Mr. Clinton M Bowers
Partner Attorney
Bowers Law Firm, LLC
http://Www.bowerslawfirmllc.com
CLINTON M. BOWERS is a member of the Shreveport law firm of Bowers Law Firm, LLC, having joined the practice in 2009. He attended Louisiana State University in Shreveport, earning a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, cum laude, in 2005. He attended the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University. From 2007 to 2009, he served as Research Assistant to Professor Frank L. Maraist at the LSU Law Center. In May 2009, he was awarded his J.D. and Graduate Diploma of Civil Law, magna cum laude and was elected to membership in the Louisiana Chapter of the Order of the Coif. Mr. Bowers’ practice primarily focuses on family law litigation and serving as a family mediator. He is admitted to practice before Louisiana state courts, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Since 2011, he has served on the Louisiana State Law Institute with assignments to the Marriage-Persons Committee, Surrogacy Committee, and Child Support and Visitation Committee. In 2020, he was appointed as a Member of the Louisiana State Law Institute’s Council.
Professor Andrea B. Carroll
LSU Law Center
Andi Beauchamp Carroll is the Associate Dean for Student & Academic Affairs and the Donna W. Lee Professor of Family Law at the LSU Law Center. Before joining the LSU Law faculty, Professor Carroll clerked for The Honorable W. Eugene Davis of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She subsequently worked as an associate at the Dallas law firm of Baker Botts, L.L.P., handling appellate litigation. In 2003, Professor Carroll returned home to LSU Law, where she has been teaching and writing about family law, community property, and property for nearly two decades. Professor Carroll is the author of more than a dozen books and articles in her field. She has recently been published in the Cambridge University Press and her Tulane article on civil law property was honored as outstanding scholarship at the Stanford-Yale Junior Faculty Forum. Professor Carroll is active in law reform in Louisiana, as a Member of the Council of the Louisiana State Law Institute and the Institute’s Children’s Code, Adult Guardianship, Surrogacy, and Property Committees. She has led successful legislative reforms in the areas of child relocation, spousal support, surrogacy, and community property reimbursement rights. As Reporter of the Law Institute’s Marriage and Persons Committee, Professor Carroll continues to work to improve the law related to marriage and the family.
Judge Douglas D. Dodd
Bankruptcy Judge
U.S. Bankruptcy Court - Middle District of Louisiana
http://www.lamb.uscourts.gov
DOUGLAS D. DODD is the United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Middle District of Louisiana. He graduated from Stanford Law School in 1982, after receiving his
undergraduate degree magna cum laude with interdisciplinary honors in 1977 from Tulane University, where he was elected to membership in Phi Beta Kappa. Judge Dodd practiced law in New Orleans for nearly 20 years before his appointment to the bench in May 2002. He has taught advanced bankruptcy law at Tulane Law School and currently serves as an adjunct professor of law at the LSU Law Center, teaching a seminar in bankruptcy reorganization.
Mr. Kenneth P. Haines
Lawyer
Weems, Schimpf, Haines, Shemwell & Moore (APLC)
http://www.weems-law.com
Kenny Haines is a proud 1989 graduate of the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at LSU. He has been practicing law with the same Shreveport firm, Weems, Schimpf, Haines, & Moore, for over 32 years handling all aspects of family, business and injury litigation in his career. He has worked as an Assistant District Attorney for the 2nd and 42nd JDCs, where he handled all post conviction matters and appeals for those DA offices. He worked on Child in Need of Care cases and handled juvenile and child support matters for the DeSoto District Attorney’s office. Kenny clerked for the late Pike Hall, Jr. at both the Second Circuit Court of Appeal and Louisiana Supreme Court. He has been lead counsel in well over one hundred appeals in his career. He has spoken on both family law
and appeal topics for the SBA, LSBA and LSU. He has served as Chairman of the Appellate Specialization Advisory Commission. He is the only lawyer in the State of Louisiana certified in both Family Law (2004) and Appellate Practice (2017).
