Hall of Fame

Janice Foster (L ’70)

Foster was the first African-American woman to graduate from Tulane Law (and only the second African-American graduate, after Michael Starks).  After graduation, she went on to a distinguished career practicing estate planning, estate administration and tax law at Jones Walker in New Orleans, where she is now in her 50th year of practice.  She has been widely recognized for her civic and professional leadership, including the Young Leadership Council Role Model Award in 2007, the Michaelle Pitard Wynne Professionalism Award from the New Orleans Women Attorneys Association in 1996, and the Monte Lemann Award for distinguished contributions to the Louisiana Civil Service System in 1984.  

Prof. Oliver Houck

Before joining Tulane Law’s faculty in 1981, Houck had already built a path-breaking career in environmental law.  A former Army intelligence officer and federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., Houck served as General Counsel to the National Wildlife Federation for a decade in the 1970s, helping to shape much of the landmark federal legislation that launched modern environmental law. Houck founded and led Tulane’s environmental law program, building it into a national powerhouse.  During nearly four decades as an academic, Houck has authored a dozen books and nearly more than 50 articles that continue to define the field.  In recognition of his scholarly distinction and exemplary public service, he was appointed to hold the David Boies Distinguished Chair in Public Interest Law at Tulane in 2016.  Among scores of honors, Houck was awarded the ABA Lifetime Achievement Award in Environmental Law and Georgetown Law Center’s inaugural Distinguished Alumnus Award in Environmental Law, both in 2019, and the Louisiana Bar Foundation’s Distinguished Professor Award in 2018. 

Prof. William Lovett

Prior to joining Tulane’s faculty, Lovett was a trial attorney for the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice and a staff economist for the Federal Trade Commission.  During nearly 50 years on Tulane’s faculty, he has published a score of books and dozens of articles primarily on antitrust, banking and financial institutions, shipping and the maritime sector, and international economic and trade policy.  He held the distinguished Joseph Merrick Jones Chair – named in honor of a fellow inductee of the Tulane Law Hall of Fame – from 1991 until his retirement in 2008.  In 2019, he published the 9th edition of Banking and Financial Institutions in a Nutshell, now in its 37th year in print and translated into Chinese and Japanese.

The Honorable Walter F. Marcus Jr.

*Walter F. Marcus Jr. was born in NOLA in 1927. He attended Isidore Newman School and completed his studies at Phillips Exeter Academy, graduating in 1945. Justice Marcus then enlisted in the infantry serving with General Douglas MacArthur in World War II. Thereafter Justice Marcus graduated from Yale University in 1950. He was then recalled to military duty and served in the Korean War. After the war Justice Marcus graduated from Tulane Law School in 1955. He continued his public service when he was elected to the New Orleans City Council in 1961. After serving seven years as a city councilman he was elected to the Orleans Parish Civil District Court.

In 1972, Justice Marcus was elected to the Louisiana Supreme Court and served there with distinction for more than a quarter of a century, retiring in 2000. By all accounts, Justice Marcus was the first and only Jewish member of this court. Justice Marcus was widely respected as a meticulous, conscientious and fair-minded judge and was honored with the Louisiana Bar Foundation Distinguished Jurist Award in 1996. Justice Marcus died in 2004.

The Honorable Luis Felipe Restrepo

A childhood immigrant from Colombia, Restrepo followed his student experience in Tulane’s Criminal Justice Clinic by launching his career as a public defender in Philadelphia, first in the state courts and later the federal courts.  After 13 years of private practice, Restrepo was appointed to the federal bench in 2006, first as a U.S. Magistrate Judge and then as a U.S. District Judge.  In 2016, he was elevated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, becoming President Obama’s last appointment to the federal appeals courts.  In 2018, President Trump nominated him to serve on the U.S. Sentencing Commission.  Restrepo has returned to Tulane Law School to teach classes, preside over the Moot Court Honorary Round argument, and to deliver our 2019 Graduation address. 

Susan Talley (L ’81)

A summa cum laude graduate of LSU, Talley also graduated in the top of her class at Tulane Law while serving as an editor of the Law Review.  She joined the New Orleans law firm of Stone Pigman after graduation and now serves on the firm's management committee and co‑chairs its real estate practice group.  Talley is one of the country’s most respected real estate lawyers and has been named one of the top 10 real estate attorneys internationally.  She is a past chair of the Anglo-American Real Property Institute and the ABA’s Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law.  She served as President of the Louisiana State Law Institute in 2018 and 2019, and is currently its Chair.  At Tulane, she has long served on the Law Review’s Board of Advisory Editors.

