCAA and LHSAA rules; food, beverage and concession agreements; facility use agreements; coaching contracts; business and estate planning; and sports-related injury and business litigation.
 
He currently is an adjunct law professor at LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center, teaching sports law. In 2019, he received the Joseph Keogh Memorial Award in recognition of his outstanding service to the community and the Baton Rouge Bar Association.
 
Fleshman is married to Loren Shanklin Fleshman, who also practices law in Baton Rouge, and they have three children.

Lake Charles attorney Alex E. Mouhot, born and raised in Lake Charles, received a BA degree in liberal arts, concentrating in disaster science and management, in 2013 from Louisiana State University. He received his JD degree in 2017, graduating cum laude, from LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center. During his time at LSU Law Center, he served on the Ethics Committee, received the CALI award in Federal Courts, and was a member of the LSU Journal of Energy Law & Resources, serving as a senior editor in his 3L year.
 
Following graduation, Mouhot joined Stockwell, Sievert, Viccellio, Clements & Shaddock, LLP, in August 2017, focusing his practice in medical malpractice defense and personal injury litigation.
 
After beginning his practice, he was elected to the Southwest Louisiana Bar Association Young Lawyers Section’s Executive Board in 2018. He served as treasurer in 2020, is serving as president-elect in 2021 and will serve as president in 2022. As a board member, he takes an active role in organizing multiple local programs, including the Law Day essay contest for local schools, the area OktoBARfest event, and the Holiday Helping Hands program that provides Christmas gifts for local indigent children.
 
Mouhot was selected as a finalist for the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel’s Frank L. Maraist Award for 2021. He also is a 2019 graduate of the Southwest Louisiana Economic Development Alliance’s Leadership Southwest Louisiana program.

Monroe attorney Breshatta M. Davis was born and raised in Monroe, where she lived until she graduated from Richwood High School in May 2009. She proceeded to Baton Rouge to attend Southern University. She graduated with honors with a BA degree in political science. While attending Southern University, she joined the sorority of Alpha Kappa Alpha and has remained an active member of her sorority to this date. She received her JD degree from Southern University Law Center in 2019 and passed the Louisiana Bar exam in that same year.
 
She is now licensed to practice law in all Louisiana courts. She focuses her practice in criminal cases, personal injuries and notary services. In July 2020, she returned to the Monroe area to start her own law firm, The B Law Firm, and to actively serve in the community where her foundation began.
 
Davis also has a private consulting business that focuses on marketing and public relations for marginalized business owners.
 
She serves on the board of directors for Ivy Elite, where they help shape young African-American women. She would eventually love to expand to the Houston, Atlanta and Ruston areas. She lives by the verse, Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.”

Alexandria attorney Allison (Allie) Paige Nowlin, born and raised in Alexandria, graduated from Bolton High School in 2005, Louisiana State University-Baton Rouge in 2009 and Southern University Law Center in 2012. From August 2012 to December 2014, she served as the law clerk to Chief Judge Harry F. Randow at the 9th Judicial District Court. From January 2015 to April 2016, she practiced as an associate with the law firm of Crowell & Owens, handling estate planning and successions. In May 2016, she returned to the 9th Judicial District Court. She currently serves as the senior law clerk and criminal staff attorney for the court.
 
After seven years in Baton Rouge, Nowlin returned home and became involved in both law and community service organizations. She is actively involved in the Bolton High School Alumni Association and the Kent House Board, serving in various leadership capacities within these organizations. She is also heavily involved in the Alexandria Bar Association and Crossroads American Inn of Court-Alexandria/Pineville Chapter. Within the Alexandria Bar, she has served as secretary, vice chair and chair of its Young Lawyers’ Section and currently serves as the secretary of the Alexandria Bar Association. Within the Inn, she has served as secretary, vice-president and president. She also volunteers regularly with the Central Louisiana Pro Bono Project’s Self Help Desk.
 
She and her husband, Matt, also an attorney, live in Alexandria with their son and 13-year-old beagle, Lucy.

Covington attorney Camille E. Walther graduated from Louisiana State University in three years and from LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center in 2016. After a couple years of practicing in environmental law at Harrison Law in Baton Rouge, she took a sabbatical and completed one of her lifetime goals of traveling solo. She immersed herself into new cultures. She became scuba-certified in Thailand, climbed Mount Fuji in Japan, wrecked a scooter in Italy, took in the architecture of Singapore, hiked the Spicers Scenic Rim Trail in Australia, relaxed in Bali and met people from almost every continent.
 
Upon returning home from her trip, she was presented with the opportunity of a lifetime to work alongside her father, Jim Walther, as a financial advisor with the established Walther-duPassage Group at Morgan Stanley. Back in her hometown of Covington, she works closely with individual investors, families and small business owners to holistically and continually help preserve and grow their wealth. By utilizing a combination of savings, investments, insurance, tax and estate planning strategies, she supports clients in making informed, confident decisions that impact their livelihood. (CRC#: 3454162.)
 
Her love of the law and wanting to maintain her connection with her fellow attorneys drew her to volunteer for the Young Lawyers Division Council District 5 representative seat (covering the 19th to 22nd Judicial District Courts). She looks forward to continuing to implement relevant and entertaining CLEs and socials for her district.
 
Walther, who is warm-hearted and approachable, brings a distinct perspective and strong willingness to serve young lawyers and the legal community.
 
She continues her philanthropic endeavors through the Junior League of Greater Covington and will be serving as the assistant treasurer on its board. This organization provides educational and cultural opportunities to enrich the lives of the citizens of the surrounding community.
 
She also spends much of her free time outdoors on the water. She hunts, fishes, slalom skis, plays beach volleyball and practices yoga. She owns an amazingly precious golden-doodle named Red. She looks forward to seeing old faces and meeting more members of the state’s legal community.

Rachael M. Mills is the Louisiana State Bar Association (LSBA) Access to Justice (ATJ) Program’s projects counsel. In this role, she manages, administers and directs various projects of the LSBA ATJ Program, strengthening relationships and fostering coordination among Louisiana’s civil justice community members and partners.
 
As part of those duties, she is staff liaison to several committees and subcommittees of the Access to Justice Committee and the Access to Justice Commission. For the ATJ Committee, she works with the Pro Bono and Disaster Response subcommittees. The Pro Bono Subcommittee supports activities coordinated through local pro bono entities to engage and recognize the private bar and judiciary in pro bono efforts. In her role as staff liaison with the Disaster Response Subcommittee, she facilitates coordination of the subcommittee and the American Bar Association/Young Lawyers Division (ABA/YLD) Disaster Response Hotline. For the ATJ Commission, she serves as staff liaison for the Funding Committee which explores ways to increase funding for civil legal aid.
 
Mills also oversees the ATJ Developing Leadership Intern Program which provides a unique opportunity for 1Ls to learn about Louisiana’s civil justice network. Further, she is the local administrator of LA.FreeLegalAnswers.org, the online pro bono program created and supported by the ABA. This program is always in need of additional pro bono volunteers.
 
Originally from Birmingham, Ala., Mills graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from George Washington University. Later, she moved to Louisiana as an AmeriCorps disaster relief volunteer. She completed three terms of service with AmeriCorps (primarily with nonprofit organizations focused on rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina) before initially joining the LSBA’s Access to Justice Department.
 
After a three-year hiatus to earn her JD degree from Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Mills rejoined the LSBA’s Access to Justice Department as ATJ projects counsel.

Baton Rouge attorney Brett D. Sandifer is currently the general counsel for the Carpenter Health Network in Baton Rouge. Previously, he gained experience as an assistant district attorney in Calcasieu Parish, prosecuting misdemeanors and felonies. Then, he worked as an assistant attorney general for the Louisiana Department of Justice Medicaid Fraud and Criminal Divisions before starting his own private practice. He then worked as in-house counsel for Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. before becoming the general counsel for the Carpenter Health Network.
 
Sandifer has served as chair of the Baton Rouge Bar Association’s Pro Bono Committee since 2017. In 2020, he received the Louisiana State Bar Association Young Lawyers Division’s Pro Bono Award for his pro bono legal service in the community. He also officiates high school, junior college and college football. In his free time, he enjoys playing golf, fishing and spending time with family and friends.

Shreveport attorney Sherron Phae Williams is the director of human resources for the City of Shreveport. Prior to assuming this position, she served as an assistant city attorney and prosecutor for the City of Shreveport. In this capacity, she served as custodian of records for the city, attorney adviser to the city’s Department of Human Resources, supervisor of the city’s Americans with Disabilities (ADA) Office, handled EEOC claims, conducted workplace investigations, and engaged in civil litigation.
 
In the community, she serves as co-chair of legislative affairs for Northwest Louisiana Society for Human Resource Management (NWLA SHRM), a board member for Goodwill Industries of North Louisiana, a member and former Law Week co-chair for the Shreveport Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section, and outreach chair of the Harry V. Booth/Judge Henry A. Politz American Inn of Court. Last year, she organized a new outreach program for the Inn, Wills for Heroes. Modeled after the Louisiana State Bar Association’s (LSBA) Wills for Heroes effort, the event was a collaborative effort with the LSBA and the Shreveport Bar Association. The program provided approximately 45 first responders with wills and/or powers of attorney. More than 20 lawyers volunteered to provide the legal services.
 
Williams has received various accolades and recognition for her service in the community. In 2019, she received the Hidden Gem Award from the City of Shreveport. She is a recipient of the 2019 Member Recognition Award for Distinguished Service from the Harry V. Booth/Judge Henry A. Politz American Inn of Court. She was chosen to participate in the LSBA’s 2019-20 Leadership Class.
 
As a community leader and public servant, she is often called on to speak at conferences and on panels on matters relating to human resources and community events to motivate youth. 
 
Williams received her BS degree, magna cum laude, from Southern University A&M College and her law degree from Southern University Law Center. She is married to Maurice Williams and they have one daughter.

Baton Rouge attorney Amanda L. Brown is recognized for her continued work on access to justice efforts in Louisiana.

Brown is the founder and executive director of Lagniappe Law Lab, a legal aid technology nonprofit serving Louisiana’s justice community. She is the co-chair of the Louisiana Access to Justice Commission’s Technology Subcommittee, a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Access to Justice Committee and Disaster Response Subcommittee, and is an inaugural class member of the Legal Service Corporation’s Emerging Leaders Council.

She is active in the American Bar Association (ABA), serving as the vice director of the Young Lawyers Division’s (YLD) Disaster Legal Services Team, a member of the ABA Center for Innovation’s Governing Council and the YLD liaison to the Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services.

Most recently, Brown was a legal technology consultant for the Louisiana Bar Foundation on its statewide civil legal aid triage portal, the Louisiana Civil Legal Navigator Project. Prior to that, she served as the inaugural Microsoft NextGen Fellow for the ABA’s Center for Innovation and was a disaster recovery attorney at Southeast Louisiana Legal Services.

She holds a BS degree in economics from Louisiana State University and earned her JD degree, cum laude, from Loyola University College of Law.

Attorney Micah C. Zeno is a civil litigator in the New Orleans office of Gordon Arata Montgomery Barnett McCollam Duplantis & Eagan, L.L.C. His practice includes complex litigation, appellate practice, civil procedure, property law, commercial litigation and risk management. A former banker, he also provides businesses with advice on a variety of issues. He is one of the last attorneys to have voluntarily joined the State Bar as a law school student. He is a former law clerk for Judge June Berry Darensburg, 24th Judicial District Court. Recently, he applied to become an arbitrator with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (approval pending) and is studying for the membership exam for the National Association of Parliamentarians.
 
He is a member of the Louisiana State Law Institute and has served in various positions with the Louisiana State Bar Association (LSBA). He is a co-chair of the LSBA’s Outreach Committee and a member of the Diversity Committee. In 2019, he served on the Access to Justice Commission Strategic Planning Committee. He was a member of the 2016-17 Leadership LSBA Class.
 
In 2016, Zeno served as the presiding judge over the Law School Mock Trial Competition and was a member of the Law School Outreach Committee. Since 2016, he has lectured at the Suit Up for the Future Summer Legal Institute and the Law School Professionalism Orientations. He volunteers as a judge at the State High School Mock Trial Competition and is a speaker with the Louisiana Center for Law and Civic Education’s Lawyers in the Classroom Program.
 
Zeno is a member of the Federal Bar Association’s Younger Lawyers Division where he serves as chair of the Communications Committee and a member of the Law School Committee. He also is immediate past co-chair of the Young Lawyers Committee of the Louis A. Martinet Legal Society, Inc.

Attorney Derek G. Hoffman, with the firm Stockwell, Sievert, Viccellio, Clements & Shaddock, L.L.P., in Lake Charles, was born and raised in Evanston, Wyo. He earned his BS degree in political science in 2010 from the University of Utah and his JD degree in 2018 from Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center. While in law school, he earned CALI Awards for achieving the highest grade in Antitrust Law and Accounting for Lawyers, in addition to being named a Dean’s Scholar for the Fall 2016 and Spring 2018 semesters. He served on the LSU Law Student Bar Association as a 2L Class representative and then as executive secretary. He also was a LexisNexis Student Representative, completed the Parole Assistance & Reentry Clinic, and worked as a research assistant to Professor Paul R. Baier.

He was admitted to the practice of law in 2018, and his practice is primarily focused on business and real estate transactions, estate planning, probate and successions. 

