Judy Y. Barrasso of Barrasso Usdin Kupperman Freeman & Sarver, LLC in New Orleans is the recipient of the 2026 Louisiana Bar Foundation’s (LBF) Curtis R. Boisfontaine Trial Advocacy Award. The award was presented by LBF President Edmund Giering at the Louisiana State Bar Association (LSBA) General Assembly in Destin, Florida on June 4.
Ms. Barrasso received the award in recognition of her long-standing devotion to excellence in trial practice and for upholding the standards of ethics and consideration for the court, litigants, and all counsel. This award carries a cash stipend to any non-profit law-related program providing services in the state of Louisiana; Innocence & Justice Louisiana, formerly Innocence Project New Orleans, was selected by Ms. Barrasso to receive the $1,000 stipend donated in her name.
The award was established through an endowment to the LBF in memory of Mr. Boisfontaine, who served as president of the LSBA and of the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel. Donations from Sessions, Fishman, Nathan & Israel, L.L.P., the Boisfontaine family, and friends established the fund.
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 complex commercial contracts, director and officer liability, securities fraud, and insurance coverage and bad faith claims.
She has been ranked by Chambers USA as a top commercial litigator, by Benchmark Litigation as a Litigation Star, and by the Diversity Journal as among 200 corporate executives deemed “Women Worth Watching.” She has also been recognized among Louisiana Super Lawyers’ Top 10, Benchmark Litigation’s Top 250 Women in Litigation, and Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Lawyers in America. Judy was named a Lawdragon Legend in 2020 for being selected to the elite guide ten times and was named to the Lawdragon Hall of Fame in 2023. In 2017 and 2018, Louisiana Super Lawyers ranked her as Number One among lawyers in the State of Louisiana and consistently in the Top Ten Lawyers. According to Chambers, she “has a reputation as a formidable trial lawyer,” “stands ‘head and shoulders above much of the competition,’ and is “considered one of the state’s finest litigators.”
Barrasso is a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a fellow and Past President of the International Society of Barristers, organizations that select their members. She is a Past President of the New Orleans Bar Association and was the 2025 President’s Award Recipient. She was inducted into Tulane Law School’s Hall of Fame in 2018. She was the 2017 recipient of the John R. “Jack” Martzell Professionalism Award, presented by the New Orleans Chapter of the Federal Bar Association. Barrasso was also the 2016 recipient of the Louisiana Bar Foundation’s Distinguished Attorney Award. She 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 recently co-chaired an American College of Trial Lawyers Trial Advocacy Program in Cape Town, South Africa. She previously served as a board member and then chair of the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board from 2001-2005. She served on the Attorney Disciplinary Committee of the United States District Court for the Eastern District by the Court’s appointment from February 2011–July 2017.
Barrasso presently is on the board of Innocence & Justice Louisiana, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Isidore Newman School and Tulane Law School Dean’s Advisory Board. She previously served as a past Chair and Commissioner of the New Orleans Downtown Development District and served on the Board of Directors of the Contemporary Arts Center, the New Orleans Pro Bono Project, Summerbridge, Dress For Success, and the Anti-Defamation League (South Central Region). She received the prestigious Hannah G. Solomon award, given to individuals who have helped change the lives of others through leadership efforts and service. She was inducted into the Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame in 2025. Judy was named a Young Leadership Council Role Model in 2004, a YWCA Role Model in 2000, and a CityBusiness ‘Women of the Year’ honoree in 2001 and 2014.
