New Orleans: (504) 529 – 3333
Baton Rouge: (225) 610 – 1110
Lafayette: (337) 345 – 8628

Renee F. Smith Auld

Renee F. Smith Auld is a Partner with Degan, Blanchard & Nash. Mrs. Auld has significant experience in the areas of insurance defense, toxic torts, complex commercial litigation, multidistrict litigation, municipal law, labor employment, and appellate practice. As an aggressive litigator, she has been highly successful in defending national insurance companies and local governmental agencies in all aspects of litigation, including class actions. Her litigation experience is broad based including trials, writs, and appeals in high profile cases before state and federal courts.

Mrs. Auld attended Loyola University in New Orleans where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Communications in 1990. Mrs. Auld graduated from Loyola School of Law in 1994 and received a joint J.D./M.A. in Communications through Loyola University’s Graduate School of Communications. Her Master’s thesis was entitled "Trout A La Green Plague Redux: Defamation Law in Louisiana since Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co."

As a respected attorney in the community, Mrs. Auld has had an "AV" Martindale-Hubbell peer review rating since 2008. Additionally, Mrs. Auld has been recognized as a top local lawyer by New Orleans Magazine. Based upon her professional and civic contributions to the community, she received New Orleans City Business’s Leadership in Law Award in 2008. Since 2005, Mrs. Auld has been Assistant Examiner for the Louisiana Supreme Court Committee on Bar Admissions and grades the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure section of the Louisiana Bar exam.

Mrs. Auld has taught Persuasive Appellate Writing, a skills curriculum class at Loyola School of Law and is a frequent lecturer at CLEs and has spoken on the topics of: the Ethics of Film and Music, Open Meetings, Federal and State Law Regarding School Board Employee and Student Records, E-Discovery and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and Using Effective Remedies to Combat "Rambo Litigation." Mrs. Auld has also taught Legal Writing, Legal Research, Litigation: Commencement of an Action, and Insurance Law at the Baton Rouge College of Paralegal Studies in Metairie, Slidell, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Mrs. Auld is admitted to practice in Louisiana, Texas, the U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, the U.S. District Court Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Louisiana, and the U.S. District Court for the Southern Districts of Texas. Further, she is a member of the Louisiana Bar Association and the Texas Bar Association.

As a proud New Orleanian, Mrs. Auld has previously served on the Board of Directors for the Algiers Economic Development Foundation, the Board of City Trusts for the City of New Orleans, and was an at Large Representative for the Loyola University Alumni Board. She continues to be actively involved in the Algiers Economic Development Foundation, the League of Women Voters of New Orleans, the World Affairs Council of New Orleans, and the Gulf Coast French-American Chamber of Commerce. In an effort to become more engaged in the city’s recovery after Hurricane Katrina, she participated in the Committee for a Better New Orleans’ Metropolitan Leadership Forum in 2007 and was a fellow at Loyola University’s Institute of Politics in 2008 – 2009. Mrs. Auld also acted as the co-chair of her neighborhood’s Night Out Against Crime from 2006-2011.

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