*posthumous award

Gail Agrawal (L ’83): Law Dean and Professor

A New Orleans native, Gail Agrawal graduated first in her Tulane Law class, clerked for Judge John Minor Wisdom (L ’29), and practiced law in New Orleans before entering the academy and becoming a distinguished scholar of health law and ethics. She has served as Dean of three law schools, the University of Iowa, University of Kansas, and University of North Carolina law schools.

Paul Barron: Professor

A distinguished scholar in commercial law, labor law, and ADR, Paul Barron joined Tulane’s law faculty in 1976 and was later appointed as the Moise Steeg Professor and the Class of 1937 Professor of Law. He twice served Tulane University as Interim Provost, as well as CIO, and played a key senior leadership role in the University’s recovery from Hurricane Katrina. He became the Class of 1937 Professor Emeritus upon his retirement in 2013.

The Hon. Jerry Brown (L ’59): U.S. Bankruptcy Judge

A Kentucky native, Judge Brown was a law clerk for Judge Wisdom during critical early period in the Civil Rights era and practiced law in New Orleans for three decades, during which he was elected as president of the state bar. Appointed a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge in 1992 and now in his 26th year on the bench, Judge Brown is recognized as one of the most accomplished bankruptcy judges in the country. He serves actively on the Tulane Law Review’s Board of Advisory Editors and teaches in the Law School’s Lawyering Skills Bootcamp.

Cedric Richmond (L ’98): Congressman

Congressman Richmond was elected to the Louisiana House of Representative in 2000, at age 27 and just two years after law school, becoming one of the youngest members ever to serve in the legislature. He was elected to Congress in 2011, representing Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District in New Orleans, serving on the Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees. From 2017 to 2019, he was Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus; in December 2018, he was appointed to a key Democratic leadership role as Assistant to the Majority Whip, in a move meant to "empower the next generation of leaders" of the House of Representatives.

Posthumous Honorees

George Denègre (L ’48): Attorney

A combat Navy veteran of World War II, Denègre joined Jones Walker soon out of law school and became a named partner, leading its transactional practice for decades; in addition to leading numerous New Orleans civic organizations, he served as Vice Chair of Tulane University’s Board of Administrators (1980-93) and Chair of the Tulane Medical Center (1977-83). He passed away in 2008.

The Hon. Andrew G.T. Moore (L ’60): Delaware Supreme Court Justice

After a prominent career as a corporate litigator in Delaware, Justice Moore was appointed in 1982 to the Delaware Supreme Court. During his 12-year tenure on the Court, he wrote 468 opinions including many landmark opinions shaping corporate governance and shareholder rights, including the Aronson, Revlon, and Unocal decisions, and is regarded as a figure of "towering importance" in cementing Delaware’s preeminence in corporate law. He co-founded the Tulane Corporate Law Institute and passed away in December 2018.

Katherine Settle Wright (L ’57): Attorney

After graduating from the University of North Carolina law school in 1951 and practicing law at a major Chicago law firm, Katherine Settle Wright moved to New Orleans in 1954 and earned an LLM at Tulane Law School in 1957, studying constitutional law and the history of the 14th Amendment. She put that expertise to work shortly after graduating as a legal advisor to a volunteer organization working to desegregate New Orleans’ public schools. In 1962, she represented the plaintiffs Barbara Marie Guillory and Pearlie Hardin Elloie in a landmark lawsuit to desegregate Tulane University (where her husband was a mathematics professor), successfully arguing before Judge Skelly Wright that Tulane qualified as a state actor subject to the 14th Amendment; the litigation ultimately led the University board to voluntarily desegregate in 1963. Wright later returned to North Carolina, practiced law there until 1996, and passed away in 2008.

Judy Y. Barrasso (L '81): Attorney

Ms. Barrasso, a founding member of Barrasso Usdin Kupperman Freeman & Sarver, is a top commercial litigator, focusing on complex commercial litigation matters and class actions involving insurance coverage and bad faith, director and officer liability, securities fraud, and commercial. She is currently serving as President of the International Society of Barristers, a member of the Tulane Law School Dean's Advisory Board and is a past president of the New Orleans Bar Association. Ms. Barrasso has received the John R. “Jack” Martzell Professionalism Award and Louisiana Bar Foundation's Distinguished Attorney Award. She is also the Commissioner of the New Orleans Downtown Development District and has served on the boards of Contemporary Arts Center, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law and The New Orleans Pro Bono Project.