Mr. Jeffrey M. Hoffman
Partner
Hoffman Nguyen & Kuehl, L.L.C.
http://www.hnkfamilylaw.com
Jeff is the co-founder of Hoffman Nguyen & Kuehl, LLC, also known as HNK Family Law, located in New Orleans, Louisiana. He has been practicing law since 2004 with a specialty in family law after graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as an undergraduate, and then the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center, earning his Juris Doctorate and bachelor’s in civil law.
Jeff has been honored and/or recognized by numerous local and national publications including Super Lawyers (since 2013 as a Rising Star and 2018 as a Super Lawyer), the National Academy of Family Law Attorneys in 2014, New Orleans Magazine “Top Attorney” since 2015, New Orleans CityBusiness “Ones to Watch” in 2017, and Best Lawyers in America since 2017. He was also appointed to the Family Law Committee of the New Orleans Bar Association, where he participated in the Mentor Up Program and co-developed the Mental Health Professionals Meet and Greet program.
Outside of the family law arena, Jeff has also successfully represented clients in personal injury lawsuits, trademark infringement cases, employment discrimination, sexual harassment cases, Fair Labor Standards Act cases, and collection matters. He often helps entrepreneurs and current family law clients form businesses, draft contracts and operating agreements, and negotiate leases.
Mr. Steven Lane
Partner
Herman, Herman & Katz, LLP
STEVEN J. LANE was Managing Partner of the law firm of Herman, Herman & Katz in New Orleans from 2002-2016, and remains of counsel there. He now serves as a Special Master appointed by judges and attorneys to preside over family law cases. He received his B.A. from the University of New York at Buffalo in 1977 and his J.D. from Loyola University School of Law in 1980. He has been listed in Best Lawyers in America each year since 2005. He received the New Orleans CityBusiness Leadership in Law award for 2005-2008, and was inducted into the New Orleans CityBusiness Law Hall of Fame in 2009. He was selected as Best Lawyers “New Orleans Family Lawyer of the Year” in 2009, 2015, 2017, and 2021. He is the only attorney in Louisiana to receive the award four times. He was selected for inclusion in Law Dragon magazine’s Top 500 Leading Lawyers in America in each year from 2009 through 2017, and was named a Law Dragon Legend in 2016. He has been listed in Louisiana Super Lawyers magazine from 2007-2021 and New Orleans Magazine’s Top Family Lawyers from 2012-2020. In addition to practicing in the field of family and domestic litigation, he has also successfully handled a broad range of cases, including class actions, personal injury, products liability, and commercial litigation.
Mr. Robert C. Lowe
LOWE STEIN, LLC
ROBERT C. LOWE is a Board Certified Family Law Specialist with over 40 years of experience handling family law and other civil matters.
While in law school at LSU, Mr. Lowe was selected to the Order of the Coif, the highest honor a law student can receive. He was also a member of the Louisiana Law Review and selected to Phi Kappa Phi, an honor society. He is a member of the LSU Law Center Hall of Fame (1987).
Mr. Lowe is a member of the American, Louisiana, and New Orleans Bar Associations, Louisiana Law Institute (community property committee), the Louisiana Association of Justice, and is a past president of the Family Law Sections of the New Orleans Bar Association, Louisiana State Bar Association, as well as the Louisiana Association of Justice.
Mr. Lowe has practiced before many state district courts across the state, all six Louisiana appellate courts, federal district courts, the Federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal, and the United States Supreme Court. He has argued in the Louisiana Supreme Court six times.
Mr. Lowe is the author of Louisiana Divorce (West Publishing Company), published in 1984, and revised annually. He enjoys a Martindale Hubbell AV rating, the highest attainable, and has for over 35 years. He has also authored numerous articles for professional publications and is a frequent lecturer (over 70 presentations) at educational and professional programs locally and nationally. He has spoken before the American Bar Association, the Louisiana Bar Association, the American Arbitration Association, Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University, Tulane University School of Law, Loyola University School of Law, and the New Orleans Bar Association. He also taught the Bar Review Course in Persons and Community Property at the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University for many years. He is also a trained commercial mediator. He is listed in Best Lawyers in America (since its initial publication in 1983, and was named New Orleans Family Lawyer of the Year in 2014 by that publication), Who's Who in America, Louisiana SuperLawyers every year since its publication, including Top 50, 2007 and 2008, Who's Who in America, Who's Who in American Law, Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in the South and Southwest, and has been listed annually in New Orleans Magazine's Top Lawyers in New Orleans. He was profiled in New Orleans Magazine in 1989 and in Kingfish Magazine in 2001. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Marquis Who's Who in 2017.
