Darrel J. Papillion is a Louisiana trial lawyer who handles complicated wrongful death and serious personal injury cases. He has extensive trial experience, and his practice focuses on all areas of personal injury and wrongful death law including products liability, automobile accidents, premises liability, sexual abuse litigation, and industrial accidents. He is a graduate of Louisiana State University (B.A., 1990) and the Paul M. Herbert Law Center, Louisiana State University (J.D., 1994). He is a former law clerk to Catherine D. Kimball, Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court. Before moving to Baton Rouge in 1999, he practiced at McGlinchey Stafford, a national law firm, representing multinational corporations and insurers in products liability and casualty actions in state and federal court.
He has handled many complicated, multi-million dollar legal matters for his clients in electrocution, burn, asbestos, and other industrial and highway accident cases. He has vast experience in the handling of cases involving workplace accidents that caused death and catastrophic injuries.
Mr. Papillion is actively involved in the Louisiana legal community. He has served as an officer or as a board member of numerous professional and civic organizations. He served as the 2016-2017 President of the Louisiana State Bar Association. He is a past President of the Baton Rouge Bar Association, is a member of the Board of Directors of the Louisiana Bar Foundation, and he is a former President of the Wex Malone Chapter of the American Inns of Court. He is a former member of the Louisiana State Bar Association House of Delegates, and the Board of Governors of the Louisiana Association for Justice. He was appointed by the Louisiana Supreme Court to serve on the Supreme Court Committee to study lawyer advertising in Louisiana and is a former Chairman of the Louisiana State Bar Association Ethics Advisory Service and served on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana’s Magistrate Selection Committee. He currently serves as Co-Chair of the Louisiana State Bar Association Continuing Legal Education Committee. In 2005, he received the Louisiana State Bar Association's Michaelle Pitard Wynn Professionalism Award. He is also Past President of the 500+ member Rotary Club of Baton Rouge, one of the largest Rotary Clubs in the world.
He served as an adjunct law professor at Louisiana State University's Paul M. Hebert Law Center, for nearly 15 years and was appointed by Chancellor Jack Weiss of the LSU Law Center to Chair the Law Center’s Diversity Task Force.
Mr. Papillion is routinely invited to speak at seminars for other lawyers on a wide variety of issues throughout the state and country. Some of his recent seminars include wrongful death litigation, federal jurisdiction and procedure, understanding and proving psychological injuries and damages, insurance litigation issues and recent developments in civil law and litigation. He has published articles in the Louisiana Law Review, the Louisiana Bar Journal, and other legal publications.
He has an "AV" rating from Martindale Hubbell and has been recognized as a "Louisiana Super Lawyer" in the area of personal injury litigation and has been selected for inclusion in Superlawyers from 2006 to the present in the field of Personal Injury.
In addition to his professional activities, Mr. Papillion is very involved in the community. He and his family are parishioners at St. George Catholic Church, and he has served on the boards of a number of state and local organizations, including Teach for America, Friends of Louisiana Public Broadcasting, and the LPB Foundation. In 2006, he was named one of Baton Rouge's Top 40 Under 40 by the Baton Rouge Business Report.
EDUCATION
J.D., Louisiana State University Law Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1994
B.A., Louisiana State University, 1990
Bar AdmissionsLouisiana, 1994
PROFESSIONAL & BAR ASSOCIATAION MEMBERSHIPS
Louisiana State Bar Association
Member, Board of Governors
Baton Rouge Bar Association
Board of Directors
Louisiana Bar Foundation
Board of Directors
Wex Malone Chapter of the American Inns of Court
Former President
Louisiana Association for Justice
Board of Governors
Louisiana State Bar Association Ethics Advisory Service
Former Chairman
Louisiana State Bar Association Continuing Legal Education Committee
Co-Chair
PAST EMPLOYMENT POSITIONS
Catherine D. Kimball, Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, Former Law Clerk
Pro Bono Activities
Former Member, Louisiana State Bar Association House of Delegates
Parishioners, St. George Catholic Church
President-Elect, 500+ member Rotary Club of Baton Rouge
HONORS AND AWARDS
Best Lawyers, Lawyer of the Year in 2019
Superlawyers, 2006 - 2014
Louisiana State Bar Association's Michaelle Pitard Wynn Professionalism Award, 2005
"AV" Rating from Martindale Hubbell
Louisiana Super Lawyer
One of Baton Rouge's Top 40 Under 40 by the Baton Rouge Business Report
CLASSES / SEMINARS
Adjunct Professor of Law in pretrial litigation and trial advocacy, Southern University Law Center, Baton Rouge
