Sherry Watters

She has tried cases in virtually all judicial districts in the state, including judge and jury trials. Ms Watters has practiced in all five of the state appellate circuits and in the Louisiana Supreme Court.  She became a member of the bar of the United States Supreme Court in 2002, and has had appeared before that Court.

Originally from Iowa, where she received a bachelor’s degree in Social Work from the University of Iowa in 1979, Ms. Watters re-located to New Orleans to attend Loyola University School of Law. She obtained her Juris Doctorate in 1982 and was licensed to practice in Louisiana the same year and first clerked for Judge Henry Roberts in Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans. She maintained a private civil practice from 1982 to 1996, with a focus in personal injury, successions, and domestic relations law, while she was also a public defender.

A recipient of the Louisiana Public Defenders’ Association’s Trustee of Freedom Award in 2010,  Ms. Watters is a frequent lecturer on appellate and criminal law, professionalism, ethics, and discovery methods. She has also served as an adjunct professor of business law and family law.  She co-chairs the Louisiana Bar Foundation’s Kid Chance Committee, a program that awards scholarships to children of workers who were disabled or killed on the job.

She has served on the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Committees on Access to Justice and Right to Counsel. She is a member of the New Orleans Bar Association, the Louisiana Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, and the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel.

Since adopting New Orleans as her home in 1982, Ms Watters has been involved in many civic activities. She has mentored three children through the Each One, Save One program. She is a founding and sustaining board member of the DeSaix Area Neighborhood Association and was appointed to the Fairgrounds Citizen Advisory Board by the New Orleans City Council.