Mr. Lowe has been involved in this Seminar's Planning Committee since its inception.
Mr. Lowe also served in the United States Marine Corp. Reserve from 1971 to 1977.
Charles B Plattsmier
La Attorney Disciplinary Board
CHARLES B. PLATTSMIER attended Louisiana State University Law Center from 1975 thru 1978 and became licensed to practice law in Louisiana in October of 1978. He entered the private practice of law and by 1981 was a partner in the law firm of Hunter and Plattsmier in Morgan City, Louisiana where the firm’s emphasis was on maritime litigation. In 1993, Mr. Plattsmier began his own firm with offices in both Morgan City and Baton Rouge. During his first 17 years of practice, he was active in both local and state bar associations serving as President of the St. Mary Parish Bar Association and as a member of the LSBA House Delegates from 1983 until 1995. In 1990, he extended his volunteer service to the legal profession by becoming one of the first lawyer hearing committee members in the then newly created Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board. After serving as a lawyer member and chair of the hearing committee for four years, Mr. Plattsmier was offered and he accepted a position as a board member on the Disciplinary Board where he served for two years. On February 1, 1996 he became the Chief Disciplinary Counsel for the State of Louisiana and today stands as the longest serving Chief Counsel under the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board. Mr. Plattsmier has authored amendments to both the Rules of Professional Conduct as well as Supreme Court Rule 19, was a member of the Ethics 2000 Committee which updated and amended Louisiana’s ethics rules, and has served on countless committees of both the Louisiana Supreme Court and the Louisiana State Bar Association. He is a prolific speaker having provided over 400 lectures and presentations on ethics and professionalism nationally and across the state. He was a 2002 nominee for the ABA Michael Franck Professional Responsibility Award for outstanding contributions to the field of Professional Responsibility.
Mr. David M. Prados
Partner
Lowe, Stein, Hoffman, Allweiss & Hauver, L.L.P.
David M. Prados practices in family law and general civil litigation. He is a Board Certified Family Law Specialist who represents parties in every phase of matrimonial and domestic law, including prenuptial agreements, divorce actions, spousal and child support, child custody and visitation, division of marital property, as well as paternity, tutorship, interdiction, wills, successions, and appeals. He is also a Board Certified Specialist in Appellate Practice. Mr. Prados has served as a mediator and as a Special Master to assist litigants, their counsel, and the court to resolve difficult cases. Mr. Prados earned his
undergraduate and a masters degree in English from the University of New Orleans, and his law degree, cum laude, from Loyola University. During law school, he was a member of the Loyola Law Review and the Moot Court staff. He authors "Recent Developments in Family Law" for the Louisiana Bar Journal. He is a frequent lecturer on family law topics at continuing professional education seminars. He serves on the Louisiana State Law Institute Child Custody Committee. Mr. Prados is a Louisiana "Super Lawyer," and has been named to the "Best Lawyers in America" (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022), and was recognized by Best Lawyers as a "2020 Lawyer of the Year" in the practice area of Family Law.