Eldon E. Fallon (L ’62): U.S. District Court Judge

Fallon, a U.S. District Court judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana, was appointed in 1995 by President Bill Clinton. Prior to the bench, Judge Fallon was a partner in the New Orleans law firm of Gainsburgh, Benjamin, Fallon & David. He is a past president of the Louisiana State Bar Association and the Louisiana Bar Foundation; and has received the LSBA Lifetime Achievement Award and National Pro Bono Public Award from the American Bar Association. In 2017, Tulane University’s Alumni Association honored Judge Fallon with the Professional Achievement Award and the Tulane Law Review named him the Alumnus of the Year at their annual banquet. 

Cynthia R. Shoss (NC '71, L '74): Attorney

Ms. Shoss is the Co-Head of the Global Insurance group of the international law firm of Eversheds Sutherland. An expert in transactional and insurance regulatory matters, she has been a frequent professor during the Tulane Law School’s Transactional Boot Camp. Ms. Shoss was editor of the Tulane Law Review and the first woman to win the Rufus T. Harris Prize for Excellence in Torts. She clerked for Louisiana Supreme Court Justices Mack Barham and Joe Sanders and was an associate at Stone Pigman before her career took her to New York and London. Currently serves on her firm’s Executive, pro bono, and Diversity & Inclusion committees and on the Boards of several nonprofit organizations.

Posthumous honorees

John Kramer: Dean of Tulane Law School

John R. Kramer served as Dean of Tulane Law School from 1986-1996. During his tenure he transformed Tulane Law from a regional law school to one of national prominence. He was a magna cum laude graduate of both Harvard University and Harvard Law School as well as a Fulbright Scholar at Cambridge University. After law school he clerked for Thurgood Marshall at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Dean Kramer oversaw the construction of John Giffen Weinmann Hall, an increase in the diversity and gender percentage of the school and, most notably led Tulane Law to become the first school to establish Pro Bono requirements for all graduating students.

Kaliste J. Saloom Jr. (L '42): Judge of Lafayette City Court

Judge Saloom served four decades as the Judge for Lafayette City Court. After graduating as valedictorian from Cathedral High, Judge Saloom earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, formerly Southwestern Louisiana Institute, before graduating Order of the Coif from Tulane Law in 1942. After law school, he joined the military in 1942 serving in North Africa, France and Germany as a special agent in the US Army Counter Intelligence Corps during WWII. In 1946 Judge Saloom opened his own legal practice before becoming a Judge in 1953. The Saloom family proudly represents 5 generations of Tulane Law graduates from Tulane and Tulane Law School.

Michael A. Starks (L '68): Attorney

Mr. Starks, a native New Orleanean and graduate of St. Aug High School, was the first African American graduate of Tulane Law School. After law school he continued to break barriers as the first African American lawyer to work in New Orleans’ City Attorney’s office, during the administration of Mayor Moon Landrieu. Mr. Starks went on to serve as the attorney for the Housing Authority. He continued to be a proud Tulanian, mentoring countless future attorneys, judges and business leaders both during their time in law school and into their professional life.

Roy C. Cheatwood (L ’74): Lawyer

Mr. Cheatwood, a founding member of the Louisiana offices Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz with a wide-ranging commercial litigation practice, was previously a Senior Partner at Jones Walker and member of the management committee at Phelps Dunbar. He is considered one of the top lawyers in the United States on complex, high-stakes commercial matters. He is a decorated military veteran, having served as a 1st Lieutenant with the U.S. Army infantry in Vietnam earning a Combat Infantry Badge; two Bronze Stars for valor and service respectively; two Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Crosses with Bronze Star; and other awards. He frequently lectures on trial tactics, evidence, and discovery matters, and has assisted students in Tulane’s moot court program.

William H. Pryor, Jr. (L ’87): Judge, 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

Judge Pryor, a judge on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals since 2004, was nominated by President George W. Bush. Pryor also is in the last year of a term on the seven-member U.S. Sentencing Commission. At Tulane Law, he was editor in chief of the Tulane Law Review and continues to serve on its advisory board. He also founded Tulane’s student chapter of the Federalist Society and returns to campus to address the group. He clerked for Judge John Minor Wisdom (L ’29) on the 5th U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans and has extended opportunities for Tulane students to clerk on the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit. He was Alabama’s Attorney General from 1997-2004, at the time the youngest attorney general in the country.  A member of the American Law Institute, he is a co-author of the 2016 volume The Law of Judicial Precedent.

