LSU Law announces 2025 Distinguished Alumni Awards honorees

LSU Law announces 2025 Distinguished Alumni Award honorees

LSU Law is proud to announce the esteemed group of alumni and friends who will be honored for their contributions to the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center and legal profession at the 2025 Distinguished Alumni Awards celebration on Thursday, May 8, in the South Stadium Club at Tiger Stadium.

Six of the seven Distinguished Alumni Awards honorees were selected by the LSU Law Alumni Board of Trustees via a nomination, review, and ranking process, and LSU Law Dean Alena M. Allen selected the Dean’s Philanthropic Award honoree.

“Our Distinguished Alumni Awards honorees represent a distinguished and exceptionally talented group of legal professionals who embody the core values of LSU Law: professional excellence, personal integrity, civic engagement, and selfless service,” said Dean Allen. “Their achievements speak volumes, but what truly sets them apart is their unwavering dedication to mentoring and uplifting the next generation of legal leaders. We look forward to celebrating these remarkable milestones in their careers together in Tiger Stadium this spring.”

The LSU Law 2025 Distinguished Alumni Awards honorees are:

• Young Alumnus: Dani Borel (’14)

Dani Borel joined the Baton Rouge office of Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson as an associate in 2014, after graduating from LSU Law as a member of The Order of the Coif. She was named equity partner in 2023. Borel serves as Chair of the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division (YLD) and is a Past Chair for the Louisiana State Bar Association YLD, among many other leadership and volunteer positions.

The Young Alumnus award recognizes an alumnus who has been in practice for 10 or fewer years and is a demonstrated leader in their field.

• Engaged Alumnus: Hon. Darrel Papillion (’94)

Judge Darrel Papillion has served as a judge in the U.S. Eastern District of Louisiana in New Orleans since June 2023. Prior to his appointment to the bench, he was a partner at Walters, Papillion, Thomas, Cullens, LLC. Papillion has served as an adjunct faculty member at LSU Law since 2000, and he routinely volunteers to teach extracurricular programs, evaluate faculty scholarship awards, and more.

The Engaged Alumnus award recognizes an alumnus who graduated in or before 2012 and has been of extraordinary service to LSU Law through a combined investment of time, expertise, financial support, and leadership.

• Service to the Profession: Mary Terrell Joseph (’70)

Mary Terrell Joseph is a trailblazing attorney and civic leader who has shaped the legal profession, education, and arts in Louisiana for decades. As an attorney, Joseph has advised clients on collections matters and creditors’ rights for more than 50 years, handling thousands of collection matters. She has been with McGlinchey since 1993, when the firm she established a decade earlier—Rubin, Curry, Colvin, and Joseph—merged with the New Orleans-based firm. In 2005, she served on the bench of the 19th Judicial District Court as an appointed Judge Pro Tempore.

The Service to the Profession award recognizes a graduate of 10 or more years who elevates the profession through extraordinary and consistent leadership.

• Career Champion: Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson

Established in 1928 in Baton Rouge, Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, L.L.P. is one of the oldest law firms in the state of Louisiana. A considerable number of the firm’s partners and associates are LSU Law alumni, and many LSU Law students get their first professional working opportunities through its Summer Associates and Bridge Fellowship programs. The firm established the Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson Scholarship at LSU Law in 1978. It annually participates in many events hosted by the LSU Law Office of Career Services, and its partners and associates can regularly be found at the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center serving as adjunct faculty and guest speakers.

The Career Champion award recognizes a law firm or organization that has provided significant and consistent contributions toward the advancement of career services, professionalism, and employment outcomes through their support of student programming.

• Legal Innovator: Tim Barfield (’89)

Tim Barfield has been a leader in the legal, business, governmental, and financial sectors for more than two decades. He joined Baton Rouge-based civil engineering firm CSRS as president in 2016 to help develop the next generation of leaders. Barfield previously served as secretary for the Louisiana Department of Revenue, executive counsel for the Office of the Governor, and executive director of the Louisiana Workforce Commission. Before serving in the public sector, he worked for over a decade as an executive at The Shaw Group, Inc. (acquired by CB&I in 2013), as chief development officer for Amedisys, Inc., and as a corporate finance attorney for Vinson & Elkins.

The Legal Innovator award recognizes a graduate of 10 or more years who has established a successful non-traditional career.  

• Honorary Alumnus: Hillar Moore III

Hillar Moore III has served as East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney since 2009. Born and raised in New Orleans, he graduated from Brother Martin High School in 1972. He moved to Baton Rouge to study criminal justice at LSU, which led to his first job collecting evidence and surveying crime scenes as an investigator for the East Baton Rouge District Attorney’s Office, a position he held for 12 years. During this time, Moore also trained at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, and graduated magna cum laude from Southern University Law Center. He then went into private practice for 16 years, specializing in criminal defense, before being elected to serve as District Attorney.

The Honorary Alumnus award recognizes a non-alumnus who has made a significant investment of time, financial support, or professional capital to LSU Law and the legal profession.

• Dean’s Philanthropic Award: Russell “Rusty” J. Stutes Jr. (’91)

Russell “Rusty” Stutes Jr. is a tax and commercial litigation attorney and managing partner at Stutes & Lavergne, LLC in Lake Charles. As a student at LSU Law, he was named to the Chancellor’s List numerous times and received two American Jurisprudence Awards. He was also the recipient of the Tullis-Herget Scholarship, which is awarded for academic excellence, and he graduated among the top 11% of his class. In 2012, he endowed the LSU Law Stutes-Kalinka National Tax Moot Court Competition Team in memory of the late Professor Susan Kalinka. Along with his mother, Cissy Stutes, he made a gift in excess of $500,000 in memory of his late father Russell J. Stutes Sr. in 2023. The gift established the Small Business and Community Development Clinic at LSU Law.

The Dean’s Philanthropic Award recognizes an alumni or supporter who has made a transformative financial contribution to LSU Law.

The LSU Law Distinguished Alumni Awards program originally launched in 1986. In 2012, the program expanded to include more than one honoree each year. This year, the awards program has been further defined, with new award categories, criteria, and selection processes by the LSU Law Alumni Board of Trustees.