WALTERS - Key Persons
Before joining the firm, Andrée Matherne Cullens, was a partner for more than fifteen years at Taylor, Porter, Brooks, and Phillips, LLP, one of the largest defense firms in Louisiana, where she represented creditors and trustees in bankruptcy proceedings, state agencies and businesses in commercial litigation, banks and financial institutions, and Insurance Receivers in regulatory proceedings. Some of her former clients include Chase Bank, State Street Bank and Trust Company, the Louisiana Office of Economic Development, LSU, and the Louisiana Department of Revenue. Ms. Cullens has considerable courtroom experience in both federal and state courts and has been admitted pro hac vice in numerous jurisdictions across the nation, including New York, California, and Florida. The focus of her practice is bankruptcy litigation and commercial litigation. As lead counsel representing an employee of the bankrupt retail store in Campo Electronics, Inc. v. Ross, 247 B.R. 646 (E.D. La. 1998), Ms. Cullens established that severance pay is entitled to an administrative expense priority as a matter of bankruptcy law.
Ms. Cullens served on active duty as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserves during Desert Storm (1991) and earned several commendations before being honorably discharged in 1994. She is an alumnus of the Leadership Council of Greater Baton Rouge, is on the Board of Directors of WRKF (local public radio), served on the board of LSU Hilltop Arboretum, and volunteers with Habitat for Humanity.
Ms. Cullens is a graduate of the University of New Orleans (B.A., 1989) and Louisiana State University (J.D., 1994), where she served as the research assistant for two law professors.
Education
J.D., Louisiana State University Law Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1994
B.A., University of New Orleans, 1989
Job Titles:
- Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, Former Law Clerk
Darrel J. Papillion is a Louisiana trial lawyer who handles complicated wrongful death and serious personal injury cases. He has extensive trial experience, and his practice focuses on all areas of personal injury and wrongful death law including products liability, automobile accidents, premises liability, sexual abuse litigation, and industrial accidents. He is a graduate of Louisiana State University (B.A., 1990) and the Paul M. Herbert Law Center, Louisiana State University (J.D., 1994). He is a former law clerk to Catherine D. Kimball, Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court. Before moving to Baton Rouge in 1999, he practiced at McGlinchey Stafford, a national law firm, representing multinational corporations and insurers in products liability and casualty actions in state and federal court.
He has handled many complicated, multi-million dollar legal matters for his clients in electrocution, burn, asbestos, and other industrial and highway accident cases. He has vast experience in the handling of cases involving workplace accidents that caused death and catastrophic injuries.
Mr. Papillion is actively involved in the Louisiana legal community. He has served as an officer or as a board member of numerous professional and civic organizations. He served as the 2016-2017 President of the Louisiana State Bar Association. He is a past President of the Baton Rouge Bar Association, is a member of the Board of Directors of the Louisiana Bar Foundation, and he is a former President of the Wex Malone Chapter of the American Inns of Court. He is a former member of the Louisiana State Bar Association House of Delegates, and the Board of Governors of the Louisiana Association for Justice. He was appointed by the Louisiana Supreme Court to serve on the Supreme Court Committee to study lawyer advertising in Louisiana and is a former Chairman of the Louisiana State Bar Association Ethics Advisory Service and served on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana's Magistrate Selection Committee. He currently serves as Co-Chair of the Louisiana State Bar Association Continuing Legal Education Committee. In 2005, he received the Louisiana State Bar Association's Michaelle Pitard Wynn Professionalism Award. He is also Past President of the 500+ member Rotary Club of Baton Rouge, one of the largest Rotary Clubs in the world.
He served as an adjunct law professor at Louisiana State University's Paul M. Hebert Law Center, for nearly 15 years and was appointed by Chancellor Jack Weiss of the LSU Law Center to Chair the Law Center's Diversity Task Force.
Mr. Papillion is routinely invited to speak at seminars for other lawyers on a wide variety of issues throughout the state and country. Some of his recent seminars include wrongful death litigation, federal jurisdiction and procedure, understanding and proving psychological injuries and damages, insurance litigation issues and recent developments in civil law and litigation. He has published articles in the Louisiana Law Review, the Louisiana Bar Journal, and other legal publications.
He has an "AV" rating from Martindale Hubbell and has been recognized as a "Louisiana Super Lawyer" in the area of personal injury litigation and has been selected for inclusion in Superlawyers from 2006 to the present in the field of Personal Injury.
In addition to his professional activities, Mr. Papillion is very involved in the community. He and his family are parishioners at St. George Catholic Church, and he has served on the boards of a number of state and local organizations, including Teach for America, Friends of Louisiana Public Broadcasting, and the LPB Foundation. In 2006, he was named one of Baton Rouge's Top 40 Under 40 by the Baton Rouge Business Report.
