Hon. Gary J. Ortego
3rd Circuit Court of Appeal
Judge Gary J. Ortego is a life-long resident of Ville Platte, Evangeline Parish, Louisiana. He is married to Carlene Fontenot Ortego, and they are the proud parents of three children, Angelique (husband Jimmy Litsey), Pastor Bo Ortego, Alanna Milliman (husband Dr. Cody Milliman), and blessed with four grandchildren, T.J. and Samantha Litsey, and Asher and Eli Milliman.

Judge Ortego earned his Bachelor degree from University of Southwestern Louisiana (USL), now University of Louisiana at Lafayette, in 1976. Judge Ortego attended the Paul M. Hebert Law Center, from which he graduated with a Juris Doctorate degree in 1982. Judge Ortego was admitted to the Bar of the State of Louisiana in October of 1982. Thereafter, he established a private law practice in Ville Platte, Louisiana, focused on general practice of law, where he litigated cases before numerous state district courts, federal district courts, and the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Judge Ortego’s judicial career began when he was appointed as the Hearing Officer for the 13th Judicial District Court in 2009, serving until 2014. Judge Ortego was first elected District Judge of the 13th Judicial District Court, Division A, in November of 2014, then re-elected in November of 2020, without opposition, and served as a district court judge for over 7 years, from January 1, 2015 through February 6, 2022. Judge Ortego was elected, without opposition, to the Louisiana Court of Appeal, Third Circuit, District 3, on February 7, 2022, and began his service as an appellate judge on March 7, 2022.

Mr. Thomas B. Plunkett III
US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals
Colonel (Retired) Tom Plunkett has served as the Chief Deputy, Clerk of Court for the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit since September 27, 2010. He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Louisiana State University and later was awarded a Master of Science in Health Care Administration and a Master of Arts in Strategic Studies. Prior to joining the judiciary, Tom served for thirty years in the United States Army, including combat tours in Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Michael H. Rubin
McGlinchey Stafford
Mike Rubin is a veteran appellate lawyer who has handled hundreds of appeals in state and federal courts, including before the U.S. Fifth, Seventh, and D.C. Circuit Courts of Appeal, on a wide variety of issues affecting the entire Gulf region. As a trial litigator, Mike has handled ground-breaking cases in the areas of finance and secured lending and major multimillion-dollar commercial transactions, as well as trials of national importance concerning federal voting rights, bankruptcy, environmental law, and constitutional issues. Mike served as an adjunct professor at the LSU, Southern, and Tulane law schools for 40 years teaching courses in security devices and ethics. He is a prolific writer; his numerous legal publications on real estate, finance, and ethics have been cited as authoritative in state and federal courts around the country and have been used in law schools across the nation. A nationally known speaker and humorist who has given over 500 major presentations throughout the USA as well as in Canada and England, Mike also is an author of legal thrillers that have won national awards and have been translated and sold internationally.

Mr. Martin A. Stern
Adams and Reese, LLP
http://www.arlaw.com
Martin Stern serves as both General Counsel and Appellate Team Leader for Adams and Reese LLP. Martin is one of 15 lawyers in Louisiana certified as an appellate specialist by the Louisiana State Bar Association Board of Legal Specialization. Martin's appellate practice is deep and varied, ranging from representing an oil-and-gas company in the appeal of a $1 billion punitive damage award to representing a defendant sentenced to death, both of which resulted in grants of certiorari by the U.S. Supreme Court. Martin has argued 14 times to the Louisiana Supreme Court as well as to all of the Louisiana state courts of appeal and the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. In one of Martin’s most recent arguments to the Louisiana Supreme Court, he represented fellow Appellate Practice Specialists as amici in helping to win an important issue regarding the right to appeal. Amedee v. Aimbridge Hospitality LLC, 351 So.3d 321 (La. 2022). In another recent matter, Martin served as an expert witness in the field of appellate litigation, where his opinion was quoted at length in the court of appeal's decision. Henry v. Ahern, 335 So.3d 871 (La. App. 4 Cir. 2022). In addition to his appellate practice, Martin has a deep background in legal ethics. He has represented judges before the Louisiana State Judiciary Commission and lawyers before the Louisiana State Disciplinary Board, for which he formerly served as Hearing Committee Chair. Martin is also heavily involved in pro bono efforts. He is past director of both national and Louisiana Appleseed, non-profit organizations that attack injustice at its root cause—what The American Lawyer called "pro bono's new frontier." In 2016, Martin received the Louisiana State Bar Association's Catherine D. Kimball Award for a project culminating in the adoption of a rule allowing lawyers in Louisiana to earn CLE credit for pro bono representation. Martin is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and the Georgetown University Law Center.

