LSU Law honors the life and legacy of John P. Laborde

The LSU Law community is honoring, with the deepest respect and gratitude, the long life of leadership and service of John P. Laborde, one of its most accomplished alumni and strongest supporters, who passed away on Oct. 21 at the age of 97.

“Mr. Laborde’s impact on the Paul M. Hebert Law Center and our LSU Law family cannot be overstated. His deep connections to LSU Law span more than seven decades, beginning in 1946 when he enrolled as a law student after serving in the U.S. Army in the Pacific under General Douglas MacArthur,” said LSU Law Interim Dean Lee Ann Lockridge. “His many years of support to his alma mater have included volunteering to assist in an array of leadership roles as well as making transformational gifts to the institution, including those establishing the John P. Laborde Energy Law Center, creating four professorships in energy law, and funding ten endowed scholarships.”

Laborde graduated from LSU Law in 1949, having been inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa honorary fraternity and serving as its President. He then began practicing law in Marksville, where he had grown up, ultimately moving to New Orleans in 1950 to enter the emerging energy sector as District Land Manager with Richardson & Bass. Along with two of his brothers, Alden and C.E. Laborde, he founded Tidewater Inc. in 1956. He served as Chairman and CEO of the publicly owned company for 38 years, during which he helped Tidewater grow into the largest oil and gas marine owner and operator of vessels in the world. Upon his retirement in 1994, Tidewater established an academic chair at LSU in his name.

Through the years, Laborde was an active supporter of LSU and the Paul M. Hebert Law Center. He was a longtime member of the LSU Law Chancellor’s Council, he served on the Law Center’s Board of Trustees and its Forever LSU Campaign Steering Committee, and he was chair of the LSU Law Annual Fund Campaign from 1999 to 2003. In 2012, he and his family made a $2 million gift to LSU Law to establish the John P. Laborde Energy Center. It remains the largest donation to the Law Center in its history.

“Given my lifetime career in the energy service industry, and recognizing how my law degree served me well in navigating the complexities of running a public company in the international arena, I am pleased to give back to the school that has given me so much,” Laborde said in 2012. “My gift will establish the Energy Law Center and hopefully serve as the catalyst for future growth and perfection in the energy law field.”

LSU Law Professor Keith Hall has been appointed the Nesser Family Chair in Energy Law, becoming first faculty member to hold the chair at the Paul M. Hebert Law Center.

“It’s an honor to be named the inaugural Nesser Family Chair in Energy Law,” said Professor Hall. “Being appointed to a chair is wonderful in itself, but it is a special privilege to be named to this particular chair and have my name associated with the Nessers because they are such wonderful people and have been so supportive of LSU Law in many ways.”

Hall joined the LSU Law faculty as an assistant professor in 2012, was promoted to associate professor in 2015, and was appointed to full professor and awarded tenure in 2018. He has served as Director of the Louisiana Mineral Law Institute since 2012, and in early 2020 he was named Director of the LSU John P. Laborde Energy Law Center.

“Since joining our faculty, Professor Hall has been instrumental in expanding and enhancing the LSU Law energy law program, which has had a significant impact for our students,” said LSU Law Interim Dean Lee Ann Wheelis Lockridge. “Both his extensive expertise and his engagement with the students help prepare our students for careers in fields that are of particular importance to our state and region, and they make him a perfect fit for this appointment.”

LSU Law alumnus John Nesser III (’73) said he is proud to see Hall become the inaugural holder of the endowed chair that his family created with a generous donation to LSU Law.

“We have every confidence Professor Hall is the right person to hold the Nesser Chair in Energy Law. He covers all the bases of expertise, participation, and reputation in Louisiana, nationally, and internationally, as demonstrated by his academic and professional record,” said Nesser, who was also instrumental in establishing the John P. Laborde Energy Law Center and has served as vice chairman since inception of the program in 2012.

