Named one of the Top 25 Women Louisiana Super Lawyers for 2018 and selected as a Louisiana Super Lawyer in the area of Business Litigation and a Recognized Practitioner by Chambers and Partners USA in its Commercial Litigation category, Ashley advises businesses, financial institutions, and individuals concerning bankruptcies, class actions, contracts, construction, environmental issues, fidelity, surety and financial institution bonds, insurance, professional malpractice, real estate, corporate, and estate matters. She also mediates and arbitrates business disputes. Ashley currently serves as a member of the AAA Construction Panel, AAA Commercial Panel and FINRA Panel as an arbitrator and mediator. After Hurricane Katrina, she served as a member of the Panel of Mediators for the Louisiana Department of Insurance Hurricane Mediation Program Administered by American Arbitration Association (AAA) mediating over 350 hurricane wind damage disputes between homeowners and insurance companies.

Ashley serves as a current Vice-Chair of the ABA Fidelity and Surety Law Committee and also served in 2010-2011 as the National President of the Federal Bar Association. She is currently serving as the FBA Delegate to the American Bar Association. 

A former entrepreneur, Ashley knows how a business operates from the inside out, having been a business owner since 1988. First as the owner of a publishing company, and then an owner and managing partner of a law firm, she understands the need for efficiency in the management and marketing of a business and how to address the employee and financial aspects of a business.

Ashley works with business owners and entrepreneurs assisting them with every aspect of the business from inception through growth and development to, when necessary, dissolution. She assists her clients in obtaining financing, provides on-going business advice, represents clients during litigation, and counsels them through the dissolution of the business. Ashley also consults with individuals on how to protect their personal assets through estate and trust vehicles.

Among her numerous honors and accolades, Ashley was selected for inclusion in the 2011 Inaugural Edition of the Martindale-Hubbell Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers™, an exclusive honor reserved for less than five percent of female lawyers who are rated AV Preeminent Women™. She has been selected for inclusion in subsequent editions as well.  Ashley was also named to the 2016 class of CityBusiness Leadership in Law and to the 2012 class of CityBusiness Women of the Year.

A native of Mobile, Alabama, Ashley received her B.A. from Newcomb College and her J.D. from Tulane University School of Law. Upon graduating from Tulane University School of Law, she clerked in the Eastern District of Louisiana for the late Judge Henry A. Mentz, Jr. and was awarded the Eastern District of Louisiana Distinguished Service Award.

Representative Experience:

• Representation of fidelity and fiduciary insurance carriers in connection with employee fraud, embezzlement claims and third party claims.
• Defense of engineering companies arising from professional design and engineering services.
• Defense of law firms in connection with legal malpractice claims.
• Representation of contractors and subcontractors in contract negotiations and contract disputes.
• Defense of internet based company in class action brought to contest contract.
• Defense of California wine producers in class action alleging unsafe levels of arsenic.
• Defense of financial institution in suit arising from commercial leases of properties in South Louisiana.
• Defense of manufacturer in connection with product dispute regarding the design and manufacture of equipment.
• Defense of securities brokerage house in connection with dispute between securities brokerage houses.
• Defense of corporate owner in dispute with contractor over breach of construction contract relating to inadequate, defective and substandard performance.
• Defense of government entity in constitutional taking of property action.
• Defense of electrical company in anti-trust jury case alleging bid rigging of electrical contracts in a South Louisiana power plant.
• Served as a hearing examiner of property assessment tax appeals for the City of New Orleans and as a hearing officer of blighted properties for the City of New Orleans.

Notable Achievements:

Recognised Practitioner by Chambers and Partners USA in its Commercial Litigation category

Best Lawyers 2019

Louisiana Super Lawyers Top 25 Women 2018 

New Orleans CityBusiness 'Leadership in Law' Class 2016

New Orleans Magazine’s Top Lawyers in New Orleans, 2013-2015

New Orleans CityBusiness Women of the Year Class of 2012

Top Rated Lawyers® Guide to Alternative Dispute Resolution, 2012 

Fellowship in Litigation Counsel of America, The Trial Lawyer Honorary Society, 2012

Martindale-Hubbell Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers, 2011 Inaugural Edition and subsequent editions 2012-2013

Louisiana Super Lawyers--Business Litigation, 2007-2013, 2015-2016

The Louisiana United States District Court Newsletter, Editor 1987-1999

The Honorable Henry A. Mentz, Jr. (deceased); United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana Distinguished Service Award, Judicial Law Clerk and Extern, 1983-1986 

Professional Associations:

Federal Bar Association - National President, 2010-2011; National Delegate to the ABA House of Delegates, 2013- 2017

Federal Bar Building Corporation - Director, 2012-2018; Treasurer, 2014 - 2016; Secretary, 2013-2014

Foundation of the Federal Bar Association - Life Fellow, 2002 - present

American Bar Association, Vice-Chair, Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section (TIPS) Fidelity & Surety Law General Committee for 2012-2017

American Bar Foundation – Life Fellow, 2007 - present

American Inns of Court--Tulane Chapter - Barrister, 1987 - present

Defense Research Institute

The International Society of Primerus Law Firms, 2009 - 2015, Executive Committee of Construction Practice Group 2012 - 2015

Louisiana State Bar Association, House of Delegates, 1997-2016; Vice-Chair, Bankruptcy Law Section, 2007-2016; Chair, Young Lawyers Executive Council, 1994-1995

Louisiana Bar Foundation, Fellow, 1989-present; Director, 1997-2000

Federalist Society- James Madison Club; Louisiana Chapter, Executive Committee Member, 2004-2006

Fifth Circuit Judicial Conference - Host Committee Member, 2005