William K. Suter (L ’62): Retired U.S. Army Major General and former Clerk of the U.S. Supreme Court

General Suter, a retired major general, led the Army’s JAG Corps and then spent 22 years as the Clerk of the U.S. Supreme Court. Suter attended Tulane Law while already in the military. His posts included commandant of the Judge Advocate General’s School and chief judge of the Army’s Court of Criminal Appeals. Volunteering for service in Vietnam, he earned a Bronze Star and Distinguished Service Medal. President George H.W. Bush nominated Suter as Supreme Court Clerk, and he ran that office, helping modernize court operations, from 1991 to 2013. He has served on the Tulane Law Review advisory board, and the journal in 2014 honored him as its inaugural Alumnus of the Year. Since retiring from the Supreme Court, he is now a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University.

Ulysses Gene Thibodeaux (L ’75): Chief Judge, Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeals

Judge Thibodeaux, chief judge of Louisiana’s Third Circuit Court of Appeal, has been on the court since 1992. He practiced law in New York City before moving to Lake Charles. He was a leader in changing Louisiana’s method of selecting judges, which led to more African Americans in the judiciary. He has been president of The National Council of Chief Judges, chaired the Task Force on Judicial Independence and co-chaired the Louisiana Supreme Court Task Force on Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts. He received the National Bar Association’s Judge A. Leon Higginbotham Award for Judicial Excellence in 2010 and its Thurgood Marshall Award in 2009 for serving as an exemplary role model.
 

Sarah S. Vance (L ’78): Judge, U.S. District Court

Judge Vance, a U.S. District Court judge and former chief of the court in New Orleans, also chairs the seven-member Judicial Panel on Multi-district Litigation, which oversees complex litigation from across the United States. She graduated first in her Tulane Law class and was a partner at Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann when President Bill Clinton nominated her for the federal bench in 1994. A national leader in judicial education and law reform, she’s a member of American Law Institute Council. Vance also serves on the Tulane Law School Dean’s Advisory Board and the Tulane Law Review advisory board and has taught civil procedure and alternative dispute resolution as an adjunct faculty member.

Posthumous honorees  

John A. Dixon (L ’47): Chief Justice, Louisiana Supreme Court

Chief Justice Dixon served 19 years on the Louisiana Supreme Court, 10 of them as chief justice. A native Texan, he grew up in Shreveport and taught high school before enlisting in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was an infantry paratrooper and spent 21 months as a prisoner of war in Germany. After law school, he practiced in Shreveport and worked as an assistant District Attorney. His judicial career lasted from 1957, when he was elected to the District Court, until he retired from the Supreme Court in 1990. He also served on the Second Court of Appeal. Hailed as “a judge of supreme sympathy for the common man” and a fierce defender of civil rights and civil liberties, he received the American Civil Liberties Union’s Benjamin E. Smith award in 1991.

Rufus C. Harris: President of Tulane University and Dean of Tulane Law School

Mr. Harris was dean of Tulane Law School from 1927 to 1937 and then president of Tulane University for 23 years, guiding its emergence as a modern research university. At the law school, he taught torts, championed civil law and helped revive the Tulane Law Review after a hiatus. An Army veteran of World War I and Yale Law School graduate, he came to Tulane after serving as Mercer University’s law dean. He returned to Mercer, his alma mater, in 1960 as Chancellor and led the university to integrate the campus and student body. He’s memorialized at Tulane Law with two annual recognitions for outstanding students: the Rufus C. Harris Award in Torts, established by the Class of 1942, and the Rufus C. Harris Law Review Award in Civil Law, which goes to author of the best article on civil law.