David Abboud Thomas is a veteran trial lawyer who has handled many jury trials throughout the State of Louisiana. He is a true trial lawyer's trial lawyer, and is a Member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), a prestigious group whose membership is limited to the only the best and most experienced trial attorneys. His practice centers around serious personal injury and wrongful death cases, including automobile and trucking accidents, products liability, industrial accidents, and medical malpractice.
Mr. Thomas has collected millions of dollars for his clients in a variety of different types of cases, including medical malpractice, industrial accidents, trucking and automobile accidents and wrongful death matters, to name just a few. He focuses on handling complicated cases that require the skill and experience of a veteran trial attorney.
He is actively involved in the local and Louisiana legal community. He is a member of the Louisiana Association for Justice, Louisiana State Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, the Baton Rouge Bar Association, the American Association for Justice, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Mr. Thomas serves in the leadership of several organizations. He is on the Board of Directors of the Baton Rouge Bar Association and currently serves as the Secretary. He is on the Board of Governors and is the Co- Chairman of the Automobile Torts Section of the Louisiana Association for Justice, and he is on the House of Delegates for the Louisiana State Bar Association. He is dedicated to giving back to the community and has held volunteer positions at his church and in his neighborhood associations.
Mr. Thomas is an Assistant Examiner with the Louisiana Supreme Court, Committee on Bar Admissions. He is also among a select group that teaches Trial Advocacy at the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University. Mr. Thomas is a frequent lecturer on trial strategy and tactics, having given numerous continuing legal education seminars on trial-related topics. Mr. Thomas has also spoken at seminars focusing on ethical considerations for attorneys.
Mr. Thomas was born in Houma, Louisiana and was raised in New Orleans. He is a proud graduate of Jesuit High School (1986). He graduated from Birmingham-Southern College (B.A. 1990) and the Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Louisiana State University (J.D. 1993).
Education
J.D., Louisiana State University Law Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1993
B.A., Birmingham Southern College, 1990
Edward J. Walters, Jr. has been representing individuals in personal injury cases for over 40 years. Because of his significant courtroom experience and because of his dedication to the Louisiana and Baton Rouge bar, and to the Louisiana State University Law Center, he received a statewide honor being named "Distinguished Attorney" in 2009 by the Louisiana Bar Foundation. He was recently chosen as the L.S.U. Law Center's 2015 Distinguished Alumnus of the year. His practice focuses on all areas of personal injury and wrongful death matters including products liability, automobile accidents, industrial accidents, and sexual abuse by professionals and others.
Ed Walters is certified in the fields of Civil Trial Advocacy and Civil Pretrial Advocacy by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. He has been selected for inclusion in Superlawyers in the field of Personal Injury since 2006. Mr. Walters has been selected for inclusion in the 20th Edition of The Best Lawyers in America in the practice of Personal Injury Litigation - Plaintiffs. He is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers.
Mr. Walters is dedicated to educating our future lawyers. He has served as Adjunct Professor of Law at the L. S. U. Law Center for in excess of 25 years, teaching a course he co-developed with Baton Rouge attorney Michael Patterson entitled "Advanced Trial and Evidence" which is a "hands-on" trial skills course. He has been a member of the faculty of the law school's yearly Trial Advocacy program since its inception 25 years ago.
Mr. Walters is a frequent lecturer and writer on a vast array of litigation, ethics and professionalism topics and has served as the Editor of the Baton Rouge Bar Association's monthly publication The Baton Rouge Lawyer for 30 years.
Mr. Walters was born in New Orleans. He is a graduate of Louisiana State University (B.S., 1969) and the Louisiana State University Law Center (J.D., 1975) where he is a member of its Hall of Fame.
Hayden A. Moore is an attorney at Walters, Papillion, Thomas, Cullens, LLC. Born and raised in Baton Rouge, she is a proud graduate of St. Joseph's Academy and attended Louisiana State University, where she 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 Civil Administrative division of their Law Clinic. Throughout law school she volunteered as a reading friend at Highland Elementary School, where she continues to volunteer today. She was admitted to the practice of law in October 2013.
Ms. Moore is very involved in the Louisiana legal community. She is currently a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association, Baton Rouge Bar Association, Wex Malone American Inn of Court and is admitted to practice in the Middle and Eastern Districts of Louisiana. Ms. Moore works on the firm's civil litigation matters including personal injury and wrongful death, automobile and trucking accidents, products liability, industrial accidents, and medical malpractice.
Education
J.D., Southern University Law Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 2013
J. Neale deGravelles, is a graduate of University High School, in Baton Rouge. As an undergraduate, Neale attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, where he received a B.A. degree in history as well as citations for academic performance. Neale earned his Juris Doctorate and Bachelor of Civil Law degrees from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University, and was admitted to the Louisiana Bar in 2004. While at LSU Law School, Neale was awarded the Tullis-Herget Scholarship for academic performance and graduated as a member of the Order of the Coif (awarded to those in the top 10% of their class).
