Independence Lawyers

As an associate attorney of Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LTD LLP, Ryan Cook maintains an active securities arbitration and litigation practice. Mr. Cook has worked on numerous cases dealing with individual investors, high net worth and institutional investors, corporate executives, regional banks and municipal issuers.

Prior to beginning his law practice, Mr. Cook worked in the securities industry as a licensed and registered representative with a large broker/dealer. He received his Juris Doctor (JD) degree from South Texas College of Law, where he earned his degree Summa Cum Laude (with highest honor) as the graduating salutatorian. Mr. Cook...

Jeff Greenberg founded the Greenberg Law Firm in New Orleans, Louisiana to help victims of personal injury and employment violations.

Why choose Joe Larre? Here is why you should call today! Joe Larré is a local Personal Injury Attorney who also practices in personal injury, property damage and real estate. His list of credentials include: Practiced and excelled in car accident claims property damage claims, and injury claims since 2003. Licensed to practice law in Louisiana. Admitted to practice law in Federal Eastern and Middle District and Chitimacha Tribal Court. Certified by NHTSA’s Certificate of Completion of the 24-credit hour course in DUI Detection & Standardized Field Sobriety Testing. Graduated in 1999 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing from Southeastern LA University. Graduated in 2003...

Background and Education Mr. Mitchell was born in Mobile, Alabama on April 7, 1963. He graduated from Louisiana State University in 1985 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. He attended Louisiana State University, The Paul M. Hebert, School of Law from which he obtained his Juris Doctor degree in 1989. During law school, Mr. Mitchell was awarded the Outstanding Oral Advocate award by Mr. F. Lee Bailey during the F. Lee Bailey National Moot Court Competition. Mr. Mitchell's team placed second in the country. Mr. Mitchell was also a member of the National Moot Court Team and was...

Matthew Meiners is a partner in the Baton Rouge office of Kean Miller. He joined the firm in 2009 and practices in the business and corporate group. Matthew has experience in the drafting and negotiation of numerous industrial service and purchase agreements. He also has experience representing numerous individuals and small businesses in connection with acquisitions and divestitures of their respective businesses and with formation of new entities, including drafting organizational documents and planning of overall corporate structure.

Matthew earned his B.S. in International Trade and Finance with a minor in Economics from Louisiana State University in 1998. He earned his...

Gayla Moncla is a partner in the Baton Rouge office of Kean Miller and practices in the areas of toxic tort and environmental litigation, premises liability, and commercial litigation. She has more than 25 years of experience in the chemical and petrochemical industries, defending workplace accidents, chemical exposure cases, products liability cases, as well as advising clients regarding workplace safety issues and OSHA regulations. Gayla also has experience in retail premises litigation having defended retail clients for over 25 years.

Gayla earned her B.S. from Louisiana State University in 1973. She earned her J.D. in 1989 from the LSU Law Center...

Michelle McCune Sorrells is of counsel to Walters, Papillion, Thomas, Cullens, and concentrates her practice in the area of workers' compensation law.

James is the managing member and managing attorney of Zitzmann Law, LLC and founded the firm in 2014.

He attended Louisiana State University for his undergraduate degree. While at Louisiana State, James was involved in Louisiana State University Student Government and was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. He graduated in 2010 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.

He attended the Loyola University New Orleans College of Law where he was a member of the Loyola Law and Technology Annual. While attending, he received the Loyola Alumni Association Legacy Scholarship and the Academic Excellence...

I was born and raised in Reserve, Louisiana to a hard-working, blue-collar family. The support of my parents allowed me to earn a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree in public health &, subsequently, my law degree (J.D.), all from LSU. My practice focuses primarily on representing and protecting the rights of injured workers and disabled individuals against insurance companies & the government, including, Social Security Disability denials & appeals, Workers’ Compensation Claims and Personal Injury cases.

Michael S. Brandner, owner of the Brandner Law Firm, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He grew up there and attended Jesuit High School. After graduating from high school, he attended Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he earned his bachelor's degree in political science in 1999. He then went on to study law at the Loyola University New Orleans School of Law where he served on the Executive Board of the Loyola Student Bar Association and was a member of the Loyola University School of Law Board of Trial Advocates. Mr. Bradner received his juris doctor in 2002....

John S. McLindon, Criminal Defense Attorney located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. With his 34 years of experience, he can provide superior legal representation in any United States Federal Court or State District Court in Louisiana. As well as administrative law matters, licensing boards, and appeals. John is an alumnus of Louisiana State University, LSU Paul M. Hebert Law School, and Catholic High School of Baton Rouge.

Mr. Cullens was born in New Orleans on April 3, 1967.

Edward J. Walters, Jr. has been representing individuals in personal injury cases for over 40 years.

David Abboud Thomas is an veteran trial lawyer who has handled many jury trials throughout the State of Louisiana.

Jennifer Wise Moroux is an associate at Walters, Papillion, Thomas, Cullens, LLC. Her practice focuses on complex commercial and civil litigation. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Jennifer earned her undergraduate degree from Louisiana State University in 2002. She earned her Juris Doctorate and Bachelor of Civil Law from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University in 2007, where she was a member of the Order of the Coif.