Martin L.C. Feldman (A&S ’55 L ’57): U.S. District Court judge

Judge Feldman has presided on the federal bench in the Eastern District of Louisiana since 1983, when he was nominated by then-President Ronald Reagan. Before joining the judiciary, he had practiced law in New Orleans for 24 years, handling tax law and complex commercial litigation cases. He was the first law clerk hired by 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge John Minor Wisdom, serving in 1957-59. Feldman chaired the Tulane Law Review Board of Advisory Editors in 2000-2013 and was honored as the law review’s Alumnus of the Year in 2015. In 2017, he’ll complete a seven-year term on the 11-member Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Robert Force: Director emeritus, Tulane Maritime Law Center

Force has taught generations of Tulane Law School students since joining the faculty in 1969. He has served as acting dean, taught criminal law, founded the Tulane Maritime Law Center in 1984 and played a visionary role in making Tulane the world leader in admiralty and maritime law. He holds the Niels F. Johnsen Chair of Maritime Law and has written numerous books and articles that shaped the field. He also was appointed special master to the U.S. District Court in litigation involving Orleans Parish Prison, prepared a monograph on admiralty and maritime law for federal judges and helped write the maritime codes for Panama and China. Friends created the Robert Force Scholarship in 2012 to honor him.

Margot Lampe Mazeau (L ’58): Pioneering international lawyer

Mazeau started her career with New Orleans law firms but moved into the field of arms control during the Cold War. As assistant general counsel in the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, she helped lead United States delegations to conferences in Geneva, Switzerland, and Vienna, Austria, receiving the agency’s Meritorious Honor Award for her work. In 1980, she returned to Phelps Dunbar and litigated maritime law cases until retiring in 1992. Mazeau came to the U.S. as a German exchange student at the University of Miami. She graduated first in her class from Tulane Law then clerked for Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice John B. Fournet. 

Luther J. Strange III (A&S ’75, L ’79): Alabama Attorney General

Strange was elected in 2014 to his second term as Alabama’s chief law enforcement officer. In that role, he was coordinating counsel for the Gulf states in the landmark litigation arising from the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Before holding public office, he practiced corporate law at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings then founded his own firm, specializing in economic development. He attended Tulane University on a basketball scholarship then served in the U.S. Merchant Marine before law school. During 2016-17, he is chairman-elect of the Republican Attorneys General Association, and he is Southern Region chair of the National Association of Attorneys General.

A.N. Yiannopoulos: Civil law legend

Yiannopoulos, the Eason-Weinmann Chair Emeritus, is an internationally renowned scholar of civil law, comparative law and maritime law. He has revised major parts of Louisiana’s civil code and dominated the field for more than four decades. He has influenced every aspect of property law and done extensive international work. As a Tulane Law faculty member since 1979, he has helped shape generations of students. A native of Greece, he ran Tulane Law’s summer program there for many years. He recently created an endowed scholarship fund to assist students focusing on civil and comparative law. He is a member of the International Academy of Comparative Law and the American Law Institute.

Posthumous honorees  

Dermot S. McGlinchey (A&S ’54, L ’57): Lawyer & civic activist

McGlinchey co-founded McGlinchey Stafford and led it to become one of the south's largest and most-respected firms. A powerful advocate for equal access to the courts, he helped revitalize the Louisiana Bar Foundation and was instrumental in forming its Pro Bono Project. He supported Tulane in numerous ways, serving as Alumni Association president in 1992-93, as a Dean’s Council member, as chair of the Dean’s Council development committee, as vice chair of the Maritime Law Center’s endowment program and as chair of the law school’s building fund. 

Sylvia Roberts (L ’56): Lawyer & equal rights activist

A practicing lawyer for almost 60 years, Roberts was a pathbreaking advocate for the rights of women, victims of domestic violence and the mentally ill. One of the founders of the National Organization for Women, she was vice president of the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund. In that role, she litigated landmark cases for equal rights, including Weeks v. Southern Bell, NOW's first victory applying Title VII to combat sex discrimination in employment. She died in 2014 and left her papers to the Newcomb Archives at Tulane University.

Darryl D. Berger (L'72): Businessman and investor 

A New Orleans native who has been instrumental in the city's commercial development as an investor, developer and financier of real estate, Berger has overseen major sophisticated transactions for four decades through The Berger Company, which he established in 1972. His projects have included the redevelopment of Jax Brewery and The Shops at Canal Place as well as some of the city's largest hotels. He currently sits on the Board of Tulane University and is at the forefront of the New Orleans hospitality industry, serving as chairman of the New Orleans Tourism Marketing corporation and as a Convention and Visitors Bureau board member. 