Hoffman is active in his professional organizations. As a member of the Southwest Louisiana Bar Association (SWLBA), he serves on the SWLBA’s Young Lawyers Section Executive Council as president-elect (2020). He also is the co-chair of the SWLA Title Examiners Roundtable (2020) and the treasurer of the SWLA Literacy Council (2020).

His hobbies include sports, movies, traveling and spending time with family and friends. He and his wife, Andrea, have two children and are expecting their third child in March 2020. 

Shreveport attorney Felicia M. Hamilton is the principal attorney of the Law Offices of Felicia M. Hamilton, L.L.C., in Shreveport. The firm’s practice areas include criminal defense, wills, successions, personal injury, family law, real estate and other consumer matters. An avid volunteer, Hamilton regularly hosts workshops throughout the community to educate the public on topics including expungements, consumer credit, wills and successions. She formerly served as a prosecutor and assistant city attorney for the City of Shreveport.
  
She earned her BA degree in accounting from Dillard University, her MBA degree from University of Phoenix/Atlanta and her JD degree, cum laude, from Southern University Law Center.
 
Hamilton was selected as a GP Solo Practice Fellow, vice chair of the National Conferences Team and Young Lawyers Division scholar by the American Bar Association. She is the 2018 recipient of the NAACP Jesse N. Stone Pioneer Award. She is a member of the Volunteers for Youth Justice Board and is a Diamond Life member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., where she serves both locally and on a national committee.
 
She is a classically trained pianist, jazz vocalist and church choir director and has shared her gift of music nationally and internationally.

Lafayette attorney Stuart R. Breaux is general counsel at Southern Lifestyle Development Co., L.L.C. (SLD), a Lafayette-based real estate development company with projects throughout the Gulf South.


A Lafayette native, Breaux is a graduate of the Episcopal School of Acadiana, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and Tulane University Law School. While at Tulane, he was an active member of Tulane’s Moot Court program and is most proud of having coached the Green Wave to victory over its in-state “rivals” at the 2011 Louisiana State Bar Association (LSBA) Law School Mock Trial Competition. He was also a Moot Court Board member and an Order of Barristers inductee.


Prior to joining SLD in 2018, he worked for the law firm Becker & Hebert, L.L.C. He focused his practice on local government law and real estate and commercial transactions.


Breaux is the president of the Young Lawyers Section of the Lafayette Bar Association, co-chair of the Leadership Institute of Acadiana’s IntroLafayette program and president of Fix the Charter PAC, which helped to pass and defend, and is now working to smoothly implement, amendments to the Lafayette City-Parish Home Rule Charter. He is a member of the American Inn of Court of Acadiana, the St. Thomas More Society of Acadiana, the Krewe of Gabriel and Our Lady of Fatima Roman Catholic Church.


In 2018, he received the Hon. Michelle Pitard Wynne Professionalism Award from the LSBA Young Lawyers Division. As a lifelong fan of the New Orleans Saints, he eagerly anticipates the start of football season and the sweet, sweet revenge that awaits.

New Orleans attorney William C. Snowden is the director of the New Orleans office of Vera Institute of Justice. In this role, he continues and strengthens Vera’s existing partnerships with criminal justice actors and community leaders while identifying new collaborative relationships with government entities and community organizations. The collaborations focus on improving criminal justice systems in the South. 
 
He received a BS degree from the University of Minnesota and his JD degree from Seton Hall University School of Law. 
 
Prior to joining Vera, Snowden was a public defender for five years representing New Orleanians in all stages of a case — from arraignment to trial.
 
He also advocated for reforming the procedures, systems and policies for jury duty in an effort to promote diversity and representativeness in the jury box. He launched The Juror Project, an initiative aimed at increasing the diversity of jury panels while changing and challenging people’s perspectives of jury duty. He was heavily involved in bringing unanimous juries to Louisiana’s criminal legal system. 
 
Snowden leads workshops around the country, discussing how implicit bias, racial anxiety and stereotype threats influence actors and outcomes in the criminal justice system.

Attorney Erin Sayes Kenny is a partner at Taylor, Porter, Brooks & Phillips, L.L.P., in Baton Rouge. She is a 2007 summa cum laude graduate and University Medalist from Louisiana State University. She graduated cum laude from LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center, where she served as an issue editor and junior associate of the Louisiana Law Review.
She maintains a varied civil litigation and transactional practice. She practices commercial and tort litigation, including insurance defense and insurance coverage cases. Her litigation experience includes numerous pre-trial motions, appeals and mediations. She has served as both lead and co-counsel in several bench and jury trials before state and federal district courts in Louisiana.
She also represents national and local restaurants, hotels and retail stores, with an emphasis in alcoholic beverage licensing, compliance and enforcement issues. Her clients enjoy the benefits of her knowledge and working relationship with state and local regulators of the hospitality and alcoholic beverage industry.
Within her firm, Kenny currently serves as chair of the Recruiting Committee. In the Baton Rouge legal community, she is chair-elect of the Baton Rouge Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section Council. She is a board member for the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel (LADC) and a member of the LADC’s Young Lawyers Committee. In her community, she is a board member of the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Baton Rouge.

Attorney Stephanie Bond Hulett has served as city attorney in Denham Springs since 2015. Her practice is varied, including drafting city ordinances and ensuring their enforcement, handling Civil Service discipline and appeals, and occasionally assisting in prosecution of the city’s criminal cases. She is proud to serve her hometown and witness firsthand its recovery from the Great Flood of 2016.


She earned a BS degree in psychology in 2006 from Louisiana State University and her JD degree in 2010 from LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center. Prior to serving as city attorney, she practiced with deGravelles, Palmintier, Holthaus & Fruge in Baton Rouge and clerked for Judge John W. deGravelles, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana.


Hulett is passionate about serving her community through her work with Jefferson Baptist Church, where she is Missions Minister and Women’s Minister. She leads mission teams around the globe, sharing the Gospel with people of all ages and nationalities. She enjoys teaching women’s Bible studies and assisting her husband with the church’s Student Ministry.


In her free time, she travels with her family and writes in partnership with her aunt. Their first children’s book, The Animals’ Secret Krewe, celebrates Louisiana wildlife and culture. Hulett lives in Baton Rouge with her husband, Jeff, and their daughter.

Lake Charles attorney Alyson Vamvoras Antoon began a solo private practice in 2014 at Antoon Law Firm, L.L.C., and recently joined her husband, Michael Antoon, and father, Glen Vamvoras, in private practice at Vamvoras & Antoon in Lake Charles. She practices mainly in the areas of child custody and criminal defense, but also has a passion for animals and is one of a handful of attorneys who practices animal law in Louisiana. She is a certified family and divorce mediator and a former instructor at Delta Tech School of Business.
Born and raised in Lake Charles, she attended Louisiana State University as an undergraduate where she obtained a degree in history. She obtained her JD degree from Southern University Law Center in 2010. During law school, she twice received the CALI Excellence for the Future Award in Legal Writing and served as an officer in Phi Alpha Delta fraternity. She was admitted to the Louisiana Bar in 2011.
Antoon is a member of the Fusion Five Young Professionals Organization, the American Association of Premier DUI Attorneys, the Southwest Louisiana Bar Association (SWLBA) Young Lawyers Section (board member, 2016; president-elect, 2017; president 2018) and the SWLBA Family Law Section. She chairs the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Animal Law Section and was a speaker at the 2016 LSBA Animal Law Section’s annual seminar.
She has been selected three consecutive years as a Louisiana Super Lawyers “Rising Star,” is a current member (2018-19) of the Leadership LSBA Class and is one of Thrive Magazine’s “13 Thriving 30 somethings” in 2017.
When not at work, Antoon and her husband love spending time with their multiple rescue animals (and sometimes “foster” animals). She enjoys volunteering with the Lake Charles Pitbull Rescue and advocating for animal rescue and animal welfare.

Monroe attorney Laura B. Hennen is a partner at Hennen & Hennen, L.L.P., a plaintiffs’ personal injury firm in Monroe. She and her father/law partner, Dennis Hennen, work mostly on car and trucking accident litigation. She received her law degree and a civil law certificate from Tulane University Law School in 2008, after having been a part of the “Katrina class” of first-year students in 2005-06. 

She currently serves as a member of the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board. She is a board member of the Louisiana Association for Justice (LAJ) and is the former chair of the Women’s Caucus. She also is a member of the American Association for Justice (AAJ) and serves on its Trial Lawyers Care Committee, organizing trial lawyers to work together to volunteer and improve the well-being of members of their communities. She is serving as an LAJ state delegate to the AAJ Board of Governors this year. 

Hennen is an inaugural board member for Emerge Louisiana, an organization dedicated to recruiting, training and supporting Democratic women to run for office. She serves as the co-chair of the Curriculum Committee in addition to her other board responsibilities. 

She is passionate about supporting children’s education (check out Donorschoose.org!) and social services in Monroe such as The Wellspring. She also enjoys traveling near and far, Broadway musicals and spending time with her wonderful family.

Baton Rouge attorney Christopher H. Hester is an assistant district attorney with the East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney’s Office where he currently serves as a section chief. He has most recently held the positions of chief homicide prosecutor and section chief of the Violent Crimes Unit. He previously served as a misdemeanor assistant, junior felony assistant and senior felony assistant. During his nearly nine years as an ADA, he has handled everything from misdemeanors to murders. He is currently on leave from his job as a prosecutor while he runs for Baton Rouge City Court judge.

Immediately after graduating from Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center and before he started work as an assistant district attorney, he began his career at Watson, Blanche, Wilson & Posner, a law firm practicing primarily in the area of medical malpractice defense where he honed his skills in this unique civil practice.

In 2016, Hester was recognized as one of the Baton Rouge Business Report’s “40 Under 40” for his career success and impact in the community.

Growing up in Baton Rouge, he is a graduate of Catholic High School and St. Aloysius Catholic School. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University and his JD/BCL degree from LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center. He is an active Baton Rouge Bar Association committee member.

In his community, he is the head coach of the eighth grade boys’ basketball team at St. Aloysius Catholic School. He is the president of the Sigma Phi Epsilon Alumni Volunteer Corporation, an active committee member at First United Methodist Church and a former chair of the Baton Rouge Bridge Academy Board.

Hester is married to his college sweetheart — Emily Burris Hester — and they are the parents of one child, with a new addition arriving early next year.

Baton Rouge attorney Paul H. (Woody) Scott was born in Honduras and moved to New Orleans when he was 2 years old. He attended Louisiana State University and LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center, graduating in 2008. Since his law school graduation, he has been practicing immigration and criminal defense. He formed his own firm, The Scott Law Firm, in 2010 which now has four attorneys and 16 support staff.

He enjoys not only the practice of law but also the business of law. He was drawn to immigration law because of his roots of being born in a foreign country and watching family members navigate the immigration system. A large part of his practice is dedicated to representing immigrants charged with crimes in the criminal court system who are trying to avoid negative consequences to their immigration status.

Scott is active with the American Immigration Lawyers Association and is treasurer of the LSBA’s Immigration Law Section.

He currently lives in Baton Rouge with his wife, Jennifer, two children and two dogs. When he is not practicing law, he is usually training for the next triathlon, marathon or race, mainly because he believes that the practice of law is not punishing enough (LOL).

Follow him on instagram or twitter at Woody12345 or on Facebook at Paul “Woody” Scott.

Attorney Alan W. Stewart is a partner in the new Lafayette law firm, Gibson Law Partners, L.L.C., which opened its doors in March 2018. The firm focuses in professional liability and business litigation matters.

After graduating with a BA degree in 2007 from Louisiana State University, he decided to follow in the footsteps of his father, Larry Stewart, who practiced law in Alexandria for nearly 40 years. “I saw the long hours that my Dad worked,” Stewart said, “but I also saw the rewards reaped from those long hours.”

Stewart enrolled in LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center and graduated, magna cum laude, in 2011. During law school, he was a member of the Louisiana Law Review, publishing an article about the evidentiary doctrine res ipsa loquitur. His moot court team was a semi-finalist in the Judge John R. Brown Admiralty Moot Court Competition in Houston, Texas.

He moved to Lafayette after passing the bar exam. “Lafayette is a vibrant community,” he said. “It has the accoutrements of a large town with the ambiance of a small town.” He joined the law firm Allen & Gooch where he practiced maritime law under the tutelage of Randy Theunissen. In 2015, Stewart and Theunissen had the privilege of presenting a program to the Greater New Orleans Barge Fleeting Association on the topic of Jones Act seaman status.

These days, Stewart enjoys representing attorneys and judges in professional liability and disciplinary matters. He is also excited about the opening of Gibson Law Partners, L.L.C. “I’m honored to work with a brilliant group of lawyers and excited about the bright future of the firm,” he said.

In his spare time, he enjoys live music, running, international travel, playing guitar and watching LSU football.

Lafayette attorney Phillip M. Smith, an associate at NeunerPate, focuses his practice primarily on litigation, with an emphasis on maritime law and commercial litigation.

A native of New Iberia, he graduated from Catholic High School. He then attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL). He was actively involved in student political organizations and spent a semester working in Washington, D.C., for Congressman Charles W. Boustany. In 2012, he graduated, summa cum laude, from UL with a BA degree in political science.