After 30 years at LSU Law, Professor N. Gregory Smith retired on Aug. 11. To honor Smith’s extensive contributions to LSU Law and the university at large, LSU has bestowed upon him the title of Professor Emeritus, effective on his retirement date.

Smith said he had been considering retiring for the past few years and decided the time was right after he recently reached the “shockingly old” age of 70.

“I thought that perhaps I should retire before I lost all mental capabilities,” Smith jokingly said during a recent interview.

Smith’s witty sense of humor, warm personality, and engaging teaching style have made him a favorite professor among his students and a beloved colleague among the LSU Law faculty and staff over the past three decades.

“All of us at LSU Law are tremendously grateful for all that Professor Smith has done for the Paul M. Hebert Law Center and our students,” said LSU Law Interim Dean Lee Ann Wheelis Lockridge. “It was an absolute joy to work alongside Professor Smith, and I know I’m not alone in already missing his good humor and dry wit, which he deployed not only in the classroom and in meetings, but also on the continuing legal education circuit. We all wish him the very best in his well-deserved retirement.”

During his time at LSU Law, Smith taught classes in the areas of Common Law Property, Civil Law Property, Land Use Planning, Payment Systems, and the Legal Profession.

“I’ve been fortunate to teach some terrific courses over my career at LSU Law, but my favorite course that I’ve taught is whatever course I was teaching the students in the classroom at the moment,” he said. “I already miss teaching, and I will miss it greatly.”

The LSU Law National Pretrial Competition team placed as one of the top eight teams in the nation at this year’s competition, which was held virtually due to the pandemic.

The team, which consists of LSU Law students Valkyire Buffa, Alex Domingue, Hunter DeVillier, and Quinn Hamilton, squared off against teams from Georgetown University Law Center, Golden Gate University School of Law, Charleston School of Law, and Regent University Law School, ultimately falling in the quarterfinal round by the slimmest of margins to the Regent team. The team was coached by Advocacy Fellow Danny Bosch and Professor Jeff Brooks.

The National Pretrial Competition is a hybrid of traditional moot court and mock trial competitions. The team first researched and wrote memoranda of law on a motion to dismiss in a criminal immigration case. The team then conducted an evidentiary hearing about whether the criminal defendant should be detained prior to trial — they examined witnesses, presented evidence, made objections, and presented summations on the issue of pre-trial detention. Following the evidentiary hearing, the team presented an oral argument on the original motion to dismiss the case.

Richala Jackson represented LSU Law as one of the 14 students selected to be among this year’s LSU Homecoming Court, and the third-year law student served as an ambassador for the university at events held throughout the week leading up to the Homecoming game against Florida on Saturday, Oct. 16.

“I had such an amazing time. I’m getting teary-eyed just thinking about it,” said Jackson. “The only word I can use to describe the experience on Saturday is magical — and being able to represent the Law Center as I walked out onto the field with the other students made it all the more special. I was just through the roof.”

Family members and friends of the Fayette, Mississippi native were on hand at the game to cheer on Jackson, as were many of the close friends she has made at LSU Law.

LSU Law hosted Professor Stephen Smith of the University of Notre Dame Law School for LSU’s Constitution Day lecture on Tuesday, Sept. 21. Smith’s lecture, “Criminal Procedure and the Roberts Court,” was presented in the McKernan Auditorium at the Paul M. Hebert Law Center and was also livestreamed.

Following his remarks, LSU Law Professor Scott Sullivan and LSU Political Science Professor Anna Gunderson provided comments, which were followed by questions from those in attendance in person and online. The event was sponsored by the Eric Voegelin Institute and was free and open to the public.

For 31 years, Joe Macaluso (’79), a Hammond, La., native and current New Orleans resident, traveled the world throughout his legal career, from South America to Europe to the Middle East. Exploring his broad options for giving, he was impressed by the LSU Law Clinic program and its dual purpose of serving those in need of legal defense while preparing students for practice. The Joseph P. Macaluso LSU Law Clinic Support Fund will provide students the experience of real-life representation of clients and make a positive impact on the community.