Edith Brown Clement (L '73): 5th U.S. Circuit Court Appeals judge

A member of the federal judiciary for almost 24 years, Clement received nomination from both President H.W. Bush and later President George W. Bush. She joined the Jones Walker firm in 1975 and was a longtime partner when the elder President Bush chose her for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in 1991. She has started a term as chief judge in 2001 when the younger Bush nominated her to the appellate court. The Senate confirmed her to that seat 99-0. She is a member of the Maritime Law Association of the United States, the Federalist Society and Tulane Law School's Inn of Court. 

W. Eugene Davis (L '60): 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge 

One of the longest-serving judges on the appeals court, Davis was nominated by President Ronald Reagan and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in November 1983. He previously had served seven years on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, nominated by President Gerald Ford. Earlier in his career, Davis practiced with Phelps Dunbar in New Orleans, then with Caffery, Duhé and Davis in New Iberia, Louisiana. In 2014, he was the Fifth Circuit's recipient of the American Inns of Court Professionalism Award, which is given to a judge who displays sterling character, unquestioned integrity and ongoing dedication to the highest standards of the legal profession.

Hoffman Fuller (L '56): Tulane Law School professor

As head of Tulane Law School's Tax program for almost 50 years, Professor "Hoff" Fuller left an impression on generations of students and also on the legal profession. Beginning in 1961, he chaired the Tulane Tax Institute for half a century, leading it to become the nation's foremost gathering of tax lawyers. Now professor emeritus, Fuller joined the Tulane law faculty in 1960 after serving as a judge advocate officer in the U.S. Air Force. He also served as the law school's associate dean for academic affairs in 1972-77. To honor him, a former student and other donors in 2014 established the Hoffman F. Fuller Associate Professorship of Tax Law.

Jerry L. Mashaw Sr. (A&S '62, L '64): Administrative Law professor

International l known for his expertise, Mashaw is Sterling professor of Law at Yale Law School, where he teaches administrative law, social welfare policy, regulation, legislation and the design of public institutions. Mashaw graduated first in his class from Tulane Law and taught as an assistant professor in 1966-68. He is a founding member and a past president of the National Academy of Social Insurance and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has serves as a consultant to numerous federal agencies and private foundations and to the governments of Peru, Argentina and the People's Republic of China.

Rod K. West (L '93, B '05): Entergy executive vice president

A champion football player in college, West now is a corporate leader as executive vice president and chief administrative officer for Entergy. He has led initiatives to redesign the company, including the launch of Entergy Shared Services Company, a revamp of all corporate center and business support functions. West previously handled commercial litigation as a senior attorney with Vial, Hamilton, Koch & Knox, and he made the closing arguments that convinced NFL owners to hold Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans in 2013. He grew up in New Orleans and played outside linebacker and tight end for the University of Notre Dame's 1988 championship team coached by Lou Holtz. 

Phillip A. Wittmann (A&S '56, L '61): Renowned litigator     

During more than 50 years of practice, Wittmann has handled a range of complex commercial litigation, representing some of the largest global corporations operating in Louisiana. A member of Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann, he is an internationally recognized civil defense attorney and has defended class actions, toxic tort litigation and products liability suits. He is a past president of the New Orleans Bar Association and has served the profession in numerous other positions, including as chair of the Louisiana State Board of Legal Specialization and as a member of the House of Delegates of both the American Bar Association and the Louisiana State Bar Association. 

Posthumous honorees  

William Ray Forrester: Tulane Law School dean 

A constitutional law authority and early defender of civil rights, Forrester spent two stints at Tulane Law School: as a professor in 1941-49 and as dean in 1952-63. He wrote extensively on constitutional issues and federal jurisdiction and was popular both as a professor and as dean, roles he also served at Vanderbilt Law School (1949-52) and Cornell University Law School (1963-73). Forrester also taught at the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law in 1976-2001. He is remembered annually with the Ray Forrester Award, which is given to the student with the highest grade in Constitutional Law I. 

Robert Acomb, Jr. (BBA '51, LLB '53): Maritime lawyer

A leading national authority on maritime law and litigation, Acomb is a retired partner of the Jones Walker firm and has taught for decades as a Tulane Law School adjunct professor. The author of two case books on admiralty law, Acomb was honored by the New Orleans Bar Association as its Distinguished Maritime Lawyer for 1996. He has chaired the Tulane Admiralty Law Institute, is a member of the Dean's Advisory Board and has served the university in many roles, including as a Board of Tulane member and Alumni Association president. His leadership in the Catholic Church includes being a board member of the Bethlehem University Foundation, and Pope John Paul II named him a Knight of St. Gregory the Great.