Smith attended Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center and was the executive senior editor of the Louisiana Law Review. He also worked as a judicial extern for Chief Judge Brian A. Jackson, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana. He was a member of the Moot Court Board and actively participated in external competitions. In his second and third years of law school, he was a two-time national champion at the John R. Brown Admiralty Moot Court Competition, also receiving individual awards for his oral advocacy and brief writing. In 2016, he graduated, magna cum laude, from LSU Law (Order of the Coif).

He began his legal career at NeunerPate and embodies the community-first culture of his firm. His significant pro bono work is fully supported by the firm and the firm’s philosophy gives it the same weight, priority and level of attention as any other client. For this reason, he is actively involved in the Lafayette Volunteer Lawyers Program and regularly represents victims of domestic abuse in obtaining protective orders. In 2017, after only his first year of practice, he received the Lafayette Bar Foundation’s Top Protective Order Award and the Lafayette Volunteer Lawyers Outstanding Attorney Award.

Smith is a member of the Admiralty Law Section of the Federal Bar Association, the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel and the Young Lawyers Section of the Lafayette Bar Association. He also is a member of the American Inn of Court of Acadiana. In an effort to give back to a law school that has given him so many opportunities, he now serves as a volunteer coach for the LSU Law Admiralty Moot Court External Team.

Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with family and friends, running, golf and supporting Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns athletics. He has been happily married to Morgan James Smith since 2014. She has always been supportive of his journey and work as a young lawyer in the Lafayette community.

Ruston attorney P. Heath Hattaway has taken on complex civil rights, corporate and succession cases. He is particularly fulfilled and engaged by his “Check the Constitution” approach to representation on behalf of his clients. He enjoys complex cases, such as his current First Amendment-related endeavor — challenging Louisiana’s “anti-mask” statute for a U.S. Army veteran who was arrested for wearing a “Guy Fawkes” mask in public while protesting.

Hattaway has grown the practice formerly owned by his mentor, Grambling State University President Rick Gallot. Hattaway is known for his focus on holistic services for his clients by reaching across practice areas and connecting them with the very best resources for success in and out of the courtroom. His firm recently accepted its first associate attorney, Ranee L. Haynes.

“It’s true when they say you’d be surprised at just how much you don’t know until you start practicing. Even so, sometimes you just need to get in there, roll up your sleeves, and remember your training. Mistakes will happen. That’s why we carry insurance,” Hattaway said. “The key is to not be afraid to try.”

Hattaway earned an undergraduate degree from Louisiana State University and pursued graduate courses in business administration at Louisiana Tech. The law is not his only foray into business. Hattaway is the former owner of J&B Poultry, a family-owned chicken farm in north Louisiana; and Left | Right Strategies, a political consulting firm representing clients across the state. He also became the youngest “judge” in Louisiana when he won his election as Lincoln Parish justice of the peace in 2008.

He directly credits his election as a justice of the peace, where he performed weddings and evictions, to his decision to attend law school at Mississippi College of Law, where he graduated in 2013.

Hattaway has built a reputation in north Louisiana as a passionate advocate who goes the extra mile to get results for his clients, exploring creative procedural pathways to justice. His focus on community engagement — in tandem with advocacy — was evident throughout his young life. He was recently honored as a “Friend of 4-H” and serves on the 4th Judicial District Public Defender Board in Ouachita Parish. He has served as an adjunct professor at Grambling State University where he taught criminal investigations and criminal procedure and evidence.

He credits his experience in law school clerking for the Mississippi Supreme Court, the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office and the United States Attorney’s Office for his early success in practice. As a young lawyer building his own practice, he said that he can dispel the stigma of not having “enough experience” by emphasizing his creativity, quality service and individual attention.

Hattaway also said that the ability to collaborate with other attorneys in his region has been essential to his growing firm’s success. He is licensed to practice law in the states of Louisiana, Washington and Alabama and can be reached at hh@heathhattaway.com.

New Orleans environmental attorney S. Beaux Jones recently joined the New Orleans office of Baldwin Haspel Burke & Mayer, L.L.C., after working as an assistant attorney general for the Louisiana Department of Justice, where he worked his way up to environmental section chief. His practice is currently based in litigation and administrative matters, focusing on environmental, coastal and oil and gas law.

He has argued cases at every level of state and federal court in Louisiana. He has handled matters before the U.S. 6th Circuit and the D.C. Circuit Courts of Appeals. While with the State of Louisiana, he advised and represented numerous state agencies, including the Department of Natural Resources, the Department of Environmental Quality, the Office of Conservation, the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority and the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.

Since leaving government practice, Jones has become an active writer and presenter on coastal and environmental issues around the state. He publishes periodic environmental law updates for his firm’s blog. He writes the Louisiana Bar Journal’s Environmental Law Section Recent Developments article. He has several upcoming presentations including at the Mineral Law Institute and the Coastal Law Seminar in March and the State of the Coast Conference in May. He also serves as treasurer of the LSBA’s Environmental Law Section.

Originally from Ruston, Jones received a BA degree from Davidson College in North Carolina, where he played football and threw the javelin. He received his law degree from Louisiana State University Paul H. Hebert Law Center. He moved back to Louisiana for law school specifically to get involved with the state’s ongoing efforts to curb coastal land loss and to participate in the conversation about how Louisiana can move towards a more sustainable coastal existence. He believes that this conversation requires all hands on deck, including scientists, lawyers, government officials, business leaders, academics and artists.

In his community, he is an active member of the Faubourg St. John Neighborhood Association, as well as several active transportation and environmental organizations. When not in the office or the courtroom, he can be found leading kayak tours through the Maurepas Swamp or biking around New Orleans with his wife and son.

Shreveport attorney Treneisha Jackson Hill has prosecuted more than 1,000 cases in five years at the Caddo Parish District Attorney’s Office and has tried more than 30 jury trials. She is a native of Shreveport and graduated from Huntington High School. She began her college career at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, where she received her BA degree in sociology with a concentration in criminology. For her first year in college, she studied forensic science and thought she wanted to do crime investigations. But now, she says, she is sure she would have always wondered “what if” if she had not become a lawyer. She received her JD degree from Southern University Law Center (SULC). While in law school, she was a member of the SULC Moot Court Board, an intern with the Louisiana 2nd Circuit Court of Appeal and an extern with the East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney’s Office.

Following law school graduation, she returned to Shreveport and began working as a research attorney for Judge John Mosely, Jr. and Judge Ramon Lafitte. In 2012, she accepted a position with the Caddo Parish District Attorney’s Office, where she currently works as felony assistant prosecuting violent offenses and sex crimes.

Hill is a self-described music junkie — she occasionally turns on mellow crooners like Sam Smith or Ed Sheeran at the office — who is currently trying to decide whether she wants to learn to play the piano or guitar. In her community, she works as a teen mentor for Volunteers for Youth Justice and is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

She enjoys traveling, spending time with her family and friends, and serving the people of Caddo Parish. She is married to attorney Kerry Hill and they have one child.

Attorney Rachel I. Silvers, a New Orleans native, is a founding member of Silvers Law Firm, L.L.C, a general civil law practice in Uptown New Orleans. Along with her law practice, she also is a licensed realtor and co-owner of Galiano Realty with her husband, Nick Galiano.

She received her BS degree in business administration in 2009 from the University of New Orleans. After college graduation, she attended Loyola University College of Law at night and worked at the Gray Insurance Co. during the day. At Loyola, she served as the school’s Evening Division SBA representative, on the Moot Court staff, and spent a year in Loyola’s Litigation and Technology Clinic. After receiving her JD degree in 2013, she worked as an attorney for the Gray Insurance Co. and later founded the Silvers Law Firm, L.L.C.

In 2016, Silvers was selected to participate in the Loyola University College of Law’s Incubator Program, an immersive two-year opportunity for graduates building a solo practice and committed to social justice. Her firm focuses on personal injury, litigation, real estate, business and family law.

She is committed to supporting her community through public service and pro bono work. She has been recognized by The Pro Bono Project for 100+ hours of pro bono service. In 2017, she was recognized by the Louisiana State Bar Association with its Pro Bono Century Club Award for her commitment to serving the less fortunate.

Silvers is currently serving as vice chair of the Jefferson Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division. She also is a member of the New Orleans Metropolitan Association of Realtors’ Young Professionals Network.

Attorney L. Sean Corcoran moved to Lake Charles from upstate New York at a young age but has always considered Louisiana his home. He received a BS degree in accounting from McNeese State University and his JD and BCL degrees in 2011 from Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center. While at LSU, he served as executive president of the Student Bar Association, was a member of Phi Alpha Delta and The Federalist Society, and was a co-commissioner of the annual Barristers Bowl.

Following law school graduation, he moved home to Lake Charles to work as an associate attorney at the law firm of Hunter, Hunter & Sonnier, L.L.C., practicing general civil litigation. In January 2015, he was hired as an assistant district attorney for Calcasieu Parish and, simultaneously, formed his own firm, the Corcoran Law Firm, L.L.C. By November 2015, his private practice had grown significantly, and he left the DA’s office to focus on family law. He now focuses on divorce, child custody and division of community property.

In his community, Corcoran is an active member of Our Lady Queen of Heaven Catholic Church, where he calls upon his experience to facilitate a program through the church to help participants work through the hardships and aftermath of divorce. He has been an appointed commissioner of the Calcasieu Parish Communications District since 2012. He is an active member of the Southwest Louisiana Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section and has served as treasurer and chair of the annual Holiday Helping Hands charity event. He was a member of the 2015-16 Leadership LSBA Class and has served on the boards of the Literacy Council of Southwest Louisiana and Rebuilding Together Calcasieu.

Corcoran is married to Dr. Michelle Corcoran and has two children.

Vidalia attorney (now Judge) Scott B. McLemore began his term as judge for the City of Vidalia in January 2017 and will serve through December 2022.

Born and raised in Vidalia, he received a BS degree in accounting in 2005 from Louisiana State University and his JD and BCL degrees in 2008 from LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center. In law school, he served as the Student Bar Association treasurer. Following law school graduation, he moved to Atlanta, Ga., and was admitted to the Georgia Bar in 2008. In 2009, he was admitted to the Louisiana Bar. He and his wife moved to his hometown and he began law practice with his father at the McLemore Law Firm. In 2015, McLemore acquired the firm.

McLemore has served his community in several capacities. His municipal clients have included the City of Vidalia as city attorney, Riverland Medical Center, Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office, Concordia Waterworks and Concordia Sewer District No. 1. He also has served as a director of Concordia Bank & Trust Co. since 2013. Additional areas of his law practice include family/domestic; successions; real estate; title examinations and closings; corporate law; and civil litigation for plaintiff and defense.

His professional affiliations have included: 7th Judicial District Bar Association, current member and president; Louisiana City Attorney’s Association, former member; Louisiana State University Alumni Association of the Miss-Lou; Jefferson Street United Methodist Church, current trustee, past administrative board member and Sunday School teacher; Concordia Chamber of Commerce, current member; Rotary Club, current member; Natchez Chamber of Commerce, current member, past board member and past chair of Young Professionals; and Panola Woods Country Club, former board member.

McLemore is married to Laura McLemore and is the father of two daughters.

Shreveport attorney Thomas A. Pressly’s principal practice involves commercial litigation, insurance defense and commercial trucking. He received his undergraduate degree, cum laude, in 2009 from Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth, Texas, where he served as student body president. He received his law degree in 2013 from Loyola University College of Law. Prior to joining the Shreveport law firm of Cook, Yancey, King & Galloway, A.P.L.C., he clerked for Hon. S. Maurice Hicks, Jr., U.S. District Court, Western District of Louisiana. He is admitted to practice in all Louisiana state and federal courts and the U. S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

He enjoys giving back to the community through his work with the Shreveport Bar Association (SBA) and local non-profits. He is serving as the 2017 president of the SBA’s Young Lawyers Section. He serves on the board of directors of the Robinson Film Center, Ark-La-Tex Ambassadors and the John V. Roach Honors College Board of Visitors at TCU, and is a member of the Louisiana Bar Foundation’s Northwest Community Partnership Panel and the Federal Bar Association. He also promotes pro-business legislation as a member of the Legislative Policy Committee of the Greater Shreveport Chamber of Commerce.

Pressly is a founding member, and served as the first chair, of the Community Renewal International Young Professionals Organization (YoPro) in 2016. Together with the YoPro board, he created a program to develop community mentoring and networking opportunities for young professionals in the area and inner-city youth. Through his involvement with YoPro, he was a part of a board that successfully raised $10,000 to fully fund a playground for an inner-city community center.

He is married to Maggie Nelson Pressly, also an attorney in Shreveport. They are the parents of a son.

Lake Charles attorney Zita Jackson Andrus received her BA degree in sociology in 2004 from Xavier University of Louisiana and her JD/BCL degree in 2008 from Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center, where she was the recipient of the CALI Award in Insurance, the Best Oral Advocate Award in the Robert Lee Tullis Moot Court Competition, and was a Southern Regional quarter finalist in the Thurgood Marshall Mock Trial Competition. She also was a member of the Wex Malone American Inn of Court, the LSU Moot Court Board and the LSU Trial Advocacy Team and served as treasurer of the Black Law Students Association.