Professor Sally Brown Richardson
A.D. Freeman Associate Professor of Civil Law
Tulane University Law School
PROFESSOR SALLY BROWN RICHARDSON is Vice Dean for Academic Affairs and the A.D. Freeman Associate Professor of Civil Law at Tulane University. Her scholarship and teaching focus on how property and community property doctrines might be modernized to operate more effectively and efficiently given changes in society since their creation. In doing so, she compares how property and community property doctrines operate in both common and civil law jurisdictions, and she considers what the different legal systems might learn from each other to better address modern property issues. Richardson in 2019 received Tulane University’s highest teaching honor, the President’s Award for Excellence in Professional and Graduate Teaching. In 2015, she was awarded the Felix Frankfurter Award for Distinguished Teaching, Tulane Law School's highest teaching honor. And in 2015-16, she was the Gordon Gamm Faculty Scholar, an award supporting early-career professors. Her work has been published in the American Journal of Comparative Law, University of Houston Law Review, Tennessee Law Review, Tulane Law Review and the Louisiana Law Review. She is the author of the textbook Community Property in the United States (Carolina Academic Press 2015). Her article "Reframing Ameliorative Waste" was selected for the 2015 Yale/Stanford/Harvard Junior Faculty Forum. Richardson also blogs regularly for the PropertyProf Blog. Richardson serves on the executive board for both the Association of Law, Property and Society and the American Society of Comparative Law’s Younger Comparativist Committee. She is a member of Federal Bar Association New Orleans Chapter board of directors. She also is an active member of the Louisiana State Law Institute, serving on its council and a number of committees, including the Water Law Committee, Persons-Marriage Committee and Tax Sales Committee. She earned her BA in 2004 from Georgetown University and her JD, summa cum laude, in 2009 from LSU. Before joining the Tulane Law faculty in 2012, Richardson practiced law at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in Washington, D.C. She clerked for Judge W. Eugene Davis on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and before that worked as deputy communications director for then-U.S. Sen. Mary L. Landrieu.
Mr. Beau P Sagona
The Derbes Law Firm, LLC
Beau Sagona is a member of The Derbes Law Firm, LLC in Metairie, Louisiana, and is board-certified as an Estate Planning and Administration Specialist by the Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization. A significant portion of his practice involves assisting his clients as well as other attorneys with the valuation and division of retirement benefits, including drafting Qualified Domestic Relations Orders and court orders dividing government retirement benefits, such as state, federal and military. He has testified in court as an expert on retirement plan issues and served as special master or court-appointed expert in cases involving retirement plan issues.
Beau obtained a B.S. in finance from L.S.U. in 1987 with a concentration in risk and insurance. He obtained his law degree from L.S.U. in 1990 and has been in private practice since then. He currently serves as a hearing committee chair for the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board. He previously served as chair of the Louisiana Supreme Court MCLE Committee and as president of the Jefferson Bar Association. He is also a volunteer with The Pro Bono Project.
Beau is married to the former Gretchen Ann Grieshaber, with whom he has two sons, Daniel and Thomas.
Professor J. Randall Trahan
LSU Law Center
Professor J. Randall Trahan is the Louis B. Porterie Professor of Law and the Saul Litvinoff Distinguished Professor of Law at LSU Law Center. Professor Trahan is a civil law specialist and presently teaches Sales & Real Estate, Security Devices, Civil Law Property, and Successions & Donations. He has also taught Family Law, Obligations, Matrimonial Regimes, Legal Traditions & Systems, and Western Legal Traditions, and is co-author, along with Professor Ken Murchison, of Western Legal Traditions & Systems: Louisiana Impact. He has written a new book entitled: Louisiana Law of Property: A Précis, published by LexisNexis. Professor Trahan received his B.A. in Political Science from LSU in 1982, and his law degree in 1989, with high honors, from LSU Law Center where he was Articles Editor of Louisiana Law Review and was inducted into The Order of the Coif. Before joining the Law Center faculty in 1995, Professor Trahan served as law clerk to the late Judge Alvin B. Rubin in the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals for one year and then practiced law with the firm of Phelps Dunbar in Baton Rouge for five years. He serves as Reporter for three committees of the Louisiana State Law Institute: the Adult Guardianship Committee, the Birth Certificate Committee, and the newly established Legion Beyond Moiety Committee.
Mr. Frank P. Tranchina Jr.
Attorney
Tranchina & Mansfield LLC
http://www.tranchinaandmansfield.com
Frank P. Tranchina, Jr., is a partner in the law firm of Tranchina & Mansfield, L.L.C. He received his law degree from Loyola University School of Law in 1979. He is Board Certified in Family Law by the Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization and is also licensed in the State of California. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. He is a past chairman of the Family Law sections of the Louisiana State and Jefferson Bar Associations as well as co-chair of the board certification committee for family law practitioners when first introduced to Louisiana. In addition, Mr. Tranchina has been a frequent lecturer at seminars and conferences throughout Louisiana. Since 1995, he has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America and has been identified in Who's Who in American Law since 2000. In 2007, he was inducted into the Academy of Court Appointed Masters. He has also been listed in Louisiana Super Lawyers magazine since its first publication in 2007 and in Northern California Super Lawyers magazine since 2015.
