Cherrell S. Taplin After graduating from Loyola University School of Law in 2002, Cherrell began her career at Bryan & Jupiter law firm as a litigation associate. She primarily represented the Orleans Parish School Board in all aspects defense litigation, including personal injury defense – which encompassed premises liability and various negligence claims – employment defense litigation, contract litigation, as well as novel issues specific to education and/or school matters. In 2006, Cherrell accepted an opportunity at Galloway, Johnson, Tompkins, Burr & Smith (Galloway). There, she represented insurance companies, businesses, and corporate clients in both Federal and State Courts throughout Louisiana. She litigated hundreds of cases and was able to expand her litigation experience to include all insurance law (property and casualty, liability and coverage, and bad-faith claims), maritime law, commercial litigation, general liability, construction defects, environmental/toxic tort liability, subrogation, and workers’ compensation matters. During this time, she mediated hundreds of cases for a major insurance client following Hurricane Katrina. The cases that Cherrell handled at Galloway usually involved complex legal issues and high-dollar exposures. At the end of 2013, Cherrell was offered a position as Senior Chief Deputy City Attorney for the City of New Orleans. Her role was as second-in-command to the City Attorney and included the position – Chief of Litigation. As Chief of Litigation for the City of New Orleans, Cherrell managed over 1000 cases that involved various issues in state, federal, and municipal and traffic courts. The matters that she handled were varied and included: personal injury, contract, construction, land use, public bid protests, employment, code enforcement, administrative appeals, and civil rights litigation. In April 2017, the Louisiana Supreme Court saw fit to appoint Cherrell to serve as Judge Pro Tempore in Division J of the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans. Cherrell is currently a Shareholder at Liskow & Lewis in the commercial and energy litigation sections and handles a wide variety of cases.