Darrel James Papillion is a United States District Judge serving in the Eastern District of Louisiana. He was nominated to the federal bench by President Joseph R. Biden on March 21, 2023 and was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 30, 2023. President Biden signed his judicial commission on June 1, 2023, and he took the oath of office and began serving as a federal judge in New Orleans on June 2, 2023.

Before his elevation to the federal bench, Judge Papillion was a founding partner in the Baton Rouge law firm of Walters, Papillion, Thomas & Cullens, where he practiced from 2009 to 2023. Prior to starting his own firm in Baton Rouge, he practiced from 1995 to 2009 at his firms predecessor firms and at McGlinchey Stafford in New Orleans. Over his nearly thirty years as a lawyer, Judge Papillion handled many complicated personal injury and wrongful death cases and developed a well-known expertise in products liability law. He represented both plaintiffs and defendants, including multi-national automotive and heavy equipment manufacturers as well as persons who were severely injured in accidents or their surviving family members in wrongful death cases. He also worked as a mediator in numerous civil cases, was appointed as a Special Master by Louisianas Nineteenth Judicial District Court in complex matters, and served as a Special Prosecutor for the East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorneys Office.

Over the course of his career, he tried many cases to verdict, earning him membership in the American College of Trial Lawyers, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, and the International Society of Barristers.

He was the 2016-2017 President of the Louisiana State Bar Association and served as President of the Baton Rouge Bar Association in 2014.

He has been an Adjunct Professor of Law at Louisiana State University Law Center since 2000; has authored numerous articles in law reviews, journals, and other legal publications; and has taught hundreds of hours of continuing legal education courses for lawyers and judges.

He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and served as a law clerk to Louisiana Supreme Court Associate Justice Catherine D. Kimball, who was the first woman to serve on Louisianas highest court and who later became the first woman to serve as Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court.

Company Firm

US District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana

Firm Mailing

500 Poydras St, C-555
New Orleans
Louisiana
70130-3319
United States of America

Fellow Since

September 25, 2020

Practice Areas

  • Constitutional

Chapter

  • Louisiana