Mr. Tranchina was appointed by the Louisiana Supreme Court to the Family Court Rules Committee selected to recommend uniform rules for Family and Domestic Relations Court across the State of Louisiana. He frequently acts as Special Master on complex community property cases and has been appointed by family court judges as an expert witness. In 2014, he was qualified in the Los Angeles Superior Court as an expert on Louisiana law and testified regarding the validity of a transsexual marriage that took place in Louisiana. In 2016, he was also qualified in the Circuit Court of Prince William County, State of Virginia, as an expert in Louisiana Community Property.
Mr. Tranchina served as a member of the Marriage - Persons Committee for the Louisiana State Law Institute. Most recently, he has been inducted into the International Academy of Family Lawyers. He has also been named “2019 Lawyer of the Year in Family Law” by Best Lawyers in America. And just recently announced, Mr. Tranchina has added the accolade of receiving the "2024 Lawyer of the Year in Family Law" by Best Lawyers in America.
Mr. Michael S Walsh
Partner
Taylor Porter
MICHAEL S. WALSH is Practice Group Leader of Taylor Porter's Criminal Defense and Domestic Relations Law practices, and has more than 35 years of experience representing individual and corporate clients in complex criminal and civil litigation and enforcement cases throughout the country. His practice, which includes a variety of grand jury and trial matters, involves public corruption, antitrust, healthcare, False Claims Act, Lacey Act, environmental matters, and alcoholic beverage licensing and related enforcement issues. Mr. Walsh has been selected by his peers in Best Lawyers in America® as the "Criminal Defense: General Practice Lawyer of the Year" in both 2016 and 2020, and he has been selected by his peers among Louisiana Super Lawyers in Criminal Defense Law. In addition to his criminal defense and family law practice, Mr. Walsh represents lawyers, law firms, and judges in disciplinary proceedings, malpractice matters, professional liability claims and ethics violations, and he is a frequent lecturer on ethics, professionalism, and litigation skills, instructing prosecutors, defenders and federal investigators on professional liability and ethics, both internationally (Austria, Canada), and nationally (Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Florida, California). Mr. Walsh has represented construction clients in litigation and transactional work involving commercial, residential, industrial and roadway projects in both the public and private sector. He has represented construction company owners, general contractors, subcontractors, homebuilders, architects, engineers, material and equipment suppliers, and manufacturers, in various legal issues facing the industry, including public bidding law disputes. He works with municipal, parish, and state agencies, and companies from various industries, on all the complex intricacies of public records requests, and in particular, the Louisiana Public Records Law, assisting in both helping clients submit public records requests, and how to respond to public records requests. Mr. Walsh advises and represents clients in a wide variety of antitrust and price fixing matters clients on whether business practices comply with regulations domestically and abroad, so that markets function effectively on fair and open competition. Mr. Walsh chairs the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Criminal Law Section. By approval of the Louisiana Supreme Court, he serves as judge pro tempore of the East Baton Rouge Parish Juvenile Court. He is a member of the MDLA Magistrate Selection Committee, and was formerly on the committee to screen the Parish Attorney's committee. Mr. Walsh formerly served as president of the Baton Rouge Bar Association and the Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Mr. Walsh graduated from LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center in 1983. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from LSU in 1979. Before attending LSU, Mr. Walsh served in the United States Army as a military policeman having graduated from the United States Military Police School. Mr. Walsh previously served as chairman of the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board, having been appointed to that position by Chief Justice Katherine D. Kimball. Mr. Walsh is an adjunct professor of law at Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center, where he teaches a course on Professional Responsibility and Ethics, and he is a frequent lecturer on ethics, professionalism, and litigation skills. Mr. Walsh is active in the Baton Rouge community, having served as chairman of the Baton Rouge Battered Women’s Program during the time period in which it acquired its present shelter, and he has served as a member of the executive committee of the Boy Scouts of America, Istrouma Council. He is active in the Catholic Church and participated in developing policy for youth protection on behalf of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge.