She is currently employed with the law firm of Baggett, McCall, Burgess, Watson & Gaughan, L.L.C., in Lake Charles, where 100 percent of her practice is focused on civil litigation. She is admitted to practice in Louisiana; the U.S. District Court for the Middle, Eastern and Western Districts of Louisiana; and the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Andrus is actively involved in the community in southwest Louisiana. She is the immediate past president of the Southwest Louisiana Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section and is a member of the Louisiana Association for Justice. She was recently appointed by Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Bernette Joshua Johnson to the Louisiana Public Defender Board.

She and her husband Kerry Andrus, Jr. are the parents of a son.

Kenner attorney Brad C. Cashio, a personal injury attorney with Cashio Law Firm, started his practice at age 23, crediting all of his knowledge of the law to his father, S. Michael Cashio, a fixture of Louisiana law for more than 40 years.

Throughout his 15 years of practice, Cashio has provided pro bono assistance and representation to small businesses, nonprofits, churches and individuals. He mentors and assists young attorneys to help them have ethical and effective careers. He has spearheaded an initiative to make estate planning affordable for everyone with his “Peace of Mind” package. He also has taught several areas of law at the high school through postgraduate levels of study.

Cashio is a frequent guest speaker inspiring and educating young adults about pursuing a career in the law as well as the future landscape of the law. He is a volunteer chaplain working with the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office. He leads Bible studies with inmates at Orleans Parish correctional facilities and at Jefferson Parish juvenile detention centers. He is a volunteer teacher and guest speaker with Junior Achievement of Greater New Orleans, serving schools and youth with programs to inspire work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy.

He has received several awards for his legal and community activities, most recently, the 2016 Millennial Award for Law, honoring young professionals in the Greater New Orleans area who have contributed to the community through public service, made significant strides in business sectors, and served as cultural ambassadors; the 2016 Times-Picayune NOLA Everyday Hero Award for professional and volunteer services to the Greater New Orleans community; and the 2015 Gambit Weekly “40 Under 40” Award.

At Loyola University College of Law, he received the 2000-01 Joseph M. Rault Award for excellence in admiralty and maritime law, the 2000-01 Law Excellence Award for maritime personal injury and the 1999-2000 Law Excellence Award for donations and trusts. He also was a 1998 Charles Wesley Merritt Scholar for Academic Excellence in the College of Business at Southeastern Louisiana University.

Baton Rouge attorney Scott M. Levy joined Amedisys, Inc., a national home health and hospice provider, in 2015 as its director of government affairs. He is responsible for leading the health care provider’s legislative and regulatory strategies at the federal and state level. He also is directly involved with managing all state and federal trade association relationships where Amedisys is a member.

Prior to joining Amedisys, Levy spent four years with Adams and Reese, L.L.P., as a member of the firm’s Special Business Services Practice Group. He litigated cases through trial, was involved in complex regulatory transactions and was a registered lobbyist. His expansive practice included representing a wide array of clients in procurement matters in Louisiana, including health care companies, insurance firms and other service providers. He also represented clients before the Louisiana Public Service Commission on telecommunications, water, wastewater and transportation matters.

Levy is a former law clerk for Judge Timothy E. Kelley in the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge. He also served as a law clerk in the Executive Counsel’s Office, Office of the Governor, during Gov. Bobby Jindal’s tenure.

Prior to law school, he worked in state government as an administrative aide with the Office of the Lieutenant Governor in Baton Rouge. He has experience at the federal level, employed in various positions with the U.S. Department of Education and as a member of the White House Advance Team in the Office of Presidential Advance. He was one of the working points of contact during visits of the U.S. President, including working with the host committee or host government, the U.S. Secret Service and the White House Military Office to ensure a smooth event for the President and guests. During his tenure, he was appointed as a member of “Team NOLA,” responsible for traveling to New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina to participate in on-the-ground and air assessments to determine accessibility for a Presidential visit. He returned for every trip taken by former President Bush or Vice President Cheney after the storm. He also traveled internationally, facilitating visits to Beijing, China; Panama City, Panama; and Riga, Latvia.

Levy earned his JD degree from Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center, where he was a member of the Chancellor’s Student Advisory Committee. He double-majored at Louisiana State University, earning a BA degree in political science and a BA degree in mass communication, both in 2004. As an undergraduate, he was president of the LSU Interfraternity Council; student member of the LSU Athletic Council; director of student activities for the LSU Student Government; and senator in the LSU Student Senate.

He served as chair of the Baton Rouge Bar Association’s (BRBA) Young Lawyers Section Council and was a member of the BRBA’s board of directors (ex officio) and the Finance Committee. He was a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association’s 2014-15 Leadership LSBA Class. In 2014, he was appointed to the board of directors for Cancer Services of Greater Baton Rouge. He is an alumnus of the Class of 2004 of Leadership LSU, a program for students seeking leadership roles in the communities where they will be living and working. He is a former LSU Law Center Student Representative with the 2009 “Belly Up With The Bar” Committee.

In 2014, Levy was named to the Greater Baton Rouge Business Report’s annual “40 Under 40” list recognizing outstanding young professionals.

He and his wife, Candace, have three children, his “daily inspiration.”

Lafayette attorney Jaclyn Bridges Bacon is an associate at NeunerPate. She practices in civil defense litigation, with a primary focus on workers’ compensation, personal injury and insurance defense.

Bacon earned her BA degree in finance, with a concentration in internal audit and a minor in English, in 2005 from Louisiana State University. She earned her JD degree and bachelor of civil law degree in 2008 from LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center. A native of Minden, she moved to Lafayette following her graduation from law school. She served as a judicial clerk for two years to Judge Ellis Daigle (Ret.) in the 27th Judicial District Court in Opelousas before joining NeunerPate in 2010. She also has worked as an adjunct instructor at Louisiana Technical College’s T.H. Harris campus teaching a Louisiana notary public examination preparation course.
As an active member of the Lafayette Young Lawyers Association (LYLA), she currently chairs the Membership Committee and is a past chair of the Social and Law Week Committees. In connection with her LYLA service, she has volunteered for Wills for Heroes, Counsel on Call, as a scoring judge for regional mock trial competitions, and as a mentor to a new LYLA member.

Bacon is the president-elect of the Lafayette-Acadiana Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, previously serving as secretary and public relations chair and recognized as the 2014 recipient of the President’s Award. In 2011, she received an Outstanding Attorney Award from the Lafayette Volunteer Lawyers for her pro bono service to indigent clients.

Also involved in the Lafayette community, she is a member of the705 Young Leaders of Acadiana, previously serving as secretary, co-chair of the 20 Under 40 Awards Committee and co-chair of the Professional Development Committee. She is a 2015 graduate of One Acadiana’s (formerly Lafayette Chamber of Commerce) Leadership Lafayette Class XXVIII. She currently serves on the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra’s Generation ASO board, where she has assisted at the committee level with planning the inaugural Symphony of Cravings Tour and Day at the Derby events.

Bacon is a member of the John M. Duhe, Jr. American Inn of Court, the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel, the United Way of Acadiana’s Women’s Leadership Council and the Krewe of Bonaparte. She has played USTA league tennis on women’s and mixed-doubles teams in Lafayette for several years.

She and her husband, Kirk, have been married since 2014.

Lake Charles attorney Ashley Foret Dees splits her time between her main office in Lake Charles and her second office in the Houston Heights neighborhood. She devotes all of her time to an immigration law practice.

She earned a BA degree as a double major in English and Spanish from Vanderbilt University. As an undergraduate, she studied abroad in Italy, the United Kingdom and Spain. After graduation, she lived in Madrid, Spain, for one year to pursue her understanding of Spanish language and culture. Upon her return, she attended Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center. After law school graduation, she clerked for the 38th Judicial District Court in Cameron Parish. She then began her career as an immigration attorney in southwest Louisiana.

Dees presents programs several times a year on different immigration law topics. She speaks at local conferences in Louisiana and Texas as well as national immigration law conferences for the Federal Bar Association and the American Immigration Lawyers Association. She focuses a large portion of her practice on representation of companies and employees in the H-2A and H-2B visa program. She works with Louisiana employers across the state in hiring temporary, seasonal foreign workers in Louisiana’s vital crawfish, crab, seafood and construction industries. Further, she handles immigration cases involving defense of removal, marriage cases, asylum, and special immigrant juveniles, among others.

Over the past eight years, she has served in various Louisiana State Bar Association (LSBA) leadership positions, including membership in and co-chair of the Leadership LSBA Class. In 2014, she founded and chaired the LSBA’s Immigration Law Section and continues to both chair the section and the annual Immigration Law Seminar in New Orleans. She also is a member of the LSBA’s Continuing Legal Education Committee and is organizing a military outreach program for foreign spouses of military members. She dedicates time to the Texas State Bar, serving as vice president of the Immigration Law Section’s Asylum and Refugee Issues Committee and chairing the Grant Committee.

Dees has devoted much of her time in service positions with the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). She has served on the AILA National Pro Bono Committee and the AILA MidSouth Chapter as the pro bono chair. She traveled with groups of AILA attorneys to volunteer with women and children held in detention facilities in Artesia, NM, and Dilley and Karnes, Texas. She met with detained women and children refugees helping them understand the asylum process and advocating for their release.

She is married to John Dees.

Attorney Ashley J. Heilprin, an associate in the New Orleans office of Phelps Dunbar, L.L.P., practices in commercial litigation with a focus on construction litigation, contract disputes and professional liability. Prior to joining Phelps Dunbar, she served as a litigation associate at Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann, L.L.C., as well as an extern for Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

She has counseled businesses in employment discrimination and breach of contract disputes, public and private entities involved in contractor disputes over defective work, individuals in divorce and custody disputes, and a national educational reform organization on compliance with state lobbying laws.

An executive council member for the New Orleans Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section, Heilprin also is involved with the organization’s Women in the Profession Committee and serves as the 2015 chair for the Young Lawyers Section’s Procrastinator CLE program.

She is corresponding secretary for the Greater New Orleans Chapter of the Louis A. Martinet Legal Society, Inc. and is on the board of directors for the Young Leadership Council, Collegiate Academies and the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana. She is a member of the LSBA’s Minority Involvement Section and the American Bar Association.

Heilprin is a 2014 graduate of the Emerging Philanthropists of New Orleans. She also has been an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. for more than 10 years.

She received a BA degree in public policy and economics in 2007 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She received her JD degree in 2014 from William & Mary Law School and her Master of Public Policy the same year from the College of William and Mary.
The Seattle native who moved to New Orleans in 2012 enjoys cooking, playing tourist in New Orleans, visiting art museums, attending live performances and volunteering.

Shreveport attorney Marcus E. Edwards, an associate at Mayer, Smith & Roberts, L.L.P., devotes a majority of his practice to civil defense litigation, focusing on workers’ compensation defense, premises liability, personal injury and successions.

He earned a BA degree in political science from Morehouse College, where he served as Student Government president. He earned his JD degree from Tulane University Law School with a Certificate in International and Comparative Law, and was inducted into the Order of Barristers. He served on a successful Presidential Search Committee while at Morehouse and on a successful student subcommittee of the Law School Dean’s Search Committee while at Tulane. He interned for the U.S. State Department Office of War Crimes Issues and for U.S. 5th Circuit Chief Judge Carl E. Stewart. After law school, he returned to Shreveport to begin a clerkship in the 1st Judicial District Court, gaining valuable experience working in the chambers of Judge Leon L. Emanuel III and Judge Ramona L. Emanuel.

Edwards currently serves on the Shreveport Bar Association’s (SBA) Executive Board, the SBA’s Professionalism Committee and the Louisiana State Bar Association’s (LSBA) Legislation Committee. He is a team leader for the Harry V. Booth/Judge Henry A. Politz American Inn of Court, focusing on legal technology. He also is a member of the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel and the Shreveport-Bossier Black Lawyers’ Association.

Over the past five years, he has consistently given his time in service to the community, participating in the SBA Young Lawyers Section’s Adopt-a-School Program and for pro bono projects, including the LSBA Young Lawyers Division’s Wills for Heroes Program. He was a member of the 2012-13 Leadership LSBA Class. He participated in the Community Foundation of North Louisiana’s 2012 Community Leaders Program and served as a 2014 co-chair of the SBA Law Day Program.

Edwards also has been involved in the Hugh O’Brien Youth (HOBY) World Leadership Congress for more than a decade. HOBY is a student leadership organization that inspires and develops youth and volunteers to a life of leadership, service and innovation. He has been selected to serve as chair of the 50th HOBY World Leadership Congress in 2017, where more than 400 HOBY leaders from all 50 states and more than 10 countries will meet for a week of intensive training in Chicago, Ill.

This past April, Edwards married Jabrina Clayton Edwards, a 2012 graduate of the University of Mississippi School of Law. She is an attorney with Legal Services of North Louisiana and is admitted to practice in Mississippi and Louisiana.

Baton Rouge attorney Michael E. Platte is an associate with Ogwyn Law Firm, L.L.C. His practice includes business and commercial litigation, corporate law, construction law and general civil litigation. He has handled a wide range of matters in the area of business and commercial litigation, including shareholder disputes, minority shareholder rights, derivative actions, dissolution and breach of fiduciary duty. He also has represented both owners and contractors in various types of construction litigation.

