Hon. Michael B. North, U.S. Magistrate Judge, USDC-EDLA

Judge Michael North was sworn in as Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana on March 1, 2014. Judge North attended Jesuit High School in New Orleans and received a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Louisiana State University in 1987 and a J.D. from Tulane Law School, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Tulane Law Review and graduated first in his class. Magistrate Judge North spent 16 years in private litigation practice, handling and trying cases in state and federal courts throughout the country in diverse areas of the law, including products liability, commercial litigation, labor and employment, maritime, and insurance coverage and casualty matters.

Hon. Donna Phillips Currault, U.S. Magistrate Judge, USDC-EDLA

The Honorable Donna Phillips Currault serves as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana.  Before joining the federal bench in June 2020, she was a member of Gordon, Arata, LLC, where she handled complex commercial litigation matters including class and collective actions, business disputes, and business torts.  She regularly represented employers in claims brought under federal and state anti-discrimination statutes and advised clients on employment agreements and non-competition/non-solicitation issues, prepared policies and handbooks, and conducted training on employment matters.   

Judge Currault graduated magna cum laude from Tulane University School of Law in 1989 and was selected for Order of the Coif.  While in law school, she was a Managing Editor and member of the Tulane Law Review.  She also served as a Senior Fellow for Tulane Law School’s Legal Research and Writing program.  From 1989-1990, she served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Morey L. Sear, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Judge Currault is a Life Fellow of the Federal Bar and American Bar Foundations and a Fellow of the Louisiana Bar Foundation and Litigation Counsel of America.  She is a member of the Tulane Law Review Advisory Board, the St. Thomas More Inn of Court, and the Federal Magistrate Judges Association where she serves as the Director for the Fifth Circuit.  Judge Currault is a Past President of the New Orleans Chapter of the Federal Bar Association (2021-22), former member of the New Orleans Chapter FBA Board of Directors (2002-2023), past Chair of the FBA’s Labor & Employment Section (2015-16), and past Chair of the Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization’s Employment Law Advisory Commission.  She formerly served as the Code I Examiner and is currently on the Testing Committee for the Louisiana Committee on Bar Admissions. 

While in private practice, Judge Currault was rated AV® Preeminent™ by Martindale-Hubbell and listed in Best Lawyers in America (Commercial Litigation and Employment Law), Chambers USA Leading Lawyers in Labor & Employment, SuperLawyers Louisiana (Top 25 Women Lawyers and Labor & Employment), Benchmark Top 250 Women in Litigation, and New Orleans “Top Lawyers” in Labor and Employment Law.  New Orleans CityBusiness selected her as a 2020 Leader in the Law honoree.

Hon. Franz Zibilich, Ret. Judge, Orleans Parish Criminal District Court

Judge Franz Zibilich practiced law in state and federal courts in Louisiana for over 26 years before being elected a District Court Judge in New Orleans in 2011. He served as a judge for 9 years before retiring at the end of 2020. Franz worked in the City Attorney’s office in New Orleans as a Deputy City Attorney and Chief Deputy City Attorney for over 24 years and was a supervisor for all litigation matters. Franz has tried more than 160 jury cases in state and federal courts in front of 52 different judges. He also argued dozens of cases in state and federal Appellate Courts, including the Louisiana Supreme Court. Franz is a member in good standing to practice before the United States Supreme Court. He also taught trial advocacy at Tulane Law School for 12 years. Franz has participated in hundreds of settlement conferences and mediations. He has successfully medicated over 800 cases since joining maps in 2021.

Alysson Mills, Alysson Mills LLC

Alysson Mills has a diverse law practice.  She represents plaintiffs in professional fraud and securities fraud cases and plaintiffs and defendants in cases implicating the First Amendment.  She is a member of the Eastern District of Louisiana’s Criminal Justice Act Panel and represents indigent criminal defendants in federal appeals.  She has served as a federal court-appointed receiver and neutral, including for the Eastern District of Louisiana's Hurricane Ida Panel, for which she mediated approximately 100 cases.