Meet the 2026 Tulane Law Hall of Fame Inductees
Tulane Law School announced the 2026 Tulane Law Hall of Fame class, honoring distinguished alumni whose careers have made a lasting impact in law, public service, higher education, and global leadership.
The Tulane Law Hall of Fame recognizes alumni and faculty whose careers exemplify professional excellence, integrity, and service to the legal profession and their communities.
This year’s honorees include leaders in diplomacy, higher education, private practice, and legal education whose work reflects the broad influence of Tulane Law graduates.
Additionally, this year, to highlight the outstanding work of early-career graduates, the law school created a new honor: The Raising the Bar Award.
The 2026 Tulane Law Alumni and Hall of Fame Awards Celebration took place Wednesday, May 6, at The Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans. The event began with a cocktail reception at 4:00 p.m., followed by the awards presentation at 4:45 p.m. in the La Chinoiserie Ballroom.
“Each member of this year’s Hall of Fame class represents the very best of Tulane Law,” said law Dean Marcilynn A. Burke. “Their careers demonstrate how legal training can be a powerful force for leadership, service, and innovation, and we are proud to celebrate the extraordinary ways they are shaping their professions and communities.”
The Honorees are:
Laurence B. Alexander (L ’87) is chancellor and chief executive officer of the University of Michigan–Flint, a role he assumed in 2024 after serving 11 years as chancellor of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, a historically Black land-grant university within the University of Arkansas System. With more than three decades of experience as a university leader, professor, attorney, journalist, and First Amendment scholar, Alexander has championed initiatives that expand access to higher education, strengthen student success, and foster innovative academic programs aligned with workforce needs.
In 2022, President Biden appointed Alexander chair of the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development, an advisory board supporting the U.S. Agency for International Development. During his tenure from 2022 to 2025, he helped advance international efforts focused on food security and agricultural development. Earlier in his career, Alexander spent more than two decades at the University of Florida, where he held several senior leadership roles and earned recognition for his scholarship on media law and freedom of expression. A native of New Orleans, he is a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association.
Hon. Victoria Reggie Kennedy (NC ’76, L ’79) is a distinguished diplomat, attorney, and civic leader whose career has spanned law, public policy, and international diplomacy. From 2022 to 2025, she served as United States ambassador to the Republic of Austria, where she worked to strengthen transatlantic partnerships and advance U.S. national security, economic, and cultural interests. During her tenure, the United States and Austria expanded bilateral trade and investment, strengthened cooperation on defense and intelligence matters, and collaborated on initiatives promoting media literacy, entrepreneurship, and women’s leadership.
Before entering diplomatic service, Kennedy built a prominent legal career advising domestic and international clients on complex corporate and regulatory matters. She also played a key role in the creation of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, co-founding the nonpartisan organization and serving as its board president. Kennedy has served on numerous boards and civic organizations and has received many honors recognizing her leadership and advocacy. She graduated summa cum laude from Tulane Law School and remains actively engaged with the university through service and philanthropy.
James R. Nieset (A&S ’64, L ’67) has enjoyed a distinguished career in law while maintaining a lifelong commitment to Tulane University and Tulane Law School. After earning his law degree from Tulane—where he served on the Tulane Law Review Board of Student Editors and was elected to the Order of the Coif—Nieset served in the United States Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Corps before entering private practice. He spent many years as a member and partner of the Lake Charles law firm Plauché, Smith & Nieset, focusing on trial and appellate work in areas including products liability, professional liability, environmental law, and oilfield legacy litigation.
Nieset has been admitted to numerous federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and served on the Louisiana State Bar Association Board of Governors, including as treasurer. A devoted supporter of Tulane Law School, he is a board member emeritus of the Dean’s Advisory Board and a volunteer visiting research fellow and board member of the Tulane Law School Institute on Water Resources Law and Policy, where he mentors students and contributes to environmental law research initiatives.
Leopold Z. Sher (A&S ’74, L ’76) is co-managing member of Sher Garner Cahill Richter Klein & Hilbert, LLC, a firm he co-founded in 1999. Over the course of his career, Sher has become widely recognized as a leader in commercial real estate, finance, and business law, representing clients in complex transactions and working closely with government entities and regulatory bodies at the local, state, and national levels. His professional excellence has earned him consistent recognition from organizations including Chambers, Best Lawyers, Lawdragon, and Super Lawyers.
Sher has also been deeply involved in professional legal organizations, including the American College of Real Estate Lawyers, the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers, and the American Law Institute. In addition to his practice, he has dedicated significant time to mentoring future lawyers as an adjunct professor at Tulane Law School, where he teaches contract drafting and has received the Monte Lemann Award for Best Adjunct Professor twice. Sher has served on the Tulane Law School Dean’s Advisory Board for more than 15 years and remains active in the New Orleans arts community.
Raising the Bar Award
The 2026 celebration also introduced the Raising the Bar Award, a new honor recognizing the professional achievements of more recent Tulane Law graduates.
Demeka Fields (L ’16), counsel for Global Sports Marketing at New Balance, is the inaugural recipient. In her role, Fields negotiates and drafts sponsorship and partnership agreements with elite athletes and teams across multiple sports, including international football, basketball, track and field, and hockey. She has played a key role in major deals involving athletes such as Coco Gauff, Shohei Ohtani, Cooper Flagg, and Cameron Brink, as well as partnerships with organizations including the New York Road Runners, Major League Baseball, and the National Basketball Association.
Before joining New Balance, Fields served as associate counsel for the Minnesota Vikings, where she worked on major initiatives including the launch of the Sensory Room at U.S. Bank Stadium and negotiations related to Super Bowl LII and NFL International Series agreements. She is also a leader in advancing diversity in the sports industry and serves as chief administrative officer and general counsel for the Black Sports Business Symposium, a national conference focused on building equity and opportunity in professional sports.
