Biography

Elizabeth Haecker Ryan is a Director of the firm Coats Rose, resident in its New Orleans office.  Ms. Ryan practices in the area of general civil litigation, with a concentration in admiralty, construction, environmental, insurance defense and coverage, and pharmaceutical and medical device law.  For 27 years, Ms. Ryan has litigated matters involving toxic tort, class action, maritime personal injury and property damages, personal property damage arising out of fire, products liability, pharmaceuticals, interstate transportation of hazardous substances and the sale of same by maritime transporters.  She also serves as a mediator and as an umpire in insurance appraisal matters.  In 2011, Ms. Ryan was recognized by Louisiana Life Magazine as one of the top twenty-five women attorneys in Louisiana.

She is a member of the Texas State Bar Association, the Bar Association of the District of Columbia, the American Bar Association, the Louisiana State Bar Association, the New Orleans Bar Association and the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC).  She served as Secretary of the Louisiana State Bar Association, and as the editor of the LSBA magazine. She is a former board member of the IADC and is former Chair of its Energy, Environmental, & Maritime Committee, and its National Membership Committee.  She is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Louisiana and all Louisiana state courts; the US District Courts for the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Louisiana; the US District Courts in Texas; the US Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia and the Fifth Circuit.

Ms. Ryan received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Newcomb College of Tulane University in 1975, and a Juris Doctor from Tulane University Law School in 1980.  She pursued architecture studies at the Tulane School of Architecture from 1975-1976.  She authored "Jones Act Seamen and the Award for Loss of Society: A Post-Higginbotham Analysis - Ivy v. Security Barge Lines, Inc." , Vol. IV, No. l, The Maritime Lawyer, and served on the Moot Court of Tulane University Law School. She clerked for the Honorable George Arceneaux, Jr., US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, from 1980-81.

Ms. Ryan is a past president and a two-term board member of the Garden District Association, a former board member and executive committee member of the New Orleans City Ballet, a former board member of Friends of the Cabildo and former Chair of the Lighthouse for the Blind.  She is a former participant in the Metropolitan Area Committee, and former member of the Council for International Visitors.  She also serves as Chair Elect and Board of Directors member for Family Services of Greater New Orleans, a United Way agency. She is Chair Elect of the New Orleans Museum of Art’s Volunteer Committee, for which she previously served as Parliamentarian.  She also serves on the Advisory Board for the New Orleans chapter of the Salvation Army.

Ms. Ryan has lectured on numerous occasions on environmental, insurance and professional topics.  Ms. Ryan has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America® in the area of professional malpractice law and by Louisiana Super Lawyers® in 2007, 2008 and 2009 for her work in class action/mass torts, transportation/maritime and environmental law.