LEADERSHIP
Sally Shushan
Mediation • Legal Consulting
Sally Shushan has been a private civil mediator since August, 2016. She served for over 17 years as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Her civil docket included: 1) conducting consent bench and jury trials; 2) ruling on discovery motions; 3) case management; 4) acting as the initial judicial officer on habeas, social security, 42 U.S.C. sec. 1983 and Title VII cases; 5) conducting mediation as the alternative dispute resolution arm of the district court and successfully resolving hundreds of lawsuits which included every variety of business, commercial, insurance and contract disputes, maritime/admiralty, and products liability matters.
Most notably, she was assigned to the multi-district litigation Oil Spill by the Oil Rig “Deepwater Horizon", 10-MD-2179, which work spanned 6 years. Her involvement included: 1) handling all discovery including planning and conduct of well over 300 depositions and overseeing electronic production of millions of documents; 2) conducting weekly status conferences with dozens of attorneys; 3) spurring the settlement of all economic claims against BP resulting in a class action settlement; 4) acting to supervise the Court Supervised Settlement Program to administer the BP economic class settlement; 5) leading the efforts to successfully settle the claims of the United States, the five Gulf States and local governmental entities against BP, as well as the claims for punitive damages against Transocean and Halliburton resulting in a second class action settlement.
Prior to being appointed to serve on the court, from 1981 to 1999 Sally practiced law with Sessions & Fishman, LLP of New Orleans where she became a partner and member of the Management Committee. Her practice included general civil litigation including contract disputes, products liability, lender liability and personal injury cases with clients that included individuals, banks, chemical companies, hotels and manufacturing firms. Sally was “AV” rated, Martindale-Hubbell at the time she took the bench.
Prior to becoming a lawyer, she was employed for seven years by the City of New Orleans. Ultimately, she was in charge of the daily operations for the recruitment and testing division with responsibility for supervision of 10 professional and 6 clerical staff members in the Civil Service Department. She also acted as assistant to the Director of the Parks and Parkways Department in charge of all personnel matters for over 400 employees.
Sally graduated from the Loyola School of Law, New Orleans, Louisiana with a Juris Doctor in 1981, where she served as a Law Review Member, and received the Outstanding Casenote Award and the award for Outstanding Law Review Senior. She received a Bachelor of Arts from Newcomb College, New Orleans, Louisiana in 1972.
Current civic involvement: a founding member and board member of the Lafayette Square Conservancy; member of the boards of The NOCCA Institute and The Audubon Commission.
Stanwood Duval, Jr.
Arbitration • Mediation • Legal Consulting
Stanwood Duval served as a United States District Court Judge, Eastern District of Louisiana, New Orleans, LA from October 1994 to January 2017. As such, he presided over a wide range of cases including complex maritime litigation, contract disputes, large scale insurance coverage disputes, commercial litigation, employment law issues including Title VII, FLSA (such as collective actions), ADEA, ADA, and Civil Rights, ERISA, products liability cases, and interpretation of collective bargaining agreements.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the massive litigation that ensued, in 2005, at the behest of his colleagues, he created and undertook the management of In re Katrina Canal Breaches Consolidated Litigation, C.A. NO. 05-4182, which consisted of all of the litigation arising out of the failure of the levee system in the New Orleans area after Hurricane Katrina. This umbrella case had over 1,200 suits comprised of hundreds of thousands of claims and was organized into twelve categories of cases. He rapidly, economically, and systematically adjudicated thereunder the legal issues necessary for determining liability and responsibility for the breaches of the levees and floodwalls surrounding Orleans, St. Bernard and Plaquemine Parishes, as well as, inter alia, insurance coverage and maritime issues.
