Civil District Court Judge Tiffany Gauthier Chase has served on the bench for 10 years and is making her second bid for the appellate court after running unsuccessfully last March against Judge Paula A. Brown.
Chase says her strong work ethic, knowledge of the law and judicial temperament make her the right candidate to advance to the appeal court bench and adds that her strong skills and experience in research and writing give her an edge in this race.

“An appellate court judge must be able to analyze a case, review the decision from the lower court and succinctly communicate her position,” says Chase. “As a trial judge, I have handled thousands of cases and written extensive reasons for judgment. I spent seven years working for the Louisiana Supreme Court, drafting decisions, which were signed by justices of the Supreme Court. In my tenure, I drafted more than 50 decisions. I believe there could be no better on-the-job training for an appellate judge than the experience I had at Louisiana’s highest court.”

In addition to her decade on the civil bench and her work with the Supreme Court, Chase spent about three years as an attorney in private practice. But it is her role in establishing a self-help desk at criminal district court of which Chase is most proud.

“I am especially dedicated to ensuring all persons have access to justice,” she says. “I helped launch Louisiana’s first self-help desk designed to help citizens navigate the legal process at Civil District Court. Since its inception in 2010, the self-help desk has provided 10,000 New Orleans citizens with assistance on a variety of issues. There are now eight self-help desks throughout the state of Louisiana based on our help desk.”

If elected to the appellate court, Chase hopes to establish a similar program at the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal.

Chase also served as the chairperson of Civil District Court’s Technology Committee and is eager to offer her assistance to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in this area as well.

Chase is a former member of the board of directors for the Carrollton/Hollygrove Senior Citizens Center, co-chair of the New Orleans Bar Association Bench Bar Conference and chair of the Louisiana Courts’ Security Committee among other leadership roles and honors.

She earned a B.A. in philosophy for Loyola University and her law degree from Loyola University School of Law.