A lifelong resident of Baton Rouge, he received his undergraduate degree from Louisiana State University and his JD degree in 2008 from Southern University Law Center. Following graduation, he worked for the firm Myles, Cook & Day where his practice focused on construction law, corporate law and general civil litigation. He also served as general counsel for the Zachary Community School Board. In 2010, he joined the law offices of James S. Holliday, Jr., A.P.L.C., in Baton Rouge where he assisted Holliday with the 2010 Louisiana Practice Series for construction and corporate law. He later joined the Baton Rouge firm of Dunlap Fiore, L.L.C., where he continued to focus his practice in the areas of construction law, corporate law, business litigation, transactions and general civil litigation.

An active member of the Baton Rouge Bar Association, Platte is founder and co-chair of the Business/Corporate Law Section. He also currently serves on the Law Expo Committee and chaired the 2011 and 2012 Law Expo.

Also active in the Baton Rouge community, he is a member of the board of trustees for the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Baton Rouge, is vice-chair of the Alcohol and Beverage Control Board for East Baton Rouge Parish, and is a member of the Rotary Club of Baton Rouge. He previously served on the board of directors for Forum 35.

Platte and his wife, Anne Bennett Platte, are the parents of one child and are expecting their second child in January.

Lafayette attorney Jeffrey K. Coreil, an associate at the NeunerPate law firm, devotes a majority of his practice to civil defense litigation, with a primary focus on admiralty, maritime, toxic torts and environmental litigation and workers’ compensation defense.

He received a BS degree in business administration from Louisiana State University and his JD degree and graduate diploma of civil law from LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center, where he served as president of the student bar association and his class. Since 2011, he has participated in the LSBA’s Law School Professionalism Orientations at LSU Law Center, stressing the importance of professionalism and ethics to incoming law students.

A member of the 2013-14 Leadership LSBA Class, Coreil currently serves on the Lafayette Bar Association board of directors, the Lafayette Bar Foundation board of directors and the Lafayette Young Lawyers Association board of directors. He chairs the Lafayette Bar Foundation’s Lafayette Volunteer Lawyers (LVL) Program which administers pro bono legal services in the Acadiana area. He is a member of the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel Young Lawyers Committee and the board of the Acadiana Chapter of the Coastal Conservation Association.

In the past six years, Coreil has contributed more than 450 hours of legal work to the impoverished and victimized citizens of Lafayette Parish. As chair of the LVL Program, he spearheaded the Counsel on Call Program, which offers 15-minute conferences with attorney volunteers for basic legal advice. Since the program’s inception in 2013, hundreds of Lafayette residents have received assistance from more than 50 lawyers. As a member of the LVL Protective Order Panel, Coreil also assists victims of domestic violence with their petitions for Title 46 protective orders. He also accepts pro bono civil cases and coordinates the efforts of attorney volunteers to assist homeless individuals through the Project H.E.L.P. Program (Homeless Experience Legal Protection).

In 2012, Coreil spearheaded the creation of the CLE Committee of the Lafayette Young Lawyers Association to provide quality, low-cost CLE opportunities in professionalism and ethics to the region’s young lawyers. In 2014, the LSBA’s Young Lawyers Division recognized his efforts by awarding its Service to the Bar Award to the CLE program.

In 2014, Coreil received the American Inn of Court Sandra Day O’Connor Award for Professional Service, which recognizes an American Inn of Court member in practice for 10 or fewer years for excellence in public interest or pro bono activities. The award was presented at the U.S. Supreme Court during the annual American Inns of Court Celebration of Excellence ceremony hosted by Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

He also has received the 2013 LSBA’s Crystal Gavel Award, the 2012 LSBA’s Pro Bono Publico Award, the 2012 LSBA Young Lawyers Division’s Pro Bono Award, the LSBA’s Pro Bono Century Award from 2011-14, and multiple awards from the Lafayette Bar Association.

A native of Ville Platte, Coreil is married to Hallie P. Coreil, a 2011 LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center graduate and an associate at the law firm of Briney Foret Corry, L.L.P., in Lafayette. They are the parents of a son.

Lake Charles attorney Adam P. Johnson, born and raised in Moss Bluff, La., graduated from Sam Houston High School in 2002. He received a BS degree in business management in 2006 from Louisiana State University. After undergraduate school, he pursued his law degree at Southern University Law Center. In the summer of 2007, he studied abroad at the Université Jean Moulin II in Lyon, France. Once back in the states, he received his JD degree in 2009. After law school graduation, he began a clerkship in the 14th Judicial District Court, gaining valuable experience working with Hon. Ronald F. Ware and Hon. Robert L. Wyatt.

Johnson is currently an associate at the Lake Charles firm of Johnson & Vercher, L.L.C., focusing his practice primarily on criminal law and personal injury law. He chose to enter the legal field based on a strong desire to serve others. He has a passion for the courtroom and a will to represent the interests of those who are in need of restitution, recovery or exoneration.

He was a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association’s (LSBA) 2013 Leadership LSBA Class and currently serves as co-chair for the 2014 leadership class. He will begin his term as the LSBA Young Lawyers Division Council’s 4th District representative in June.

Johnson is a former president of the Southwest Louisiana (SWLA) Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section and serves on the SWLA Law Center’s board of directors. He also serves as chair of the annual Young Lawyers Section’s golf tournament, which benefits the Holiday Helping Hands program — a program created by the SWLA Young Lawyers Section which provided Christmas gifts to more than 200 children in Calcasieu and Cameron parishes last year.

He is a member of the SWLA Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the SWLA Bar Association and the American Bar Association. He recently was selected as one of the top criminal defense lawyers by Acadiana Magazine.

In his community, he is a member of Trinity Baptist Church. He is involved in mission work and will return to Suriname to continue that work in December.

He is married to Ashley Leonards of Roberts Cove, La., and they are the parents of one child.

Erin Leigh Waddell Garrett, born and raised in Shreveport, graduated from Southwood High School and attended college at Louisiana Tech University. She worked her way through college by waiting tables and working as a tutor for disabled students. After teaching school for a short time, she decided to pursue her legal education at Southern University Law Center. She received her JD degree, magna cum laude, in 2006 and was admitted to practice in Louisiana the same year. During law school, she was a member of the American Inns of Court and the Louisiana Trial Lawyers Association, served as secretary of Phi Alpha Delta for two years and worked as a research assistant for Dr. B.K. Agnihotri.

She spent her first year, post-law school, as a law clerk for Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Pascal F. Calogero, Jr. During her time at the Supreme Court, she reported on a variety of different cases and drafted briefs and opinions on those cases.

In 2007, Garrett moved back to Shreveport and began working as an associate attorney, first for the Law Office of Katherine Clark Dorroh and next for Simmons, Morris & Carroll (formerly Klotz, Simmons & Brainard). In December 2010, she opened her own law firm and maintained a successful, diverse law practice. Since 2011, she has served as the mental health attorney for University Health (formerly known as Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center).

Garrett has been an active member of the LSBA and the Shreveport Bar Association (SBA). She served as the SBA Young Lawyers Section secretary (2009), treasurer (2010), vice president (2011) and president (2012), as well as the SBA Women’s Section secretary (2008 and 2009). She was elected duchess of the Krewe of Justinian during the 2011 Mardi Gras season and has been a member of the Junior League of Shreveport-Bossier since 2007. In 2011, she was recognized as one of the “Top 40 Under 40” by the Shreveport/Bossier Chamber of Commerce.

In the recent primary election, Garrett was elected as the newest, and youngest, judge in the 1st Judicial District Court (Caddo Parish).

Garrett and her husband Greg are the parents of two children.

Baton Rouge attorney Tom S. Easterly is a partner in the Baton Rouge firm of Taylor, Porter, Brooks & Phillips, L.L.P., which recently celebrated its 100th year of service to the local community. He joined the firm in 2006 and was named a partner in 2011. He practices in Taylor Porter’s only office in Baton Rouge.
 
He graduated from Catholic High School in Baton Rouge, then attended the University of Georgia in Athens, majoring in finance. He received his bachelor of business administration degree, with honors, in 2002 from the Terry College of Business. He enrolled in Louisiana State University and began dual courses of study as part of a four-year JD/MBA program. He received a master’s degree in business administration in 2005. A few months later, he received his JD degree and bachelor of civil law degree from LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center. During the JD/MBA program, he focused in business law and was a member of the Louisiana Law Review. He was admitted to practice in Louisiana in October 2006.

In his practice, Easterly advises local and national clients involved in litigation matters as both plaintiff and defense counsel, and he represents clients in a wide range of business transactions and contract matters. His practice is well-rounded with a heavy emphasis on commercial disputes and transactions. His work typically involves construction, real estate, redhibition, insurance, toxic tort, workers’ compensation, breach of contract and bankruptcy cases, all of which frequently have overlapping subject matter concerns. He has significant experience with complex personal injury matters. As part of his transaction practice, he drafts and negotiates various types of contracts. He is admitted to practice before all Louisiana state and federal courts and the United States 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

He was named a 2014 Rising Star by Louisiana Super Lawyers. He is a frequent lecturer on legal issues. His seminars have focused on insurance coverage litigation, including bad faith and extra-contractual liability claims, and effective collection strategies.

Active in the Baton Rouge community, Easterly is a founding member of the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Legal Leaders Program and is a former member of the Baton Rouge City Club’s Board of Governors. He is an avid sportsman and contributes his time to Delta Waterfowl and the Coastal Conservation Association. In the little spare time he has, he enjoys hunting and fishing in Louisiana and Mississippi and cooking on his “Big Green Egg.”

He and his wife, Lindsey, live in Baton Rouge and are the parents of 3-year-old twins.

Plaquemine attorney Nicholas R. (Nick) Rockforte is a partner with Pendley, Baudin & Coffin, L.L.P., with offices in Plaquemine and New Orleans. In 2004, he received a BS degree in construction management from Louisiana State University’s College of Engineering. While at LSU, he worked for state Sen. Robert Marionneaux and the Unglesby & Marionneaux law firm. He pursued his law degree at Southern University Law Center, graduating first in his class while receiving other recognition and honors. During law school, he clerked for several Baton Rouge litigation firms and the Louisiana attorney general. Following graduation, he clerked for Hon. James J. Best of the 18th Judicial District Court.

After his clerkship, Rockforte began working as an attorney in the Plaquemine office of Pendley, Baudin & Coffin in 2008. He maintains a plaintiffs’ litigation practice, primarily focused on mass tort and class action litigation related to defective pharmaceutical drugs and devices, products liability cases involving defective building and construction materials, consumer fraud and whistleblower actions. He also has represented farmers and producers who suffered losses resulting from contamination of the U.S. rice and wheat supply with unapproved, genetically modified seeds.

His most rewarding work to date involved Chinese drywall litigation in which he was instrumental in obtaining settlements for hundreds of homeowners in the Gulf Coast states who were forced to move out of their homes and completely remodel them. He also maintains a national mass tort pharmaceutical drug and medical device practice which has allowed him the opportunity to actively litigate cases in state and federal courts throughout the country, including the United States Supreme Court.

Rockforte and his wife, Hannah Pellegrin Rockforte, who works alongside him at his law office, are the parents of one child. In his spare time, he loves exploring everything that the sportsman’s paradise has to offer and is an avid hunter and fisherman. An LSU football fan, he is a true country boy, having been raised on a farm in Iberville and Pointe Coupee parishes. He works hard to find a comfortable balance of family, farm and law in his life.

Lafayette attorney Seth T. Mansfield is an associate attorney at the firm of NeunerPate. He received a BS degree in criminal justice in 2006 from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette and a MS degree in criminal justice in 2009 from the University of Cincinnati. Prior to entering law school, he worked as a deputy in the Patrol Division of the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office. He received his JD degree and graduate diploma in comparative law in 2012 from Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center. He was admitted to practice in Louisiana in 2012.

He is a member of the Lafayette Bar Association, the John M. Duhe, Jr. Inn of Court and Lafayette Volunteer Lawyers. As a member of Lafayette Volunteer Lawyers, he has handled multiple divorce and child custody cases, assisted in providing the homeless with legal assistance through the Homeless Experience Legal Protection (HELP) Program, and advocated for victims of domestic violence through the Protective Order Panel.

He has received several awards for his work, including the 2013 Lafayette Volunteer Lawyers Outstanding Attorney Award, the 2013 LSBA Pro Bono Century Award and the 2014 LSBA Young Lawyers Division Pro Bono Award.

Nicholas P. (Nick) Arnold is an attorney with the firm of Christovich & Kearney, L.L.P., in New Orleans. He received a BS degree in business administration in 2005 from Louisiana State University. While at LSU, he served in various leadership roles, ranging from student government, fraternity and charitable organizations. After working on Capitol Hill and at a Baton Rouge litigation firm while at LSU, he continued his education at Loyola University College of Law in New Orleans, graduating as a member of the Order of Barristers. While at Loyola, he served as chair of the Moot Court Board and chief justice of the Honor Board. He also clerked for litigation firms and externed for Hon. Jay C. Zainey of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

After graduating from Loyola College of Law in 2008, Arnold began working as an attorney with Christovich & Kearney, where he has maintained a general defense litigation practice, including workers’ compensation, tort liability, property damage and small-business advisory work. Much of his work has involved catastrophe and insurance bad faith litigation, areas of Louisiana law that have changed constantly since Hurricane Katrina — which, coincidentally, made landfall the first week he attended law school. He also works with startup companies, particularly incubator-launched startups, helping them avoid pitfalls commonly encountered by growing businesses. He enjoys presenting continuing education and litigation conference programs to insurance companies on emerging insurance law topics.