The LSU Law Clinical Legal Education Program offers many options — including juvenile defense, immigration, parole and reentry, prosecution, and wrongful conviction — for students to practice law and represent indigent clients in the Baton Rouge community, or act as mediators in the Baton Rouge City Court. Similar to a residency in medical school, students practice under special authority of the Louisiana Supreme Court and with close faculty supervision as they represent real clients with important legal issues or serve as mediators in real cases of controversy.

Macaluso, who completed his undergraduate degree from Southeastern Louisiana University, called attending LSU Law a “no brainer” due to the school’s relatively low cost, impressive bar exam passage rate, and convenient location. He adjusted to the larger campus environment and the “humbling” experience of being surrounded by his new fellow high-performing peers. He is especially grateful for his education in civil law, which he was able to seamlessly apply to his international career.

“I had no idea that my LSU Law degree would take me where it did. I had the pleasure and the opportunity to basically see the world while using my LSU Law education, being a corporate lawyer, negotiating contracts for first Halliburton Co., then briefly with British Gas, and ultimately with Chevron,” Macaluso said.

Six companies led by LSU Law alumni are included on this year’s LSU 100 list of the fastest-growing Tiger-led businesses.

Now in its 11th year, the LSU 100 is a highly competitive program that identifies, ranks, and celebrates the 100 fastest-growing businesses in the world that are either owned or led by LSU graduates. To qualify for the list, companies must have been in business for at least five years and have revenue of at least $100,000 for the previous three years. Companies must also either have an LSU graduate who owns at least 50% of the business; or who serves as CEO, president or managing partner; or who founded the company and remains in a C-Suite management position.

One company led by an LSU Law alumnus is also included on the LSU Roaring 10, which recognizes the 10 highest revenue generating businesses from all those that apply for the LSU 100 each year.

Companies are confidentially ranked by Postlethwaite & Netterville by their compounded annual growth rate. LSU 100 is hosted by LSU Executive Education. See the complete list of businesses on this year’s list. The LSU Law alumni on the list, the companies they lead, and their rankings on the LSU 100 list are:

Second-year LSU Law student Patrika Marschall was born in Saint Catherine, Jamaica, and migrated to U.S. at the age of 12, growing up in The Bronx, New York City. A year after earning her B.A. in English Literature from City College of New York in 2010, she enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and served for over five years on active duty as a financial services technician and budget analyst in Alamogordo, New Mexico, and San Antonio, Texas.

“While on active duty I pursued my A.A.S. in Financial Management and my M.A. in Criminal Justice,” says Marschall, who earned the former degree from the Community College of the Air Force in 2013 and the latter from the American Military University in 2018. “I also volunteered as a sexual assault victim advocate for Department of Defense Sexual Assault & Preventive Response Program, and a domestic violence victim advocate for the San Antonio Police Department.”

In 2016, she transitioned to the Air Force Reserve as a military justice paralegal, and she currently performs her military duties during the summer at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia.

“I have always had a passion for law and service, which explains why I chose to enlist, volunteer as a victim advocate, and study criminal justice,” she says. “While working on my first court-martial, I watched with pride as the trial counsel used carefully selected words to highlight the lasting impact of a crime that occurred a year prior. These words encapsulated the emotions that the victim often found difficult to explain. In that moment, I solidified my desire to become an attorney. I realized that, by attaining the necessary knowledge and skills, I could serve my community as an attorney and advocate, navigating victims of violent crimes through the court system and giving them a voice.”

At LSU Law, Marschall serves as Vice President of the LSU Black Law Students Association, and she is also a mentor to three first-year students. Of the courses she has taken thus far, her favorites are Administration of Criminal Justice, Evidence, and Family Law. She says having so many opportunities to be involved with student organizations and other activities at the Paul M. Hebert Law Center is one of the things she loves most about being at LSU Law.

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