Hon. John L. Weimer III
Chief Justice
Louisiana Supreme Court
Chief Justice John L. Weimer became the 26th Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court January 1, 2021. He began his service on the Supreme Court in 2001 when he was elected to serve as an Associate Justice, District 6, comprised of the parishes of: Assumption, Iberia Lafourche, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Martin, St. Mary, Terrebonne, and a portion of the west bank of Jefferson, which includes Grand Isle. In 2002 and again in 2012, Justice Weimer was re-elected to a 10-year term without opposition.

In 1998, he was elected to serve on Louisiana's First Circuit Court of Appeal.

In 1995, he was elected to serve as Judge, Division A, of the 17th Judicial District Court and re-elected in 1996 without opposition.

He began his judicial career serving as Judge pro tempore, Division D, of the 17th Judicial District Court in 1993 following an appointment by the Louisiana Supreme Court.

Judge Weimer was honored with the Outstanding Judicial Award from Victims and Citizens Against Crime and with the Outstanding Jurist Award from Crimefighters, Inc. - both statewide organizations dedicated to victims of crime. Additionally, Justice Weimer was honored by Common Sense Against Crime and Crimefighters with an Award of Merit. In 2006, Justice Weimer was named as one of the leading judges in America by a national publication, The Law Dragon. He also was recognized for his significant assistance in establishing the Lafourche Parish Drug Treatment Court.

He formerly served on the Board of Directors of the Louisiana Center for Law and Civic Education. He frequently teaches at schools throughout the district he serves and re-established and coordinates the Lafourche Parish Student Government Day Program.

Prior to taking the bench, Chief Justice Weimer was a full time faculty member at Nicholls State University where he taught law and ethics classes for 16 years. He received the Presidential Award for Teaching Excellence and was also named to Who's Who Among America's Teachers. He also served as director of the Free Enterprise Week Program at Nicholls. He practiced law in Thibodaux and was certified as a mediator.

Chief Justice Weimer serves as a volunteer in the Thibodaux Volunteer Fire Department, Fire Company No. 1, and previously served as a member of the Pastoral Counsel at Christ the Redeemer Catholic Church for decades.

An award winning self taught amateur painter whose donated works have raised thousands of dollars for countless charities, Justice Weimer was commissioned to design the posters for the 2005 and 2007 International Grand Isle Tarpon Rodeo. His paintings have also appeared on the cover of the Louisiana Bar Journal and were hung in an exhibit at the Historic New Orleans Collection.

Chief Justice Weimer was born and raised in Lafourche Parish, graduated from Thibodaux High School, and was an academic honors and Hall of Fame graduate of Nicholls State University, where he twice served as student body President. He received his Juris Doctorate from LSU. Chief Justice Weimer is married to Penny Hymel, a former elementary school teacher, who was born and raised in the River Parishes. They are the parents of three daughters: Jacqueline, Katherine, and Emily.

Hon. Sharon D. Wilson
3rd Circuit Court of Appeal
Judge Sharon Darville Wilson serves on the Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeal. She was elected to the appeal court on November 3, 2020, and she assumed office on January 1, 2021. The Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeal is the largest of five circuit courts of appeal in Louisiana. Its territory consists of 21 Parishes in Southwest and Central Louisiana. Her legal career began in the 14th JDC Calcasieu Parish (Lake Charles, LA) District Attorney’s Office in 1992. She served Southwest Louisiana as a career Prosecutor for 17 years; including three years in the 33rd JDC Allen Parish (Oberlin, LA) District Attorney’s Office where she served as Chief Felony Prosecutor. While serving as an Assistant District Attorney, she maintained a civil law practice and in 2009, she established her own full time private practice, Sharon Darville Wilson, A Professional Law Corporation.

Prior to her election to the Court of Appeal, Judge Wilson was elected as a District Judge for the Fourteenth Judicial District on April 5, 2014. She is the first African American woman to be elected as Judge in the Fourteenth Judicial District (Calcasieu Parish). Judge Wilson served as Chief Judge on the Fourteenth Judicial District Court from January 1, 2017, until January 1, 2019, and she co-founded the Veterans Treatment Court in Calcasieu Parish. During her time as a District Judge she served as an Executive Board Member for the Louisiana District Judges Association and as a district judge member of the Louisiana Judiciary Commission from January 1, 2019, until December 31, 2020. On December 27, 2022, the Louisiana Supreme Court announced the appointment of Judge Wilson to serve once again on the Judiciary Commission as the appellate court member for a term which commenced on January 1, 2023, and concludes on December 31, 2026.

Judge Wilson earned her bachelor's degree from Louisiana State University in 1988 and her jurist doctor degree from Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center in 1991. In July 2023, Judge Wilson completed the New York University School of Law Institute for Appellate Judges. She is a member of many professional associations including the Louisiana State Bar Association, Southwest Louisiana Bar Association, Louisiana Third Circuit Judges Association, Louisiana Judicial Council/National Bar Association Division, American Bar Association, the American Judges Association, and the Louisiana Conference of Court of Appeal. Judge Wilson is a frequent lecturer and CLE presenter on various legal topics. She is married and is the mother of two children and bonus mom of three children.