While on the bench, he served as a member of the Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules to the Judicial Conference of the United States Courts from 1997 to 2003, the Council of the Louisiana Law Institute from 1996 to 2000, and the Fifth Circuit Judicial Council from 2004 to 2007. He most recently drafted the Admiralty chapter of the Fifth Circuit Pattern Civil Jury Instructions (2014). Stanwood has also served as a Past President and is a current member of the Tulane Inns of Court,
He obtained his law degree from Louisiana State University in 1966 and practiced law culminating as a Senior Partner in the firm of Duval, Funderburk, Sundbery & Lovell, Houma, LA (1986 – 1994). As such, he acted as lead counsel in hundreds of trials involving mineral law, corporate disputes, personal injury, commercial litigation, probate and estate disputes, state and local taxation issues, utilities litigation, contract disputes, municipal law, and a wide range of other topics, as well as approximately sixty appellate cases, including appearances before the Louisiana Supreme Court and the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal. He was “AV” rated, Martindale-Hubbell at the time he took the Bench. Also he also served as Parish Attorney for the Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government from 1988 to 1993.
Stanwood served as Chairman of the Board of Directors for Covenant House, New Orleans from 2014-2016 and served on that board for 10 years. He presently serves on the KIPP Board in New Orleans. He was a member of the Board of Directors of First National Bank of Houma from 1980 -1990, and was Vice-President (1992-1994) and Board Member, Houma-Terrebonne Chamber of Commerce and Member, Houma-Terrebonne Chamber of Commerce Executive Committee
Stanwood has received the The James J. Buquet, Jr. Award of Distinction 2014 (awarded by the Terrebonne Foundation for Academic Excellence) as well as the Distinguished Achievement Award 2013 (awarded by LSU Law Center). He is a member of the Roster of Neutrals of the American Arbitration Association ("AAA”) Fed Arb, and United States Arbitration and Mediation.
View a profile of Stanwood by the Federal Bar Association, New Orleans Chapter here.
Janet Daley
Legal Consulting • Legal Writing
Janet Daley has worked primarily as a career federal law clerk for 28 years with 22 of those years in service to Stanwood Duval, Jr. from October 1994 through January 2017. She was tasked with the oversight of all of the consolidated litigation arising out of the damage caused in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 in In re Katrina Canal Breaches Litigation, C.A. No. 05-4182 “K”. In addition, under his direction, she drafted countless opinions, including rulings on motions as well as Findings of Fact and Conclusions of law in non-jury cases. In addition, she oversaw the drafting of jury charges in numerous maritime cases, employment discrimination cases, tort suits, civil right suits and complex commercial litigation. She also assisted Judge Duval in drafting the Admiralty chapter of the Fifth Circuit Pattern Civil Jury Instructions (2014). She has assisted in mediating the resolution of a number of suits pending before Judge Duval. Most recently, she co-authored with Judge Duval, The Discretionary Function: License to Kill?: The Federal Tort Claims Act and Hurricane Katrina, 62 Loy. L. Rev. 299 (2016).
Janet also served as career law clerk to the Honorable George Arceneaux, Jr. and the Honorable Lansing Mitchell, both of whom served on the Eastern District of Louisiana bench as well.
Janet obtained a Juris Doctor/Masters of Foreign Service joint degree in 1984 at which time she receive the Dean’s Citation from MSFS. In her course of study, she obtained an Honors Concentration in International Business Diplomacy. While in school, she edited The Making of International Monetary Policy, International Law Institute, Washington D.C. (1984) and assisted in editing Interface II: Conference Proceedings on the Legal Framework of East-West Trade, International Law Institute, Washington, D.C. 1982. She also worked as a research assistant to Thomas Hoya, a Hearing Commissioner for the International Trade Administration, United States Department of Commerce. Janet also received a B.S. in Foreign Service from the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University in 1980.
Janet was named by New Orleans Magazine a 2013 Top Female Achiever for her activities which have included service on the Board of Directors of the Federal Bar Association, president of the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, a member of the Board of Governors of Le Petit Théâtre du Vieux Carré. She was a founding member of the Young Leadership Counsel of New Orleans and is a sustaining member of the Junior League of New Orleans.