“If you wanted to get through the glass ceiling at that time, you better get yourself a drill.”
- Mary Olive Pierson, Class of 1970
Mary Olive Pierson, Class of 1970
Whether you call her Ollie or MOP, once you’ve met Mary Olive Pierson you’ll understand how her name has become legendary in the Baton Rouge legal community.
After graduating from the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center, she embarked on a high-profile law career but not without breaking through the glass ceiling that she says was made of concrete in the 70s.
Pierson decided to go to law school when the best job offer she received with her accounting degree from LSU consisted of making columns of numbers for an oil company. She already had a moderate interest in the law thanks to her summers working in the appeals section at the Clerk of Court office in Baton Rouge. She quickly took the LSAT and enrolled at LSU Law, knowing if she took the job with the oil company “I’ll never get out of there.”
Once she received her JD, being one of seven women to do so from the Law Center in 1970, she applied for a clerkship with a federal judge. The judge admitted that, while she was turned down for the position, she would have had the job if she were male. Undeterred, she applied for and landed a clerkship with the Honorable Pike Hall (’53) of the Second Circuit, Louisiana Court of Appeals in Shreveport. She would return to Baton Rouge when Ossie Brown (’53) offered her a position at his firm. She practiced at the law office of Brown, McKernan, Monsour & Screen and the Cooper & Pierson law firm before beginning her solo practice in 2004.
Pierson became a household name from representing several elected state officials in many noteworthy cases. She credits the publicity of those trials for opening doors in her career, but her most memorable case came from a next-door neighbor. It also happened to be one of the very first cases she litigated. After her neighbor was bitten by a dog, Pierson negotiated with the homeowner’s insurance to settle for $1,500. She received $500 as her contingent fee, and “I thought that I was a Rockefeller.”
In addition to being a fierce trial advocacy lawyer, Pierson has also been a strong community leader. She has served as a member of the East Baton Rouge Metropolitan Council and as the chief administrative officer for the Office of Mayor-President. She also tried her hand at politics, though she says she “got lucky and came in second.” In 2012, she was a candidate for the seat of retiring Chief Justice Catherine Kimball (’70) on the Louisiana Supreme Court.
Pierson’s prolific career is the result of what some would describe as “life-changing” decisions, like going to law school. But she says she made those decisions out of necessity. Pierson initially majored in accounting for her undergraduate degree because career options for women were limited at the time. She also claims it was because she was not skilled at her only other career option, home economics, despite having her infamous meat pie recipe published in a 1996 issue of InRegister magazine. Since she had not “caught a husband” by the time she entered college, Pierson made choices about her career that allowed her to take care of herself and be independent.
Mary Olive Pierson (center) with her family at the LSU Law 2020 Distinguished Alumni Celebration.
In 2013, the Louisiana State Bar Association awarded Pierson the prestigious Curtis Boisfontaine Trial Advocacy Award. In recognizing Pierson for the award, the bar association emphasized that she is a consummate litigator who has pursued justice for her clients, rich or poor, through effective and ethical trial advocacy. LSU Law classmate Kenneth Privat (’70) established the Mary Olive Pierson Endowed Scholarship in her honor in 2014, and the Law Center recognized Pierson as a Distinguished Achievement honoree in 2020.
“I hope that my career in litigation has at least led the way for some young women,” Pierson said at the ceremony, noting about half of the students at LSU Law today are female. “I’ve had the most wonderful career and I’ve made so many wonderful friends. I have loved what I have done, and I thank the LSU Law school for it.”
About the Scholarship:
Recipients of this scholarship must be full time students at the Law Center. Financial need shall be a consideration, without regard to grades earned.
