This year, Tulane Law School will celebrate six exemplary legal-profession leaders through induction into its Hall of Fame.
The honorees include New Orleans attorney Judy Y. Barrasso (L '81), founding member of Barrasso Usdin Kupperman Freeman & Sarver; The Honorable Eldon E. Fallon (A&S '60, L '62), U.S. District Judge for Eastern District of Louisiana; and Cynthia R. Shoss (NC '71, L '74), co-head of Global Insurance and co-leader of the Insurance Transactions and Products practice at Eversheds Sutherland. Three other honorees will join the Hall of Fame posthumously, John R. Kramer, who served as Dean of Tulane Law School from 1986-1996; The Honorable Kaliste J. Saloom Jr. (L '42), who served as Judge of Lafayette City Court for over 40 years; and Michael A. Starks (L '68), who was the first African-American graduate of Tulane Law School and first African-American City Attorney for Orleans Parish.
The Hall of Fame was created in 2012 with the support of an endowment gift by Lake Charles attorney Mike Veron (A&S ’72, L ’74) and his wife, Melinda. Honorees have included such historically influential figures as 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge John Minor Wisdom (L ’29) and U.S. Majority Leader Hale Boggs (A&S ’35, L ’37) along with local trailblazers including Marian Mayer Berkett (L ’39), Wayne J. Lee (A&S ’71, L ’74) and John Giffen Weinmann (A&S ’50, L ’52).
Selections are made by an alumni committee, in consultation with the dean, based on their distinguished professional achievements and enduring dedication to the mission and students of Tulane Law School.
Please register online for the Hall of Fame Luncheon at https://alumni.tulane.edu/hofregister
| Living honorees | |
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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. |
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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. |
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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 | |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