After being admitted to the Louisiana bar in 2007, Jennifer served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable George H. Ware, Jr., and Honorable William G. Carmichael in the 20th...

Shane Sandefer is a partner in the Baton Rouge office of Kean Miller. He practices in the business transactions and environmental law groups and is a Registered Professional Engineer. Shane represents local, regional, and national clients in a variety of real estate, finance, and environmental matters including, industrial and commercial real estate transactions, title insurance matters, general preparation and negotiation, regulatory proceedings, wetlands permitting, wetlands mitigation, and state and federal environmental advice. Prior to law school, Shane was a project engineer for Turner Environmental and a senior staff engineer for URS. He also served as an assistant project manager for...

Hayden A. Moore is an associate at Walters, Papillion, Thomas, Cullens, LLC. Born and raised in Baton Rouge, she is a proud graduate of St. Joseph’s Academy where she lettered in volleyball. She attended Louisiana State University and obtained two degrees in Political Science and Sociology with a concentration on Criminology. While at LSU she served as the President of Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity International.

She attended law school at Southern University Law Center where she graduated cum laude in 2013. While at Southern she served as Vice Justice of Phi Alpha Delta and was a student attorney in the...

Attorney Caj Boatright grew up in Sweetwater, a small town in west Texas. He attended Southwestern University of Georgetown, and graduated cum laude with Honors as a double major in Political Science and History. He earned his J.D. from the University of Texas Law School, where he also met and became friends with Kurt Arnold and Jason Itkin. Following law school, Attorney Boatright worked for the largest firm in Fort Worth, where he handled cases related to all types of litigation and appellate matters. In 2006, he joined Kurt and Jason at their small firm, Arnold & Itkin...

Brad’s practice utilizes the Master of Business Administration he earned in addition to his Juris Doctor. In addition to representing businesses of all kinds, he practices many different areas of law, performing both transactional work and litigation. Brad’s trust and estate practice covers everything from simple wills and successions to complex trusts and advanced estate planning. As part of his real estate practice, he is a title agent for Gulf Title Corporation, which is an agent for First American Title Insurance Company of Louisiana. Brad’s collection practice specializes in purchased debt. He also litigates many labor and employment matters and...

Christophe L. Faucheux launched “The Law Office of Chris Faucheux” in 2018 after working with his father, Robert “Bobby” Faucheux, for several years. Chris is committed to helping those who were wrongfully injured recover and receive just compensation. Chris represents clients who were seriously injured in accidents. Over the course of his career, Chris has helped his clients recover millions of dollars in a variety of personal injury matters. Chris is admitted to practice law in all Louisiana State Courts, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District...

Born and raised in Baton Rouge, I am a product of our local public schools. I graduated from LSU in 1983 with a degree in Finance. I graduated from Loyola New Orleans Law School in 1987, but before graduating, I tried my first jury case. It was a manslaughter charge. The Orleans District Attorney was impressed enough to offer me a job upon graduation. I was an Assistant District Attorney for Mr. Harry Connick from 1987 through 1990 and have been on my own since then.

As to public service after the District Attorney's Office, in 2009 I was elected to...

Reneé Chabert Crasto is an associate at Walters, Papillion, Thomas, Cullens, LLC., where she works with Darrel J. Papillion as co-trial counsel on highly complex and specialized legal matters. Her practice focuses on very large and complex complicated wrongful death and catastrophic burn and other personal injury cases. Reneé has extensive experience in all areas of personal injury and wrongful death litigation including products liability, catastrophic 18 wheeler and other highway and interstate death and serious injury cases, as well as petrochemical and other industrial cases involving fires, explosions, electrocutions, burns, asbestos exposure and mesothelioma. She practices...

Geoffrey D. Westmoreland is a shareholder in the firm of Wiener, Weiss & Madison, A Professional Corporation. Mr. Westmoreland has over 20 years of experience in real estate transactions, real estate litigation and real estate development matters. Mr. Westmoreland also has extensive experience in complex zoning and land use matters, as well as extensive experience in commercial and business litigation matters.

I focus my practice on casualty and mass tort, insurance, and commercial litigation matters. My background encompasses a variety of areas including construction disputes, general insurance defense and coverage disputes, trucking and transportation claims, and corporate litigation. I am also well-versed in contract and service agreement review and drafting. Additionally, I have a significant amount of experience in managing the defense of claims against political subdivisions and public bodies, notably school boards across Louisiana. Following my graduation from law school, I had the privilege of serving as a Law Clerk for the Honorable Donald W. Hebert of the 27th Judicial District...

Don Wiener is of counsel for the firm of Wiener, Weiss & Madison. He has more than 25 years of experience in commercial transactions, including corporate, oil and gas law, real estate, commercial lending, title insurance and probate.

Scott Hensgens is the managing partner and practices in the Baton Rouge office of Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, L.L.P. Scott’s principal areas of practice include business and commercial litigation, contract litigation, consumer credit litigation, and trademark and copyright registration and litigation. His experience includes representing individuals, small and large businesses, insurance companies, corporate shareholders, automobile dealerships, and credit reporting agencies.