Judy Y. Barrasso

Judy Barrasso is a founding member of Barrasso Usdin Kupperman Freeman & Sarver, L.L.C. Her practice focuses on commercial litigation, and includes complex commercial litigation matters and class actions involving insurance coverage and bad faith, director and officer liability, securities fraud, and commercial contracts.  Judy has handled matters in at least twelve states.  

Judy has been ranked by Chambers USA as a top commercial litigator and by Benchmark Litigation as a Litigation Star.  She has been recognized among Benchmark's Top 250 Women in Litigation and Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Lawyers in America.  Judy was named a Lawdragon Legend in 2020 for being selected to the elite guide ten times and was named to the Lawdragon Hall of Fame in 2023.  Judy has also been recognized among Louisiana Super Lawyers'  Top 10 and has been ranked Number One among lawyers in the State of Louisiana.  According to Chambers, Judy “has a reputation as a formidable trial lawyer,” “stands ‘head and shoulders above much of the competition,’ and is “considered one of the state’s finest litigators.”

Judy is a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a fellow and Past President of the International Society of Barristers, organizations that select their members.  She is a Past President of the New Orleans Bar Association.  Judy was inducted into Tulane Law School’s Hall of Fame in 2018.  She was the 2017 recipient of the John R. “Jack” Martzell Professionalism Award, presented by the New Orleans Chapter of the Federal Bar Association.  She was also the 2016 recipient of the Louisiana Bar Foundation's Distinguished Attorney Award.  Judy has taught as an adjunct professor at Tulane Law School, the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel Trial Academy, and at continuing legal education programs throughout the United States.  She previously served as a board member and then chair of the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board from 2001-2005.  She also served on the Attorney Disciplinary Committee of the United States District Court for the Eastern District by the Court’s appointment from February 2011–July 2017.

Commercial Litigation

• Defending manufacturer in product liability action arising out of explosion.
• Defended university athletic foundation in high profile RICO action and obtained voluntary dismissal of the action in approximately nine months.
• Defended successfully a shopping center lessor against RICO and anti-competitive claims.
• Defended successfully distributor of air conditioning and heating products against wrongful termination of distribution contract.
• Defended well-known actor against fraud claim arising of BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.
• Member of trial team successfully defending retailer in collective action under Fair Labor Standards Act.
• Successfully represented international oil and gas company in an arbitration involving multi-million dollar contract dispute.
• Co-counsel for large independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company in suit relating to arbitration involving multi-million dollar drilling contract dispute.
• Defended Brazilian manufacturer in product defect action.

Insurance Litigation

• National Coordinating Counsel for Insurer in Sandy Storm litigation.
• Court appointed Insurer Liaison Counsel in Hurricane Katrina litigation.
• Court appointed Insurer Liaison in Chinese Drywall MDL.
• Court appointed Insurer Liaison Counsel in putative legionella class action.
• Led the defense of multiple insurers in thousands of class actions and coverage disputes arising out of Hurricane Katrina.
• Led team defending insurer in statewide Preferred Provider Organization litigation, including successful arguments at U.S. 5th Circuit and Louisiana Supreme Court.
• Led trial team successfully defending commercial general liability insurer in coverage trial in federal court in Houston.
• Successful defense of director and officer liability insurer against environmental claims in a class action arising out of a chemical spill.
• Led trial team defending commercial general liability insurers in environmental coverage case in New Mexico arising out of multiple uranium mine sites in New Mexico and Arizona.
• Defending insurers in Attorney General litigation in Mississippi federal court.
• Defended homeowner insurer in Crumbling Concrete Foundation putative class action in Connecticut federal court.
• Defended homeowner insurer in labor/depreciation putative class action in Arkansas federal court.
• Defending excess commercial liability insurer in an MDL securities litigation class action suit.
• Defending excess insurer in directors and officers liability litigation in Texas federal court.
• Defending excess insurer against a bad faith claim coverage dispute in multidistrict litigation related to a large oil spill.
• Defending excess insurer in multi-state coverage litigation arising out of sinkhole damage.

Judy is on the board of the Innocence Project New Orleans and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.  She previously served as a past Chair and Commissioner of the New Orleans Downtown Development District and served on the Board of Directors of the Contemporary Arts Center, Isidore Newman School, the New Orleans Pro Bono Project, Summerbridge, Dress For Success, and the Anti-Defamation League (South Central Region). Judy received the prestigious Hannah G. Solomon award, given to individuals who have helped change the lives of others through leadership efforts and service.  Judy was named a Young Leadership Council Role Model in 2004, a YWCA Role Model in 2000, and a CityBusiness ‘Women of the Year’ honoree in 2001 and 2014.

Presentations

Judy has spoken at numerous seminars on a variety of litigation issues, including:

• "Professionalism: Gender - Past, Present, and Future," Louisiana State Bar Association's  "Watch Your P's & Q's" CLE (December 1, 2023)
• "ALI Restatement of the Law, Liability Insurance," American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA) and National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) Regional Symposium (January 21, 2021)
• "Nuts and Bolts: Reaction to Primer on the Louisiana Duty-Risk Analysis," Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel and Louisiana Judicial Counsel co-sponsored Torts Seminar (December 7, 2018)
• "Professionalism in Litigation," Louisiana State Bar Association (December 2016)
• "Class Actions & Complex Litigation," Panelist, New Orleans Bar Association's Bench Bar Conference (April 2014)
• “Damages,” Panelist, New Orleans Bar Association’s Masters of the Courtroom CLE (December 2012)
• "Post-Disaster Issues: Lessons Learned from Katrina and the BP Oil Spill,” Panelist, Appellate Judges Education Institute Summit (November 2012)
• “Big Easy Bootcamp: Basic Training for Lawyering in New Orleans,” New Orleans Bar Association (October 2012)
• “Deposing Non-Medical Experts: Beating the Other Side at its Own Game,” Louisiana State Bar Association Taking Depositions That Win Cases (November 2011)
• “Status of Insurance Coverage Cases – Pollution Exclusion and Manifestation of Damages,” Chinese Drywall Litigation Conference (October 2011)
• “Daubert Motions,” Louisiana State Bar Association’s Motion Practice CLE (March 2011)

• Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann, L.L.C.