Arnold is very involved in various legal groups and associations. He is a board member of the New Orleans Association of Defense Counsel and coordinates his firm’s service to the homeless community through the H.E.L.P. (Homeless Experience Legal Protection) Program.

He is married to Robin Penzato Arnold, also a New Orleans attorney, and they are the parents of three children. In his spare time, if he isn’t found chasing his children at a losing pace, he can be found hunting and fishing with family and friends. He and his family are members of St. Dominic Catholic Church in New Orleans.

Attorney Robert L. (Robb) Campbell is a partner with Williamson, Fontenot & Campbell, L.L.C., in Baton Rouge. Born in Kansas City, he moved to Baton Rouge at a young age. He attended St. Aloysius and Catholic High School in Baton Rouge. He received a bachelor’s degree in history in 1999 from Louisiana State University and his JD degree in 2002 from LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center.

Following law school graduation, Campbell worked as a law clerk for 23rd Judicial District Court Judge Pegram Mire from August 2002 to July 2003. After his clerkship, he began his private practice and became a partner at Williamson, Fontenot & Campbell, L.L.C., in 2009.

He has a varied practice and handles personal injury, premises liability, employment and workers’ compensation cases. Through his employment law practice, he represents clients on a variety of employment issues including discrimination, harassment and retaliation; issues involving the EEOC and Louisiana’s Department of Labor; the ADA, FLSA, FMLA and Title VII; state employment laws regarding employment discrimination, wage payment, workers’ compensation and unemployment compensation; and issues involving employment contracts. He practices in workers’ compensation courts, state courts and federal courts throughout Louisiana.

Louisiana Super Lawyers has recognized Campbell as a “Rising Star,” one of the top up-and-coming attorneys in Louisiana from 2012-14. He is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell. He is a member of the Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Federal bar associations.

He is married to Kecia Campbell and they are the parents of three children.

Attorney Scott L. Sternberg joined Baldwin Haspel Burke & Mayer, L.L.C., in New Orleans as an associate in fall 2010. His practice involves general civil litigation, energy matters, successions litigation, media law, and admiralty and maritime. He also represents clients before the Louisiana Board of Ethics and other governmental entities.

He received a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 2006 from Louisiana State University, where he was editor-in-chief of The Daily Reveille. After first working in Washington, D.C., he later continued his studies and received his JD degree and diploma in civil law, cum laude, in 2010 from LSU’s Paul M. Hebert Law Center, where he was a member of the Louisiana Law Review, selected for the Moot Court Board and elected president of the Student Bar Association. He is a former elected student-member of the LSU System Board of Supervisors and serves on the LSU Law Chancellor’s Young Alumni Leadership Council.

As a former journalist, Sternberg maintains a First Amendment practice and represents individuals and media outlets. He is a regular speaker on media law and teaches the subject at Loyola University’s School of Mass Communication as an adjunct professor. He also taught at LSU as an adjunct professor.

He is a member of the New Orleans Young Leadership Council’s board of directors, serving as general counsel. He is a member of the Meritas Leadership Institute Class of 2014. He was a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Leadership LSBA 2012-13 Class. He serves on the LSBA’s Crystal Gavel Committee and the Publications Subcommittee of the Rules of Professional Conduct Committee.

Sternberg volunteers his time representing entrepreneurs affiliated with New Orleans’ Idea Village and assists students seeking public records from governmental entities. In 2013, he was selected as one of New Orleans Magazine’s “Top Lawyers of New Orleans” in communications law and on-air media legal analyst. In 2014, Louisiana Super Lawyers recognized him as a “Rising Star” in civil litigation-defense.

He likes to say he was born and raised up and down Highway 61: New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Natchez, Miss. He is married and has a newborn son. He is already indoctrinating his son with his love of LSU sports, the New Orleans Saints and the New Orleans Pelicans.

 

Lauren Stokes Laborde is an associate in the Alexandria office of the Faircloth Law Group, L.L.C. She began her career as a law clerk to Hon. John C. Davidson and Hon. Harry F. Randow at the 9th Judicial District Court in Alexandria. At Faircloth, she practices in a wide range of litigation matters, including commercial litigation, governmental litigation, general tort litigation, medical malpractice defense, and collection. In addition, she advises clients in matters of Louisiana wills and successions. She is admitted to practice in all Louisiana state courts, the U.S. District Court for the Western, Middle and Eastern Districts of Louisiana, and U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

She received her BS degree in business administration, magna cum laude, in 2005 from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches and her JD/bachelor of civil law degree in 2008 from Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center. While in law school, she was on the Chancellor’s List, a member of the Tullis Moot Court Competition, a member of the Legal Association for Women (Philanthropy chair, 2006-08), and a participant in the Law Ambassador Recruitment Program, 2006-08.

Laborde is the 2013-14 secretary of the Alexandria Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Council and a member of the Crossroads American Inn of Court of Alexandria-Pineville.

In her community, she serves on the board of Hope House of Central Louisiana, is a member of the Krewe of Mariposa and is a parishioner of Our Lady of Prompt Succor Catholic Church.

Laborde is married to David Laborde, a CPA at Cleco, a power company in Pineville. They are the parents of two children. Her hobbies are watching her daughter’s soccer games, spending time on the back porch with family, fishing and reading.

Ross M. Raley. an attorney with the firm Stockwell, Sievert, Viccellio, Clements & Shaddock, L.L.P., in Lake Charles, was born in Lafayette and raised in Lake Charles. He received his BS degree in information system and decision sciences from Louisiana State University (LSU), where he was on the Chancellor’s Honor Roll for six consecutive semesters, was an Allstate Foundation Scholar and LSU Alumni Scholar for four years, and a Top 100 Scholar in fall 2001. He received his MBA degree in 2010 from LSU, where he received the MBA Outstanding Student Award. He received his JD degree and diploma in civil law in 2010 from LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center, where he received CALI Awards for achieving the highest grade in Civil Law Property, Business Associations I, Commercial Paper and Media Law Seminar. He was a Faculty Merit Scholar, received the Vinson & Elkins Scholarship for 2009-10, and was on the Chancellor’s List in spring 2009. He graduated in the top 9 percent of his class and received the Order of the Coif.

His practice is primarily focused on litigation and labor and employment law. He serves industrial, business, financial and insurance clients, with a large part of his practice devoted to their defense.

A member of the Southwest Louisiana Bar Association (SWLBA), he serves on the SWLBA’s Young Lawyers Section Executive Council.
In his community, Raley serves on the board of directors of the American Red Cross Southwest Louisiana Chapter, on the Chamber SWLA’s Small Business Committee and on the Chamber’s committee to select participants for the SEED Center’s Business Incubator. He also volunteers with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lake Charles.

His hobbies include sports, movies, reading, traveling, running and spending time with family and friends.

Shreveport attorney Karelia R. Stewart, a prosecutor in the Caddo Parish District Attorney’s Office, handles felony drug cases, inclusive of judge and jury trials. She is the section chief of the Drug Division in the District Attorney’s Office. 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 in Louisiana in 2006.

She is currently the youngest elected member of the LSBA Board of Governors, representing the Eighth District. Previously, she served as an at-large member on the LSBA Board of Governors, as the District 8 representative on the LSBA’s Young Lawyers Division Council, and as a member of the LSBA’s House of Delegates, representing the 1st Judicial District (Caddo Parish). She also is a member of the LSBA’s Committee on the Profession, the Access to Justice Committee and the Criminal Justice Committee and has served on the Committee to Review Proposed Changes to the Louisiana Bar Exam.

Stewart is a past president of the Shreveport Bar Association’s (SBA) Young Lawyers Section, and a member of the SBA’s Women Section, the Black Lawyers Association of Shreveport-Bossier, the Harry V. Booth and Judge Henry A. Politz American Inn of Court and the Louisiana State Law Institute. She was recently selected by her peers as a “Top Lawyer” in Shreveport and featured in the April 2013 issue of SB Magazine.

During her term as SBA Young Lawyers Section president, she created YL S.W.A.P. (Young Lawyer Socials With A Purpose). These socials were conducted each month and young lawyers donated school supplies, raised money to sponsor a field trip for the Adopt-a-Class Project, provided toiletry items for area shelters, and donated food to the area food bank.

Stewart is a board member of Sci-Port: Louisiana’s Science Center. She volunteers for community service projects of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., the Junior League of Shreveport-Bossier and LANO’s Community Class and works with the Teen Club Group, an after-school program of Volunteers of America offering students career guidance. She donates countless volunteer hours doing pro bono work for her church and for elderly members in the community. She was selected by the Greater Shreveport Chamber of Commerce as a member of the 2008 class of “40 Under 40” outstanding young professionals.

She is married to Frederick Green.

New Orleans attorney Andrew J. Geiger is with the firm Allan Berger & Associates, P.L.C. His practice focuses on the representation of plaintiffs in pharmaceutical litigation and product liability cases.

Prior to joining Allan Berger & Associates, he worked in public finance in New York City, monitoring the credit quality and diversity of healthcare portfolios for one of the leading insurers of U.S. municipal bonds. He also worked as a litigation paralegal for Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, L.L.P., in Manhattan.

Geiger received his undergraduate degree in 1999 from Georgetown University and his JD degree in 2002 from Tulane Law School. While attending Tulane Law School, he served as executive editor of the Sports Lawyers Journal and was certified by the World Arbitration & Mediation Report as an international commercial arbitrator.

He is actively involved in the community, including providing pro bono consultation and notary services for the homeless at Ozanam Inn and St. Joseph’s Church through Judge Jay C. Zainey’s H.E.L.P. program.

He is the founder and lead writer of CasualHoya.com, a website devoted to the coverage of Georgetown Hoyas basketball. His stories have been linked to by ESPN, Sports Illustrated and CBS Sports, among other leading national sports sites. He is a frequent guest on various sports radio shows and was a recent panelist at the Online News Association Conference. The Washington Post honored his website with the Favorite Local Sports Junky of the Year Award in 2012.

He and his wife, Jamie L. Berger, a partner at Barrasso Usdin Kupperman Freeman & Sarver, L.L.C., are the parents of one child.

Attorney J. Marshall Rice, a partner with the law firm of Rice & Kendig in Shreveport, received a BS degree in 2000 from Centenary College of Louisiana and his JD and bachelor of civil law degrees in 2003 from Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center. Following his law school graduation, he returned to Shreveport to join his father, Carl Rice, and later joined by his brother, Joel Rice, in the practice of law where he practices exclusively in the area of personal injury. In this area of the law, he believes that his practice promotes safety in the community through the enforcement of the rule of law, and he has made this the foundation for his representation of injured persons.

He is actively involved in the Shreveport Bar Association (SBA) and the Louisiana Association for Justice. In 2010, he served as president of the SBA’s Young Lawyers Division. Additionally, he served on the Louisiana Association of Justice’s Board of Governors in 2011. Currently, he is serving as a member-at-large on the SBA’s Executive Council.

Rice is heavily involved in the SBA’s community service projects. One of his proudest volunteering endeavors was his service at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service project providing living wills and medical powers-of-attorney to those in the community who are less fortunate.

Outside of his law practice, Rice is an avid sportsman, where he hunts and fishes in his free time. He also volunteers as a den leader for his nephew’s Tiger Cub Scouts group. He and his wife, Emily, are the parents of a daughter.

Attorney Emily Gremillion Meche, an attorney in the firm of Brian Caubaurreaux & Associates in Marksville, earned a BS degree, summa cum laude, in criminal justice in 2004 from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette (ULL). While at ULL, she was recognized as the Outstanding Graduate in Criminal Justice. She resumed her education at Southern University Law Center, graduating cum laude in 2007. While at Southern, she was a member and officer in the Phi Alpha Delta Legal Fraternity, and she clerked at the law firm of Forrester & Dick for Shelly Dick, who has been appointed by President Barack Obama to assume a federal judgeship in the Middle District of Louisiana.

After graduating from Southern, she began work as a judicial law clerk to Judge William J. Bennett and Judge Mark A. Jeansonne with the 12th Judicial District Court in Avoyelles Parish. After completing her clerkship, she joined Brian Caubarreaux & Associates, practicing in the areas of plaintiff personal injury, workers’ compensation and Social Security disability.

Meche is heavily involved in various legal groups and associations. She is currently president of the Avoyelles Parish Bar Association, having previously served as vice president and secretary/treasurer. She is a member of the Louisiana Association for Justice and the American Bar Association. She also has participated as a volunteer for the Avoyelles Parish Teen Court.

Outside of her legal career, she serves as the Family Readiness Volunteer/Director of the 259th Air Traffic Control Squadron in Alexandria. In 2010, she was the recipient of the Louisiana Family Readiness Volunteer of the Year Award for the Louisiana National Guard’s Office of Family Programs.

Meche enjoys spending time with her husband, Scott Meche, and their 3-year-old son. She and her family are members of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Moreauville.

Attorney Ethan A. Hunt, an associate with the law firm of Davenport, Files & Kelly, L.L.P., in Monroe, graduated in 2001 from Louisiana Tech University with a BS degree in biology. After working as a biologist with an environmental consulting firm, he decided to seek a career in law. He graduated in 2006 from Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center, earning JD and bachelor of civil laws degrees.

