Class of 2010
Dean’s Council Member since 2011
About the practice: I work at Irwin Fritchie Urquhart & Moore, LLC, which is a New Orleans-based litigation firm with a variety of practice areas. I practice primarily in product liability litigation with a focus on defending claims against pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers. Currently, a great deal of my work is in the context of Multi-District Litigation (MDL) cases.
Favorite law school memory: I have many, but it has to be completing final exams at the end of the first semester of 1L year! There was so much camaraderie within my section and that aspect in particular made finishing the first semester of law school so much more memorable.
If you had a law school “do over” you would: If I could have done one thing differently, I would have applied for a judicial externship and/or internship. If I could have done two things differently, I would have applied for a judicial externship and/or internship and traveled to Lyon for the Semester Abroad Program.
Best case/professional achievement: The highlight of my practice has been working my way through various roles in my MDL practice: from assisting on a bellwether trial team in the In re Levaquin MDL as a first-year associate, to working up individual cases for remand in the In re Xarelto MDL as a senior associate, to my current involvement working alongside other attorneys at Irwin Fritchie in the role of defense liaison counsel in the In re Taxotere MDL and getting to appear and argue in front of the MDL Judge—the Honorable Jane Triche Milazzo—in that capacity. I’m also currently serving as Chair of the Young Lawyers Section of the New Orleans Bar Association.
Why you chose to support the students of LSU Law with your Dean’s Council membership: I am confident that, without the education I received at LSU Law (along with the help of the Career Services Office), I would not have gotten the opportunity to work as a summer associate at Irwin Fritchie and begin a career that I absolutely love. I believe that my membership with the Dean’s Council ensures that current LSU Law students will have similar opportunities.
Advice for today’s law students: Work hard to understand your personal and professional strengths, be confident in them, and use them to find and succeed in a career that you genuinely enjoy.
MEMBERSHIP REPORT
Renewing membership are: Walt Sanchez, ’81; Denise Puente, ’87; Gray Sexton, ’66; Russell Woodard, ’79; and the Honorable Cynthia Woodard, ’81. Responding to the Dean’s request to “step up” their giving from previous years are: Professor Olivier Moreteau and Professor Paul Baier; Carolyn Hazel-McConathy, ’75; Randy Estes, ’93 and James A. Brown, ’84.
We are so grateful to our leadership-level donors to the Annual Fund!
To see who else is a member of the Dean’s Council click here. To join the Dean’s Council, click here.
Where does my contribution go?
Unrestricted contributions help to underwrite the partial tuition waivers we extend to more than 500 students each year. Your gifts make it possible for us to not only help students afford law school, but to provide the extraordinary experiences that make them more practice-ready on graduation. Moot Court competitions, field placements, clinics, and highly-specialized short courses taught by our alumni make the LSU Law experience rich and every bit as challenging as you remember it!
