H. Bruce Shreves

H. Bruce Shreves is a founding member of the firm of Simon, Peragine, Smith & Redfearn, LLP. He grew up in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, graduated from Georgetown Law School and was admitted to the South Dakota Bar in 1969. Shortly after he was drafted, spending four years in the Army Judge Advocate General Corps. While in the army he took the Louisiana Bar, and was admitted in 1972. Shreves’ practice has consisted primarily in the areas of construction, surety law, and most recently arbitration and mediation. He was named Lawyer of the Year in both arbitration and mediation by Best Lawyers and listed in Super Lawyers as one of the Top Ten Lawyers in Louisiana.

Shreves currently serves as the chair of the Section on Fidelity, Surety and Construction Law of the Louisiana State Bar Association. He has also served as chair of the American Bar Association’s Fidelity & Surety Committee. Thirty years ago, he co-authored one of the first books in Louisiana devoted to construction law.

Shreves served many years with the Pro Bono Project. He has served on the board of Boys Town of Louisiana and is a former board member and chair of the Louisiana chapter of Bread for The World. Shreves has been married 49 years to the former Jacqueline Farnsworth of New Orleans and is the proud father of three children, Catherine, Trey, and Ashley, along with two grandsons.

Kim M. Boyle

Kim M. Boyle is a partner at Phelps Dunbar where she practices in the areas of labor and employment, civil rights, constitutional law, commercial, tort, and general litigation. Boyle served as the first female African-American President of the Louisiana State Bar Association (2009-2010) as well as the first African-American President of the New Orleans Bar Association (2002-2003).

Boyle is currently the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Amistad Research Center, as well as serving on the Executive Committee of Tulane University and the New Orleans Business Alliance, and serves on the boards of Dillard University and Touro Infirmary. She previously served on the Bring New Orleans Back Commission, which focused upon rebuilding New Orleans post-Katrina, and served as Chair of the Health/Social Services Committee of the Commission, as well as serving on the Louisiana Recovery Authority after Hurricane Katrina.

Prior to joining Phelps Dunbar, Boyle served as Judge Pro Tempore, Division I, for the Civil District Court for Orleans Parish. She is also a former assistant professor of law at Loyola University School of Law in New Orleans. Kim received her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1987 and her A.B. from Princeton University in 1984.

She is the proud daughter of the late Ernest Boyle, Jr. and Mrs. Connie W. Boyle and the sister of Wardell Boyle.

Donna D. Fraiche

Donna D. Fraiche practices as a shareholder with the law firm of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz where she chairs its Nominating Committee and formerly chaired its Women’s Initiative. Fraiche chaired the Louisiana Health Care Commission from 1998 to 2015, and served on the Louisiana Legislature’s Task Force on the Working Uninsured. She served as the first woman president of the American Health Lawyers Association (AHLA) and was chosen for their first class of Fellows.

She is currently a Board member of the Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum, The Center for Planning Excellence, Woman’s Hospital and serves on three publically traded corporate boards. Fraiche is the Honorary Consul-General of Japan for New Orleans. She was a charter member of the Louisiana Recovery Authority; chaired its Long Term Community Planning effort, and served on its Health Care Committee and the Louisiana Health Care Redesign Collaborative.

Fraiche served as Chair of the Board of Loyola University, received the Integritas Vitae award, Loyola’s highest honor, and has delivered the commencement address at the Law School. Fraiche has received the LSU Esprit de Femme award, and has been recognized by City Business in their Women’s Hall of Fame. She is currently on the Board of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation and a number of other Boards and civic associations.

She has served as President of the World Trade Center, Chair of the Board of the New Orleans Regional Medical Center, and on the adjunct faculty of Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Administration as a preceptor for the residency program in health systems management.

Thomas M. Hayes III

Thomas M. Hayes III has practiced for forty years in Monroe, Louisiana. He obtained a B.A. with honors from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee in 1974 and a J.D. from Louisiana State University in 1977. He then began practicing with his father, Tom Jr., at Hayes, Harkey, Smith & Cascio L.L.P and where he now practices with his son, Tommy. His practice has focused on civil litigation in state and federal court across north and central Louisiana, where he has represented parties in disputes involving a broad range of subjects including professional responsibility of lawyers, architects, engineers and other professionals, product liability, property, successions, contracts, intellectual property, tort, insurance, civil rights, and employment.

He is a Senior Council Member of the Louisiana State Law Institute, and serves on its Executive Committee and its Committee on Louisiana Civil Procedure. He served five years as Bar Examiner on Federal Jurisdiction and Procedure for the Louisiana Supreme Court’s Committee on Bar Admissions. He has twice served on the LSBA Board of Governors, and on its nominating committee. He was trained as a mediator at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine School of Law, and serves as a mediator with the Patterson Resolution Group. He is a past president of the Fourth Judicial District Bar Association and the Fred Fudickar Inn of Court. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and serves as its Regent for Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas. He also holds membership in several specialty bar associations.

He is married to Federal Magistrate Judge Karen Luikart Hayes of the Western District of Louisiana. They have four children and four grandchildren.

Judy Y. Barrasso

Barrasso Usdin Kupperman Freeman & Sarver, L.L.C.

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. Barrasso is a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a fellow and Second Vice President of the International Society of Barristers. She is the incoming President of the New Orleans Bar Association. Barrasso 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 has served as a board member and chair of the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board. She also serves on the Attorney Disciplinary Committee of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District. Barrasso is a Commissioner of the New Orleans Downtown Development District, and the Immediate Past Chair. She is a Board Member of the Contemporary Arts Center. She served on the Board of Directors of Newman School, the New Orleans Pro Bono Project, Summerbridge, Dress For Success, and the Anti-Defamation League (South Central Region). Barrasso was named a Young Leadership Council Role Model in 2004, the CityBusiness Women of the Year in 2014 and 2001, and a YWCA Role Model in 2000.