He began his legal career as an associate with Hudson, Potts & Bernstein, L.L.P., one of the oldest law firms in northeast Louisiana. In 2009, he joined the firm of Davenport, Files & Kelly, L.L.P. His practice focuses on insurance defense and general civil litigation. In addition, he has developed an independent estate law practice, which now comprises approximately 40 percent of his practice.
Hunt is currently serving as president of the 4th Judicial District Young Lawyers Section and is a member of the board of directors for the 4th Judicial District Bar Association. He also is a member of the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel.

Outside of his legal practice, Hunt has many hobbies and interests. Following in his father’s footsteps, he is a master woodworker and enjoys building all sorts of things. He is vice chair of the Administrative Board of the First United Methodist Church in Monroe and a member of the board of directors for Habitat for Humanity. He is a certified ASTM asbestos inspector and has received Wetlands Delineation certification.

Hunt is married and has two daughters. He enjoys coaching his daughters’ soccer team, teaching Sunday school, hunting and fishing, and playing golf in his spare time.

Attorney Matthew P. Keating, a partner at Plauché, Smith & Nieset, L.L.C., in Lake Charles, obtained a BS degree in business management from Louisiana State University in 2003 and his JD degree from South Texas College of Law in 2006. He graduated law school in the top 15 percent of his class, where he was a member of the Phi Delta Phi honors fraternity and, upon graduating, received the Jay D. Hirsch Insurance Scholarship Award for excellence in the study of insurance law.

He is a member of the Louisiana, Texas and American bar associations, the Defense Research Institute and the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel. He also is a member of the Southwest Louisiana Bar Association, where he has served as an officer and executive board member in the Young Lawyers Section. He has organized and moderated the Southwest Louisiana Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Seminar for the past three years.

Keating is a member of the 2012-13 Leadership LSBA Class. He also serves on the board of trustees for Bishop Noland Episcopal Day School in Lake Charles.

He has an extensive litigation practice handling a broad range of cases including insurance defense, insurance coverage disputes, trucking liability, defending and prosecuting the rights of local businesses, premises liability, workers’ compensation defense, employment law matters, and class action defense.

Lafayette attorney Jacob H. Hargett, with the firm of Davidson, Meaux, Sonnier, McElligott, Fontenot, Gideon & Edwards, L.L.P., received his undergraduate degree from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, where we was a member and four-year All-American on ULL's Sports Shooting Team. He received his JD degree from Loyola University College of Law. While at Loyola, he served as president of the Trial Advocacy Program and organized the school's first ever National Trial Advocacy Competition, garnering the support of more than 100 judges and 200 attorneys for assistance with the program.

Hargett is very active in the Lafayette legal community and is a board member of the Lafayette Young Lawyers Association (LYLA). In this role, he organizes various social functions and charity events benefiting the legal community and the less fortunate in the Lafayette area. Notably, he is the current chair of LYLA's "Shoot for Justice" Program, lending his experience as an expert marksman to the Lafayette Volunteer Lawyer program.

In addition to his heavy workload and charitable work, Hargett maintains a consistent docket of pro bono cases. His practice includes insurance defense, general casualty, family law, medical malpractice, and mergers and acquisitions.

He has received several awards as a clay shooter. In 1999, he was recognized as Rookie of the Year. In 2000, he received the gold medal at the Collegiate World Championship. In 2003, he tied world records for shooting 400 out of 400 clay targets and 800 out of 800 in the doubles event. That same year, he and his partner broke the world record at a national event by shooting 999 out of 1,000 targets. In 2010, he entered the world championship, winning third in the doubles competition.

Attorney Gregory W. Rome is a lawyer and founder of the firm of Williams & Rome, L.L.C., in Chalmette. After graduating summa cum laude and first in his class from Loyola University in New Orleans, he went on to graduate from Tulane Law School with a JD degree and Certificate in Civil Law. While at Tulane, he helped found the Civil Law Commentaries, the first legal journal dedicated to Louisiana law and its historical roots, and served as the founding senior online editor. He was the recipient of the Robert Rees Memorial Scholarship.

In 2007, prior to graduating from Tulane, he began a part-time clerkship with the Hon. Kirk A. Vaughn of the 34th Judicial District Court, a position which he continues today. After graduation, he returned home to Chalmette and founded his law firm, focusing his practice on civil litigation, small business law, personal injury, successions and family law.

In 2011, he authored the Louisiana Civil Law Dictionary in conjunction with Stephan Kinsella. His work in this field has been praised by attorneys and law professors, including legendary civil law professor A.N. Yiannopoulos. Additionally in 2011, he founded Straylight Publishing, L.L.C., a legal publishing house focusing on providing complete, up-to-date materials for Louisiana law students, attorneys and scholars, as well as preserving historical Louisiana legal works.

Rome is a member of the St. Bernard Bar Association, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Los Isleños Heritage Society.

In his community, he is an adult leader with the Boy Scouts of America Troop 84, where he spends several weekends a year training and mentoring scouts and serving on Eagle Scout review boards. He also volunteers his time with the Catholic Committee on Scouting.

principal member of the Derouen Firm, L.L.C., a litigation firm that focuses on corporate and insurance defense. He earned his BS degree, with a major in economics, from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette in 1998 and his JD degree from Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center in 2001, where he was a member of its Law Review.

After graduation from law school, he quickly became involved with the Lafayette Young Lawyers Association (LYLA), serving on its Awards and Membership Committees. As LYLA's current membership chair, he has made it his personal goal to extend invitations and help when possible to the scholars at our state's four law schools in an effort to keep the future lawyers who are interested in practicing in Lafayette and its surrounding parishes informed of LYLA's various services, socials and civic functions.

Derouen's professional associations include the Louisiana State Bar Association, the Lafayette Bar Association and the Louis A. Martinet Legal Society, Inc. He also has been involved in several community organizations, including the Lafayette Volunteer Lawyers, the March of Dimes (serving as a board member) and Civitan (helping with the various Special Olympics events). He was recognized for his service to the community by being selected as a member of the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce's Leadership Lafayette Class XVIII.

He has the support of his many peers, including Susan Holliday, executive director of the Lafayette Bar Association. "Brian is an extremely active member of the Lafayette Bar Association and our Young Lawyers Section," Holliday said. "He has served on numerous committees and is always willing to step forward and volunteer for any projects sponsored by the association. Brian exemplifies professionalism and leadership, and the Lafayette Bar Association is fortunate to have him as an active member."

Shreveport attorney John C. Nickelson graduated, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Texas Christian University with a BA degree in history. He earned his law degree from the University of Virginia in 2004. He began his practice with Baker Botts in Dallas, Texas. He clerked for Hon. Jennifer Walker Elrod, United States Circuit judge for the United States 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. He returned home to Shreveport in 2009 to practice with the firm of Cook, Yancey, King & Galloway, A.P.L.C. He is a commercial litigator and represents clients in a wide range of matters, including legal malpractice defense, oil and gas litigation, and products and premises liability disputes.

In addition to maintaining an active practice, Nickelson is involved in both the state and local bar associations. He is a member-at-large of the Shreveport Bar Association's Executive Council, treasurer of the Shreveport Bar Foundation and a member of its board of directors, and a member of the Harry V. Booth and Judge Henry A. Politz American Inn of Court. He also was selected and served as a member of the 2010-11 Leadership LSBA Class.

When asked why he pursued a law degree and a career as a lawyer, Nickelson answered that he went to law school because he thought he would enjoy the profession and wanted to contribute to the lives of others. His involvement in the bar and his commitment to pro bono work make it apparent he is achieving his aspirations. Since graduating from law school, he has handled pro bono cases ranging from adoptions and protective orders for abused women and children to custody disputes and consumer rights cases.

As the treasurer and a member of the Shreveport Bar Foundation's board of directors, he is closely involved with the organization's coordination of pro bono activities in the Shreveport-Bossier area. He represents indigent criminal defendants as a member of the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana's Criminal Justice Act Panel. He also was an active participant in the 2010-11 Leadership LSBA Class CLE presentations encouraging the pro bono efforts of firms and individual attorneys throughout Louisiana. He credits his commitment to pro bono work to the mentoring and support he has received from others, including Herschel E. Richard, Jr., Cook Yancey's president and the immediate past president of the Louisiana Bar Foundation.

Nickelson and his wife, Emily, are the proud parents of three children.

New Orleans attorney Michael A. Harowski is affiliated with the firm of Fowler Rodriguez Valdes-Fauli. According to his nominator, Eve Sarco Reardon, he is “very active in community service” and juggles his professional and personal life (which includes new twin boys) extremely well.

A native of Ormond Beach, Fla., Harowski now lives in New Orleans and practices primarily admiralty and maritime law. He earned his BA degree in economics from Emory University in 2003 and his JD degree from Tulane Law School in 2006.

Harowski has devoted much of his “free” time to many community service activities and charities in the New Orleans area. Recently selected to take part in the 2011 class of Emerging Philanthropists of New Orleans (EPNO), he will be charged with engaging young leaders to take part in philanthropic endeavors. He will participate in a six-month program, during which he will focus on helping to provide funding for arts-based nonprofits in the New Orleans area dedicated to offering underserved populations with access to the arts.

He also is active as a leader in the Young Leadership Council’s Where Ya’ Rack? bike rack program in New Orleans. That organization’s objective is to provide secure bike parking in and around the New Orleans area. He is responsible for encouraging private and corporate sponsors to provide these unique fleur de lis bike racks around town, which hopefully encourages cycling throughout the city.

Finally, Harowski is on the board of the New Orleans Video Access Center, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to “cultivate a sustainable film community” by providing access to resources and education. He provides pro bono legal services and helps with long-term planning for the board.

His professional associations include the Louisiana State Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, the Mariner’s Club of New Orleans, the Propeller Club of New Orleans, the Maritime Law Association and the Southeastern Admiralty Law Institute.

Amanda S. Stout, a native of Baton Rouge, practices in the Baton Rouge office of McGlinchey Stafford, P.L.L.C. She practices in the commercial litigation and labor/employment law sections. She earned her BS degree, with a major in psychology, in 2000 from Louisiana State University and her JD degree in 2003 from LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center. After graduation from law school, she began her practice with Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, L.L.P.

In her practice, she has represented employers in responding to allegations brought in front of the EEOC, the Louisiana Commission on Human Rights and the United States Department of Labor. She is admitted to practice in the U.S. Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Louisiana and the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Stout embodies the value of volunteerism in the community, as she is very active in the First United Methodist Church. She has been the Education Council chair and served on the Church Council and Executive Committee from 2008-10. She also was pivotal in the church's Capital Campaign Committee in 2008-09. She has volunteered with HOPE Ministries (in its Client Choice Food Pantry), Habitat for Humanity and the Salvation Army's Red Kettle donation drive.

Her professional associations include the Baton Rouge Bar Association (BRBA), where she is currently chair of the Young Lawyers Division. She was the 2009 Judge Joseph Keogh Award recipient and served on the BRBA's Belly Up with the Bar Committee from 2005-09. She is a member of the Federal Bar Association's Baton Rouge Chapter and served as 2007-08 secretary of the Dean Henry George McMahon American Inn of Court.

Stout has presented educational programs for various organizations, including "Updates on Recent Legislation Affecting Employers" for Wright & Percy Benefits Symposium (2009); "Managing Intermittent FMLA Leave" (2010); "Top Ten Employment Law Myths" for the Postal Customer Council of Greater Baton Rouge (2003); and "Weeding Out Fraudulent Claims and Avoiding Intermittent Leave Abuse: Effectively Using Recertification, Second and Third Opinions, and Fitness-for-Duty Examinations" for the Council on Education in Management (2007). She was published in HR Magazine in 2007, authoring "Family Responsibility Discrimination: Forcing Employers to Reconsider the Traditional Notion of the 'Ideal' Employee."

In her personal life, she has been married to Tadd Stout for seven years and they are the parents of a son.

Lindsay L. Meador, of Galloway, Johnson, Tompkins, Burr & Smith, A.P.L.C., in Lafayette, earned her BA degree, with a major in political science, from Loyola University New Orleans in December 2003 and her JD degree from Loyola University College of Law in 2007. While in law school (2006-07), she participated as a Rule 20 attorney, where she tried jury trials, participated in motion hearings and drafted writs for the 4th Circuit Court of Appeal and the Louisiana Supreme Court. After graduation from law school, she began her practice with Davidson, Meaux, Sonnier & McElligott, L.L.P., where she handled all aspects of civil litigation.

A native of Abbeville, La., Meador's primary area of practice now includes general litigation, including insurance defense, insurance coverage, premises liability and family law. In her professional life, she is a member of the Federal Public Defender Panel for the Western District of Louisiana, the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel and the Federal Bar Association. She is actively involved in the Lafayette Bar Association and is the 2011-12 vice president of the Lafayette Young Lawyers Association. She also serves on the Lafayette Volunteer Lawyers' Committee for the Lafayette Bar Foundation.

She is admitted to practice in all Louisiana state courts, in the U.S. Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Louisiana, and in the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Meador received the Lafayette Volunteer Lawyers' Outstanding Attorney Award for pro bono services in 2008, 2009 and 2010. In 2010, she received the Lafayette Bar Foundation's Top Protective Order Award for the Lafayette area. She received the 2010 LSBA YLD Pro Bono Award for her extensive pro bono work in the Lafayette community. Recently, she was chosen as a recipient of the 2011 LSBA Pro Bono Publico Award and the 2011 LSBA Pro Bono Century Award.