Cynthia Ann Samuel (L '72): Tulane Law School professor

The first woman on Tulane Law School's tenure-track faculty, Samuel also was influential in reforming Louisiana property law. She joined the law faculty in 1975, held the John E. Koerner Professorship and the W.R. Irby Chair in Law and helped to lead the school as associate dean for academic affairs in 1984-87. Her scholarship focused on civil law relating to families — community property, successions, donations and trusts — and she developed expertise in copyright law. Through her service on committees advising the state Legislature and governor, she helped improve Louisiana law and make it more equitable.

Paul Verkuil: Tulane Law School dean

A renowned scholar in administrative law, Verkuil was nominated by President Barack Obama in 2009 as chair of the Administrative Conference of the United States, a public-private partnership whose members devise consensus-driven recommendations to improve government operations. Verkuil also is an educational leader who, as dean from 1978 to 1985, helped raise Tulane Law School's national profile and powerfully energized its research mission. He frequently is called upon to testify before Congress, and he has been president of the College of William & Mary (his alma mater), CEO of the American Automobile Association and dean of Cardozo School of Law.

Posthumous honorees  

Mitchell Franklin: Tulane Law School professor

A Tulane Law School legend for both his scholarship and his demanding yet colorful teaching style, Franklin was instrumental in reviving interest in Louisiana civil law during his era. He was born in Montreal, educated at Harvard Law School and joined the Tulane law faculty in 1930. During 37 years at Tulane, Franklin taught contracts and Roman Law and was a leader in comparative law, helping to found the Institute of Comparative Law (now the Eason Weinmann Center for International and Comparative Law). He also was widely considered an innovative and influential scholar of U.S. constitutional law.

John M. McCollam (L '59): oil & gas lawyer 

The Tulane Law Review editor as a student, McCollam later taught oil and gas law at Tulane from 1963 to 1987, at the same time developing a practice as a preeminent lawyer in Louisiana. After a decade at the Milling law firm, he helped found Gordon Arata McCollam Duplantis & Eagan in New Orleans in 1970. McCollam litigated oil and gas disputes and also served as an arbitrator and mediator in cases. One of his greatest legacies was in instructing countless young attorneys in the best practices of lawyering, both as a teacher and by his example as a tenacious but gracious competitor in the courtroom.

Dorothy Dowling Wolbrette (NC  '42, LLB '45): Litigator and administrative law judge

As a student, Wolbrette served as editor in chief of the Tulane Law Review, graduated first in her class and received the law school's highest awards. The New Orleans Bar Association recently honored her as the 23rd woman lawyer licensed in the city, where she initially practiced with Duke & Porterie. She then worked as a Louisiana assistant attorney general and in 1968 argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in Duncan v. Louisiana, a key case that defined when a potential criminal penalty triggers the right to a jury trial. From 1976 to 1988, Wolbrette was an administrative law judge for the Social Security Administration, retiring as chief judge.

Marian Mayer Berkett (L ’37)

One of the law school's earliest women students, she graduated first in her class and went on to become the first woman attorney hired by a Louisiana law firm (Deutsch Kerrigan), a leader in the New Orleans bar, and a legendary trial attorney. Ms. Berkett, who celebrates her 100th birthday later this month, will serve as Tulane Law School's graduation speaker in May 2013.

Russ M. Herman (A & S ’63, L ’66)

Founding partner of Herman, Herman & Katz in New Orleans, Mr. Herman is widely recognized as one of the nation’s leading trial lawyers, having served as leading counsel in many of the country’s most significant, high-profile class actions. A veteran faculty member in Tulane’s Trial Advocacy program and the author of a leading treatise in the field, Mr. Herman has also served as President of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America and been inducted into the American Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame.

Wayne J. Lee (A & S ’71, L ’74)

After graduating Order of the Coif and as an editor of Tulane Law Review, Mr. Lee is now one of New Orleans’ leading litigators, chairing the management committee of Stone, Pigman, Walther & Wittmann. A past president of the Louisiana State Bar Association and numerous civic and charitable organizations, Mr. Lee has also served as a member of Tulane University’s Board of Administrators and played a leading role in efforts to diversify the legal profession.

Max Nathan (L ’60)

Founding partner of Sessions, Fishman, Nathan & Israel in New Orleans, Mr. Nathan is widely recognized as one of the country’s leading lawyers in estate planning and successions, and has led law reform in the state as President and then Chair of the Louisiana Law Institute for more than 15 years. A legendary teacher to generations of Tulane students, Professor Nathan has taught as a member of Tulane’s adjunct faculty for nearly 50 years.