As the third generation in his family to attend LSU Law School, Neale can truly say that the law is in his blood. While growing up, Neale witnessed his father practice, write, and teach the law. Some of Neale's earliest and fondest memories consist of him listening to his father practice his opening arguments before a big trial. From a very early age, Neale knew that he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and fight for injured individuals who otherwise would not have their voices heard. After graduating from LSU Law school with honors, Neale fulfilled a lifelong dream of practicing alongside his dad for over a decade. When his father accepted an appointment as a federal judge, Neale began an independent practice. In addition to 17 years of active trial work, Neale has written and spoken extensively on the law, particularly maritime law. Neale specializes in serious personal injury and civil litigation cases, including car accidents, truck accidents, professional liability, business-to-business civil litigation, products liability, industrial accidents, maritime/admiralty matters, and more.
Heavily involved with professional organizations advocating for injured individuals, Neale has served in leadership roles with several organizations, including acting as the Chairman of the Young Lawyers Section and a Board of Governors member for the Louisiana Association for Justice, and as newsletter editor, Vice-Chair, and then, Chair of the Admiralty Practice Section of the American Association for Justice. Neale is admitted to practice before all Louisiana State courts as well as the United States District Courts for the Middle, Western, and Eastern Districts of Louisiana, and the United States 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Education
Doctor of Law (J.D.), Law, Louisiana State University
Bachelor of Civil Law (B.C.L), Law, Louisiana State University
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), History, Reed College
Jennifer Wise Moroux is an attorney 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 Judicial District Court for the Parishes of East and West Feliciana.
Jennifer has substantial experience successfully representing clients in a wide variety of cases, including commercial litigation, professional liability claims, and catastrophic injury. She has participated in complex multi-party litigation and argued motions and exceptions at the district and appellate court levels. Her experience also includes working as counsel for the Louisiana Department of Education.
Jennifer is admitted to practice before all Louisiana state and federal courts. She is a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association, the Baton Rouge Bar Association, and the Louisiana Association for Justice.
Education
J.D., Louisiana State University, Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 2007
B.A., Louisiana State University, English, 2002
A member of both the Louisiana and Texas bars, Layne Lee has wide and diverse civil litigation background spanning over 35 years. He presently concentrates his practice on complex commercial litigation matters and on motion and appellate practice in both state and federal courts. Among many other clients, he has represented receivers for failed banks and other financial institutions, receivers for failed insurance companies, large investor groups defrauded in securities transactions, governmental entities with contractual, regulatory and construction negligence matters, trustees and creditors in complex bankruptcy matters, and commercial establishments with large insurance claims. Along the way, he has also represented many individuals seriously injured by defective products, in industrial accidents, in automobile accidents large and small, and by medical malpractice. He has represented clients harmed by racial discrimination, sex discrimination and age discrimination in the workplace, and the family of a mentally disturbed individual who died due to abuse and mistreatment in jail. He has been integrally involved in many cases where his clients have recovered millions of dollars - sometimes tens of millions of dollars - from those who have wronged them.
Mr. Lee graduated second in his class at LSU Law School in1986, achieving many scholarships, accolades and honors while there. He was on the Louisiana Law Review and was a member of the Order of the Coif, and he has been recognized as a member of the LSU Law School Hall of Fame. Since graduating from law school, he has practiced in some of the most highly regarded firms in Louisiana and Texas. While working fulltime as a commercial litigation attorney in the mid-1990's, he attended LSU on nights and weekends to earn an MBA degree at the top of his class. The detailed business and financial education he received in obtaining the MBA has assisted him greatly in understanding and assisting clients in the most intellectually challenging of commercial and business litigation matters.
Mr. Lee was born and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After relatively brief residences in Houston, Texas and Alexandria, Louisiana following graduation from law school, here turned to Baton Rouge in 1990 and has resided there ever since. He is a member of both the Louisiana and Texas Bar Associations, the Baton Rouge Bar Association, and the Louisiana Association for Justice. He is married and has two children and two grandchildren.
Education
B.A., Louisiana State University, 1983, summa cum laude
J.D., Louisiana State University Law Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1986, summa cum laude
M.B.A., Louisiana State University, 1996, summa cum laude
Michelle McCune Sorrells is of counsel to Walters, Papillion, Thomas, Cullens, and concentrates her practice in the area of workers' compensation law. She has represented injured workers since 1995, and is often consulted by attorneys across the state and country in complex workers' compensation matters. She is very knowledgeable regarding the interplay of workers' compensation claims with third party tort claims. Tort attorneys frequently consult her regarding workers' compensation interventions in an effort to maximize the recovery of the claimant. She is also highly skilled in protecting injured workers rights and minimizing Social Security Disability offsets when both workers' compensation benefits and SSDI are being received, or potentially could be received. Additionally, she is one of first attorneys in Louisiana to implement Medicare Set Asides in workers' compensation settlements, and she has been a leader in the legal community educating attorneys on Medicare Set Asides and their importance when settling most workers' compensation claims.