Kathlyn G. Perez of New Orleans is a lawyer at Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, P.C., in New Orleans. She graduated, cum laude, from Washington and Lee University in 2002 and received her JD degree from Tulane Law School in 2006 (member of the Order of the Coif and articles editor for the Tulane Law Review). While in law school, she was the research assistant to A.N. Yiannopoulos, Eason Weinmann Professor of Comparative Law, whom she assisted in the 2006-07 revision of the Louisiana Civil Code property law articles. Upon graduation, she received the John Minor Wisdom Award, an annual award given for "excellence in academic work and in writing ability" and "contributing selflessly to the law school community."

After a clerkship at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, she joined Baker Donelson. She focuses her practice on employment law, commercial litigation and Louisiana property law.

Perez is a role model for all ages of attorneys. She spends a significant amount of time directly improving the lives of those less fortunate.

She is very active in pro bono matters, including volunteering for the H.E.L.P. program aimed at assisting the homeless population in New Orleans and administered by the Hon. Jay C. Zainey, with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Perez and her colleague at Baker Donelson, Erin E. Pelleteri, have worked together on various Pro Bono Project and private referral pro bono matters to help their clients resolve their legal issues using creative, non-litigation solutions, such as informal mediations. These creative approaches became the subject of a recent professionalism CLE presented by Perez and Pelleteri on behalf of the Pro Bono Project.

Perez is the recipient of the 2009 Louisiana Appleseed Good Apple Award and the 2009 Louisiana State Bar Association's Pro Bono Publico Award. Louisiana Appleseed uses its pro bono network to identify, research and analyze social injustices and advocate for effective solutions to deep-seated structural problems.

In community service, Perez is particularly dedicated to the Salvation Army. She has served on the Salvation Army's board for the past four years and is the board's incoming chair. She is working with the Salvation Army to develop a grant program to assist 125 teachers, police officers and first responders in five Greater New Orleans neighborhoods in purchasing green/sustainable homes. She also serves as house counsel for the Junior League of New Orleans.

Jackie M. McCreary of New Orleans is originally from Paulina in St. James Parish. After graduating cum laude from Louisiana State University in 2000, she obtained her JD degree and her bachelor of civil law degree from LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center in 2003. While at LSU Law Center, she served as articles editor for the Louisiana Law Review. From August 2003 to July 2004, she served as a law clerk to Hon. Frank J. Polozola, United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana. In 2004, she joined the New Orleans office of Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann, L.L.C., and was elected partner in 2011.

McCreary is an active member of the LSBA and was a member of the 2005-06 Leadership LSBA Class. She has volunteered to participate in the annual LSBA Law School Professionalism Orientation Program for first-year law students. She also has judged the LSBA High School Essay Contest and High School Mock Trial Competition and served on the LSBA Young Lawyers Division's Awards Committee. Currently, she is a member of the LSBA's Access to Justice Committee and the Louisiana Bar Foundation's Development Committee. She also volunteers for the New Orleans Pro Bono Project, the Lawyers Helping Homeless Project and Louisiana Appleseed.

McCreary's practice focuses on complex litigation and the defense of energy companies in legacy oilfield litigation and other claims related to oil and gas exploration and production.

She somehow manages all of her professional and civic commitments while raising twin girls with her husband, Johnathan Copponex. Her positive outlook and encouragement increase the participation in events that she chairs, and she is always the first person to lend a hand to projects she does not chair.

One of her colleagues describes her as "an attorney who is respected by all who encounter her in the practice of law; a person who treats all people, regardless of their station in life, their occupation, their mental capabilities, or their personal resources, with respect and dignity; a person who takes the responsibility of using her skills to better the communities in which she works and lives; and a person who encourages others to use their skills and resources for the betterment of those communities."

Nancy A. Brechtel, a New Orleans native, received her JD degree from Loyola University Law School in 2002 (Law Review, Moot Court and graduating as a William Crowe scholar) and her BS degree, with honors, from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1998.

In 2003-05, Brechtel served as an attorney volunteer for the Child in Need of Care Program in New Orleans. After relocating to Mandeville in 2005, she quickly became involved with the Greater Covington Bar Association's Young Lawyers Division (formerly the St. Tammany Young Lawyers Association). As a board member and officer, she developed the organization's bylaws, designed its website and established a bimonthly Docket Call, a networking event for members. She currently serves as chair of the Young Lawyers Division.

The Greater Covington Bar's Young Lawyers Division is committed to using its resources to serve the youth of St. Tammany Parish. In May 2010, the organization hosted its first Court Chase, a 5K and one-mile fun run on the Mandeville lakefront, benefitting the Youth Service Bureau (YSB). The YSB provides advocacy, counseling and support service to at-risk youth and their families, including the Court Appointed Special Advocates program (CASA). In its first year, the Court Chase, chaired by Vice Chair Elizabeth S. Sconzert, raised $5,000 for the YSB. Court Chase 2011 is slated for May 7.

With the help of funds Brechtel obtained from the LSBA Young Lawyers Division, the group introduced another new program in 2010 benefitting local high school students: A Day with the Court. The program introduces students to the judicial system while at the same time educating them about the various career opportunities available in the legal arena. On Oct. 20, 2010, members hosted local students at the 22nd Judicial District Courthouse in Covington. The students met local judges and courthouse employees, toured the courthouse, and observed drug court proceedings and hearings of civil matters. The day ended with the students' participation in a panel discussion on the criminal judicial process with Michael Montalbano of the St. Tammany Parish District Attorney's Office, Peter Ierardi of the St. Tammany Parish Public Defender's Office and criminal defense attorney Ernest Bauer.

As an associate at the firm of Cotten Schmidt & Abbott, L.L.P., Brechtel's areas of practice range from commercial litigation and insurance law to the defense of toxic tort, employment discrimination and medical malpractice claims.

Catherine (Cathy) Saba Giering was born in Portland, Ore., but she calls Winnsboro, La., home. After graduating from Louisiana State University in 1996 with a major in English and a double minor in Russian studies and business administration, she attended LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center. She received her JD degree in 1999 and began practicing with Laborde & Neuner. In 2004, she joined the Baton Rouge firm of Crawford & Lewis and was named partner in 2008.

She is the 2010 chair of the Baton Rouge Bar Association's (BRBA) Young Lawyers Division Council. The BRBA is extremely active, and Giering and the council have strived to increase young lawyer participation in several BRBA activities, including the Bench/Bar Conference, luncheon meetings, Cocktails with the Court, Opening of Court in the fall and Belly Up to the Bar.

Giering serves on the Junior League of Baton Rouge and is the current Policy Governance chair. She is also a supporter of the downtown YMCA and is a past chair of the Charles Lamar YMCA board of directors. Her LSBA YLD activities include serving on a law school professionalism orientation panel in 2005, serving as a high school essay contest competition judge in 2006, and serving as a member of the YLD Awards Committee in 2007.

Her husband, Edmund Giering, also practices law in Baton Rouge. They are the parents of a son and a daughter.

Giering said that the greatest influence her mentors have had on her is teaching her the value of a strong work ethic and a job well done. She also cites her father's positive attitude as inspiration. She has inherited her father's positive attitude. That positive attitude and strong work ethic are evident in everything she does, and the BRBA and the LSBA are grateful to her for all of her hard work on behalf of young lawyers.

Brandon W. Letulier, born and raised in Lafayette, joined Laborde & Neuner as an associate in 2003, after receiving his JD and bachelor of civil law degrees from Louisiana State University and its Paul M. Hebert Law Center (graduating Order of the Coif and serving on the Law Review). Prior to law school, he graduated, magna cum laude, from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. He became a partner at Laborde & Neuner in January 2010 and focuses on maritime and corporate law.

His professional associations include the Lafayette Bar Association, the Lafayette Young Lawyers Association (LYLA), the Louisiana Bar Foundation's Community Partnership Panel and the Duhe American Inn of Court.

Through his work with the Lafayette Bar Association and the LYLA, Letulier has taken an active interest in helping educate the youth of Lafayette about the legal profession. He began this mission as a volunteer coach at Northside High School to help teach and prepare the students for the regional high school mock trial competition sponsored by the Louisiana State Bar Association's Young Lawyers Division. His work as a coach eventually led to his becoming chair of the regional high school mock trial event. As a result of his hard work and success with the regional mock trial program, he was selected to spearhead a project to build an actual courtroom at Northside High School.

Several years ago, the LYLA adopted a policy to reach out and support Northside High School as its Law Signature School, creating a comprehensive program that concentrates on all aspects of the law and legal processes for high school students. Beginning in 2008, Letulier volunteered to chair LYLA's committee for the Law Signature School. During his tenure as chair, he worked with the Louisiana Bar Foundation to create and construct the courtroom at Northside High School. The courtroom is fully functioning and has ample space for judge, jury and advocates for both sides. The courtroom is used for mock trial competitions, speaker functions and other courtroom role-playing activities.

Letulier was responsible for every aspect of the construction, including designing the courtroom layout, converting the existing speech and debate classroom into a fully functional courtroom with a high-tech sound system, formulating and maintaining a budget, and procuring all materials and labor. The construction of the courtroom took nine months to complete and the ribbon-cutting ceremony was in May 2009. The completion of the project was due in large part to the dedication and countless hours of work by Letulier.

A resident of Shreveport and a native of Monroe, Curry is currently an associate at The Law Office of Katherine Clark Dorroh, L.L.C. Although her practice focuses mostly on family law, she handles cases in the areas of estate planning, successions and personal injury as well. In 2008, she was recognized as one of the "Best Attorneys" by Shreveport-Bossier Magazine.

In 2002, Curry received a BA degree from Louisiana State University. In 2005, she received her JD degree and bachelor of civil law degree from LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center. Following graduation from law school, she served as a law clerk to the judges in Bossier and Webster parishes. During her clerkship, she volunteered as a Court-Appointed Special Advocate for Caddo Parish, and she participated in the Volunteers for Youth Justice Jump Start Program as a motivational speaker to troubled youth. She also began her role as an instructor at Bossier Parish Community College during that time period, teaching legal ethics and business law, a role which she has continued to date in addition to maintaining her legal practice.

Curry has become actively involved in the Shreveport-Bossier community since moving to the area in 2005. She devotes time and energy to Community Renewal International, an international organization started in the Shreveport-Bossier area that restores neighborhoods through its philosophy of caring. In addition to her personal involvement with the organization, she has encouraged and organized the participation of many other volunteers in her area. She is involved with the Shreveport-Bossier Rescue Mission and is a leader in her local church. In 2009, she served as a Louisiana Association of Non-Profit Organizations community leader.

As a member of the Shreveport, Bossier and Louisiana State bar associations, Curry is active with the Women's Section and the Young Lawyers Division. In addition, she serves on the board of directors and as a volunteer with the Northwest Louisiana Pro Bono Project, accepting pro bono cases on a monthly basis and rarely turning down an opportunity to share her services with those in need.

Curry is committed to serving her clients with compassion, commitment and integrity, and she is passionate about bringing positive changes to her community, both personally and professionally.

The Louisiana State Bar Association's (LSBA) Young Lawyers Division is spotlighting young lawyer Karli Glascock Wilson from Baton Rouge. Wilson is a partner in the Baton Rouge office of Kean, Miller, Hawthorne, D'Armond, McCowan & Jarman, L.L.P. She received her BA degree from Louisiana State University in 1995 and her JD degree from LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center in 1999. Her areas of practice range from toxic tort to commercial and warranty redhibition cases. She also co-authored "Expert Depositions in the Era of Daubert and Its Progeny" with Leonard L. Kilgore, ABA Environmental Litigation Section, 2001.

She is extremely involved in the Baton Rouge Bar Association (BRBA). She served as the 2008 chair of the BRBA Young Lawyers Division Council. During her term as chair, the BRBA YLD implemented a new project and created the "New (and not so new) Lawyers Survival Guide," which won the 2009 LSBA YLD Service to the Bar Award. Although her time as chair is over, she remains an active participant in many of the BRBA YLD projects, such as Belly Up with the Bar, Holiday Star and Cocktails with the Court.

Wilson is currently serving her second term as a director at-large of the BRBA board. She is also currently a member of the Baton Rouge Bar Foundation Pro Bono Panel, which assists indigent clients with legal representation. She is a past member and chair of the LSBA State High School Mock Trial Competition Committee, as well as serving as a volunteer coach. The LSBA mock trial competition gives high school students exposure to the legal system and encourages entry into the legal profession.

She is a past member of the BRBA Volunteer Panel, which promotes collaborative public service by members of the legal community and enhances the public image of the profession.

Wilson is a past member of the BRBA Youth Education Committee. The Youth Education Committee serves as a classroom resource, lecturing on law and government and conducting tours of court facilities. She is also a presenter with Lawyers in the Classroom, a program that introduces grade school children to the legal system.

Aside from her hectic practice schedule and active involvement in the bar association, she gives her time to non-legal organizations. She currently serves on the board of directors for the Capital Area YMCA-Lamar Branch. She is an active member of the St. Aloysius Church, where she volunteers in activities such as the book fair, math night, parish fair, and new member welcome committee.

When she is not practicing law or giving her time to her bar and her community, Wilson spends her free time with her family, especially her 7-year-old son.

The Louisiana State Bar Association's (LSBA) Young Lawyers Division 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 Division. 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 Division 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.