COVINGTON, LA – Joining the firm in December, 2013, Laura Caviness has been named a partner in the Covington office. She represents nursing homes and health care providers in litigation as well as medical malpractice claims and provides advice on legal and regulatory issues affecting their business. She also a member of the environmental team and practices in the areas of environmental and toxic tort litigation.
Caviness graduated summa cum laude from Loyola University New Orleans School of Law in 2007, ranked first in her class. While at Loyola, Caviness was the published author of a Comment critiquing Louisiana's relocation laws in the context of divorce and child custody. She also placed second in the National First Amendment Moot Court Competition at Vanderbilt Law School, the first time in Loyola Law School's history that one of its teams made it to the finals.
Prior to joining the firm, Caviness gained extensive litigation experience in both civil and criminal proceedings, as a solo practitioner. She has handled cases from inception to trial and through appeal. In addition to her litigation background, Caviness also became a sought after contract writing attorney due to her renowned research and writing skills. Local counsel contracted Caviness to prepare everything from motions and memoranda to writ applications and appellate briefs, for which she has been credited with achieving reversal of unfavorable judgments on appeal.
Along with her professional work, Caviness is an active member in the community. She has worked as a volunteer judge at Tulane Law School's Moot Court Competition, has represented indigent clients in civil cases in the St. Tammany area, and has served as court-appointed counsel for the disabled in interdiction proceedings. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Caviness took her civic duties a step further; putting her legal studies on hold for a semester, she joined her Church on the PRC Compassion Disaster Relief Team to assist in the distribution of food and supplies to the community. Her contributions to community involvement have carried over to Curry & Friend where Caviness served as a member of the firm's pro bono task force and was responsible for drafting and implementing the firm's pro bono policy. As a result of this effort, Curry & Friend was named the 2015 Louisiana Pro Bono Law Firm of the Year by the Pro Bono Project.