In addition to her skills representing injured workers, Ms. Sorrells is active in the legal community. She is a member of Louisiana Association for Justice, and is very involved in the workers' compensation Section of this organization. She is also a member of several other local, statewide and national legal groups including the Louisiana State Bar Association, the Louisiana Bar Foundation, Wex Malone American Inn of Court, and the Baton Rouge Bar Association. She is currently serving her second term as the co-chairman of the workers' compensation Section of the Baton Rouge Bar Association. She was a founding member and served as the treasurer and membership chairman for the Louisiana Disabled Workers Network (DAWN). This group of select attorneys persevered to protect injured workers rights through the drafting of legislation and actively lobbying and testifying in committee hearings to defeat proposals by big business to reduce employees rights. As a member of DAWN, Ms. Sorrells drafted legislation and argued before the Senate hearing committee to pass a law that increased the burial expenses for workers who died as a result of work-related accidents. She is a member WILG, or Workers Injury Law & Advocacy Group, which is a national non-profit membership organization dedicated to representing the interests of millions of workers and their families who, each year, suffer the consequences of workplace injuries and illnesses. She is also a founding member of the state affiliate of WILG, Louisiana Workers Advocates, and presently services as a co-chairman of its membership committee.
Ms. Sorrells spends considerable time lecturing on workers' compensation issues, particularly the interaction of Social Security Disability and Medicare in workers' compensation claims. At the request of the Director of the Office of workers' compensation and the Chief Judge, she presented a seminar to all of the workers' compensation judges and statewide mediators concerning the correlation between workers' compensation benefits and Social Security Disability Benefits as well as the importance and necessity of Medicare Set Asides and when they are applicable. She was also asked to educate the Second Injury Board of Medicares interests in workers' compensation claims, and the role Medicare Set Asides play in workers' compensation settlements. She was also appointed by the Director of the Office of workers' compensation as the injured worker representative to convert the present filing system of the OWC to electronic filing. Ms. Sorrells has also taught continuing education courses to new attorneys, helping them learn how to represent injured workers.
Michelle McCune Sorrells was born in Baton Rouge, LA in 1970, and earned an undergraduate degree in journalism from Louisiana State University in 1991 where she was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and numerous other honorary societies. She was on the executive committee of Delta Zeta Sorority, and still remains active as their legal advisor.
Ms. Sorrells attended LSU Law School on scholarship and earned her degree in 1995 where she was the recipient of the American Bar Association Section of Labor & Employment Law and the Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.s Award for excellence in the Study of Labor and Employment Law. Upon graduation, Ms. Sorrells immediately began practicing in the area of workers' compensation, primarily focusing on the rights of the injured worker. She aggressively litigates her claims, and she has even reversed the trial court and appellate court after arguing before the Louisiana Supreme Court in the landmark decision of Wise v. J.E. Merit. This important case law corrected a split in the circuits concerning the interpretation of La. R.S. 23:1208.1 which employers often use to try to deny employees workers' compensation claims. Following the Wise decision, the statute is now strictly construed and makes it much more difficult for the employer to prevail using this defense.
Education
J.D., Louisiana State University Law Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1995
Reneé Chabert Crasto is an attorney 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. Ms. Crasto 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 regularly in federal court and is highly skilled in courtroom technology, electronic evidence presentation, and in preparing complex cases for trial. Ms. Crasto, along with Darrel Papillion, regularly serves as Louisiana counsel for law firms across of the United States who need highly skilled regional counsel, and has been appointed in Louisiana's Nineteenth Judicial District Court as an Assistant Special Master.
Ms. Crasto attended Louisiana State University's E.J. Ourso School of Business where she graduated in 2005 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. In 2008, she received her J.D./B.C.L. from Louisiana State University's Paul M. Hebert Law Center. Before joining Walters, Papillion, Thomas, Cullens, Ms. Crasto practiced at Adams and Reese, LLP, a major regional defense firm, where she represented a variety of clients in state and federal court. Her governmental relations practice at Adams and Reese allowed her to represent clients before the Louisiana State Legislature and a number of regulatory agencies.
Ms. Crasto has also represented underprivileged clients through the Baton Rouge Bar Pro Bono Project.
Education
Louisiana State University, Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 2008
B.S., Louisiana State University, E.J. Ourso School of Business, 2005