Jacques L. Wiener, Jr. (A & S ’56, L ’61) 

After graduating first in his class and Editor-in-Chief of Tulane Law Review, Judge Wiener practiced law in Shreveport with the firm now known as Wiener, Weiss & Madison. He was appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1990 to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and took senior status in 2010. A devoted Tulanian, Judge Wiener is a former Chair of the Dean’s Advisory Board and a member of the Paul Tulane Society.

John Giffen Weinmann (A & S ’50, L ’52) 

After graduating Order of the Coif and an editor of the Tulane Law Review, Ambassador Weinmann practiced law for 28 years with Phelps Dunbar in New Orleans and served as general counsel to the Times Picayune and president and director of the Waverly and Eason Oil Companies. He served as U.S. Ambassador to Finland from 1989 to 1991 and as Chief of Protocol in the White House from 1991 to 1993. Ambassador Weinmann is a former Chair of Tulane University’s Board of Administrators and a member of the Paul Tulane Society. Weinmann Hall, the Law School’s building, is named in his honor.

Posthumous honorees  

Hale Boggs (A & S ’35, L ’37)

Elected to 13 terms in Congress, beginning in 1940, Hale Boggs rose to the top leadership ranks of the U.S. House of Representatives, becoming Majority Whip in 1962 and Majority Leader in 1971. A powerful advocate and gifted orator, Boggs showed political courage by supporting landmark civil rights legislation in the Voting Rights Act and Fair Housing Act. After his death in 1972, his wife, Lindy, succeeded him in Congress and served until 1991.

John J. Hainkel, Jr. (A & S ’59, L ’61)

After graduating Order of the Coif as a member of both the Tulane Law Review and the moot court board, John Hainkel was an accomplished trial and appellate lawyer who went on to make American political history as the first person ever to serve as both Speaker of the House and President of the Senate in a state legislature. During 37 years in office, Senator Hainkel was a revered leader and devoted Tulanian who fostered collaboration across party lines and was a powerful advocate for higher education.

Joseph Merrick Jones (A & S, L ’25)

During the Great Depression, Mr. Jones founded both the Canal Barge Company and the law firm now known as Jones Walker, one of the largest and most respected firms of the American South. During World War II, Mr. Jones took a hiatus from law practice to join the U.S. Department of State, serving as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs during the dynamic post-war period. A devoted Tulanian, Mr. Jones helped shape the University’s future as President of its Board of Administrators for more than a decade until his death in 1963. Jones Hall, the Law School’s former building, is named in his honor 

Bessie Margolin (NC ’29, L ’30)

Raised in New Orleans’ Jewish Children’s Home after her mother’s early death, Bessie Margolin went on to graduate from Newcomb College and Tulane Law School, second in her class and an editor of the Law Review. Unable as a woman to find work in private practice, she went to work for the federal government in Washington. As Associate Solicitor for the Department of Labor, she argued 27 cases in the U.S. Supreme Court and won 25 of them. At her retirement dinner in 1972, she was feted by Chief Justice Earl Warren and several other Justices for her landmark contributions to labor law.

Ferdinand Stone

A six-time graduate of Ohio State, Yale, and Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar, Ferd Stone was a member of Tulane’s law faculty for 41 years before retiring in 1978 as the W.R. Irby Chair. Director of the Tulane Institute of Comparative Law, Professor Stone was a renowned scholar in the field. He was also known as a legendary teacher of torts to generations of Tulane law students, who, in the words of colleague and former student Shael Herman, regarded him with "a respect verging on reverence."

John Minor Wisdom (L ’29)

A legendary judge for more than four decades on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Judge Wisdom was one of the so-called "Fifth Circuit Four" who played a pivotal role in enforcing the civil rights of racial minorities during the era of "Massive Resistance" to desegregation. A top student who won Tulane’s moot court competition, Judge Wisdom practiced law for nearly 30 years in New Orleans before his appointment to the bench. During that time, he was an adjunct professor at Tulane Law School for nearly two decades and, as a Republican Party leader in Louisiana, played a crucial role in securing the election of President Dwight Eisenhower. Judge Wisdom donated his papers and effects to Tulane Law School, now displayed in the Judge John Minor Wisdom Room of the Law Library.