Baton Rouge-New Orleans: Empowering Women Rainmakers: Strategies for Branding, Business Development, and Mentorship

Empowering Women Rainmakers: Strategies for Branding, Business Development, and Mentorship

Wednesday, March 19 | 4 - 6 p.m. CT

Please join the Baton Rouge-New Orleans Local Group of the Legal Marketing Association during Women's History Month for this inspiring panel discussion and networking happy hour. From brokering sophisticated deals to litigating high stakes cases, these women rainmakers are at the top of their game and ready to share how they (at least seemingly!) do it all. This panel discussion will include practical advice and proven techniques to support and empower your attorneys, particularly women, in their marketing and business development efforts.

Hear from the panelists about topics including: 

• Building their personal brand 
• Business development strategies 
• Work-life balance 
• The importance of mentorship 
  
  

Opportunity to Invite Your Attorneys:
Please consider inviting professionals across your law firms, including attorneys at all levels of their careers. Whether they are just starting out or aiming to take their practice to the next level, this panel will offer actionable takeaways to help your attorneys succeed in marketing and business development.

One hour of CLE credit has been approved for this program.

A happy hour will follow the program. 

LMA Body of Knowledge:  Business of Law, & Business Development

Moderator:

Ashley Barriere
Immediate Past President, Association of Women Attorneys, New Orleans Chapter and Partner, Keller Postman

Moderator Ashley Barriere is the immediate past president of the New Orleans chapter of the Association of Women Attorneys, our co-host for the event. She also is a partner at Keller Postman where her practice focuses on significant product-liability matters, including the 3M Products Liability Litigation MDL. She currently helps lead the firm’s litigation against the manufacturers and sellers of acetaminophen, which causes autism spectrum disorder and/or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder when a child is exposed in utero. For this litigation, Ashley was appointed by the Hon. Denise Cote to serve on the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee where she leads the Law and Briefing Subcommittee. She is also a member of the court-appointed Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in the Onglyza and Kombiglyze XR MDL, where she chairs the Law and Briefing Subcommittee. Outside of work, Ashley spends most of her time running after her (very fast) three-year-old, Pippa, but she is also an avid reader and recently became addicted to the Fourth Wing series

Panelists: 

Casey Denson
Founder, Casey Denson Law

Panelist Casey Denson and her team focus on two complicated areas of the law: civil rights and employment discrimination matters, providing counsel to employees, employers, and companies in Louisiana and Mississippi. Casey is co-chair of the New Orleans Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Committee and formerly served as chair of the organization’s Civil Rights Committee. She is also the chair of the Louisiana State Bar Association Labor Law Advisory Commission. Casey co-founded, and formerly chaired, the Plaintiff’s Employment Law Association of Louisiana and is a member of the National Employment Law Association, TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund, and the Louisiana Association for Justice. Casey currently finds herself balancing work and family: She says most of her time outside of running the firm is spent shuttling her two kids to their sports practices.

Lara Sevener
Partner, Jones Walker

Panelist Lara Sevener is co-leader of the Jones Walker Technology Industry Team. Lara has more than 20 years of experience advising clients on technology-related transactions, both as a lawyer in private practice, where she advised clients on both the supplier and customer sides across a broad range of sectors, and as in-house counsel to several market-leading national and multinational organizations, including a leading global audit and consulting organization, a $150 billion Fortune 50 home improvement retailer, and one of the largest producers of electricity in the United States. When she’s not reviewing contracts or negotiating transactions, Lara says you can probably find her in a Reformer Pilates class or spending time with her three amazing kids.

Dana Shelton
Partner, Stone Pigman

Panelist Dana Shelton has practiced law with Stone Pigman for over 25 years and has extensive experience handling contested regulatory matters before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Louisiana Public Service Commission, and appellate courts. She was an integral part of the legal team that successfully petitioned the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for an unprecedented electric energy cost equalization mechanism that achieved more than $800 million in rate savings for Louisiana’s electric consumers. Dana also has experience navigating the stakeholder process in regional transmission organizations, working on transmission tariffs, rulemakings, and cost allocation policy development. Dana is passionate about wellness, both at work and at home with her family. Last year she co-founded the firm's Wellness Program to help provide everyone at the firm resources for living healthier lives. The ultimate goal of this program is for the firm to be an integral part of healthy lifestyle, instead of a drain on physical and mental health. 

Sharonda Williams
Special Counsel, Fishman Haygood and Vice- President, General Counsel and Director of Government Affairs, Loyola University New Orleans

Panelist Sharonda Williams’ 20-year career in public service and private practice includes serving as City Attorney for the city of New Orleans. In this role, Sharonda worked closely with the U.S. Department of Justice as the lead attorney handling the most comprehensive police consent decree in the nation’s history and the consent decree aimed at reforming the Orleans Parish Jail. Sharonda is very active in professional and civic organizations, and in 2022 she was sworn in for a five-year term as a member of the board of commissioners of the Port of New Orleans, a position appointed by former Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards. Throughout her career, she has also worked to address legal issues that affect women, children, families, and the African American community broadly, and she is a past board president of Bridge House. That same dedication carries over into her personal life, as she juggles managing healthcare for both a grandparent with dementia and a French Bulldog puppy who she says might as well be a newborn.

Location:
Stone Pigman
909 Poydras Street Suite 3150
New Orleans, LA 70112

Cost:
LMA Members: $30
Prospective LMA Members: $50

Thank you to Our Co-Host!
     

     

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

                                

For questions or concerns about your event registration, please contact lmasouthwest@legalmarketing.org