Leila D’Aquin is Special Counsel with Leake Andersson and has practiced and taught law for 35 years. A native New Orleanian, she earned her B.S. in Finance from LSU in 1983 and worked as a Financial Analyst at a major Louisiana bank prior to attending law school. As a law student at Loyola, she served as Comment Editor of the Loyola Law Review and was named Best Oral Advocate in the Regional Round of the 1987 National Moot Court Competition. Following graduation in 1988, she was a commercial litigation associate, first with the Montgomery Barnett firm in New Orleans and then with Haynes and Boone in Dallas, Texas.

While practicing with those firms, she served as an adjunct faculty member at Loyola, teaching appellate Moot Court; was on the trial advocacy faculty at the Tulane, LSU, and Emory law schools; became a frequent team leader and faculty member for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy; and was for several years a director of the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel Trial Academy. In 2001, she joined the faculty at the University of Wyoming College of Law, where she taught Federal Courts, Trial Practice, and Civil Procedure, coached the trial and appellate moot court teams, and organized university seminars and interfaith workshops on the death penalty.

In 2006, Leila returned to New Orleans, serving as Senior Counsel in the Litigation section of Entergy’s Legal Department until 2009 and then as Counsel with a large New Orleans firm, focusing her trial and appellate practice on commercial, product liability, pharmaceutical, medical device, and casualty cases. Her trial experience includes contract disputes; director and officer liability; appraisal, notarial, and medical malpractice; insurance coverage; securities fraud; ERISA; civil rights; product liability; and drug and device cases. She has tried cases before judges and juries in Louisiana and Texas and has appeared before courts in California, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Oregon, and Wyoming. Leila has significant appellate experience, having handled writ applications and appeals in Louisiana and Texas state circuit courts, the Louisiana Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of Texas, the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.

Personal

Leila lives in Uptown New Orleans and is a huge fan of the New Orleans Saints. The New Orleans Pelicans, and LSU Women’s Basketball. She also enjoys theater, gardening, reading, traveling, book and dinner groups, her amazing cats, spending time with her six siblings and extended family, and participating in chess and backgammon tournaments with her son, Eli.

Community Involvement

Leila has volunteered with schools and nonprofits in each community where she has lived and has served on boards and committees for many of those organizations.

  • East Dallas Community Garden, Board of Directors, 1997-99
  • Social Justice Committee, St. Paul’s Newman Center Catholic Church, Laramie, Wyoming, 2002-04
  • Sunday School Teacher, St. Bernard of Clairveux Parish, Dallas, Texas 2005-06
  • Founder, Morphy Chess and Cultural Center, 2019-20 (closed due to pandemic)
  • Louisiana Chess Association, Board of Directors, 2017-23 (President, VP, Secretary Treasurer)
  • United States Chess Federation, Executive Board, Director at Large, 2023-present,
  • Louisiana Delegate, 2012-23, Governance Task Force; Bylaws Committee; Conflict of Interest Committee;    Programs Committee (Vice Chair); Senior Players Committee;     Women’s Committee
    • Created and developed innovative Girls’ Club program to encourage and increase participation of under-represented group in scholastic competition. Initiated US Chess partnership in Alzheimer’s Association Longest Day Awareness and Support Program
  • Loyola Law Review, Comment Editor, 1987-88
  • National Moot Court Team, 1986 & 1987,
    • Top Oral Advocate in Region, 1987
  • Teaching Assistant, Moot Court Course 1987-88
  • Research Assistant, Prof. Michael Vitiello, 1986-88
  • Distinguished Service Award, Loyola Law Alumni, 2018