Hon. Susie Morgan, U.S. District Judge, USDC-EDLA

Judge Morgan graduated from the LSU Law Center where she was a member of the Order of the Coif. After graduation, she clerked for Judge Henry Politz of the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Morgan handled complex civil litigation before being appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama in 2012. Judge Morgan now serves on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, which sits in New Orleans.

Hon. William J. Crain, U.S. District Judge, USDC-EDLA

Judge William Crain was appointed to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in December 2025. He previously served on the Louisiana Supreme Court (2019-2025), the First Circuit Court of Appeal (2013-2019) and the 22nd Judicial District Court (2009-2012). He is the first native-born Northshore resident elected to the Louisiana Supreme Court and the second appointed to the eastern district, following Judge Lansing Leroy “Tut” Mitchell appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1996. He was the chairman of the Louisiana Supreme Court Executive Committee and chairman of the Louisiana Judicial College, which is responsible for judicial education in Louisiana.

Nicholas J. Caluda, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP

Nico Caluda is Of Counsel at Quinn Emanuel’s Houston. Nico has extensive experience in the firm’s appellate and commercial litigation practices. He is an expert at distilling complex legal issues and intricate facts into winning briefs and motions that tell compelling stories. His expertise spans across many areas of the law, including contract disputes, mass torts, arbitrations, intellectual property, bankruptcy, securities, and constitutional law. Nico has drafted hundreds of briefs at every level of the federal and Texas court systems. He has served as counsel in merits cases before the United States Supreme Court, most recently in Ellingburg v. United States and Glossip v. Oklahoma, and before the Texas Supreme Court, most recently in ARM Energy Management LLC v. Medallion Pipeline Company and TotalEnergies v. MP Gulf of Mexico, LLC. He has argued appeals in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second, Fifth, and Eighth Circuits, and he has separately argued critical trial motions before courts and arbitration panels around the country. Nico also maintains an active trial practice, often drafting jury instructions, crafting in-trial briefs, and preparing witnesses for direct examinations.

Prior to joining Quinn Emanuel, he clerked for the Honorable Edith Brown Clement on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and for the Honorable Marina Garcia Marmolejo on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. He is a member of the Texas Bar and Louisiana Bar, as well as many federal courts.

Thomas M. Flanagan, Flanagan Partners LLP

Thomas M. Flanagan concentrates his practice in complex business litigation and civil appeals in the state and federal courts of Louisiana. Mr. Flanagan graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University and earned his law degree summa cum laude at Tulane Law School. After law school, he clerked for the Hon. John Minor Wisdom on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Best Lawyers has named Mr. Flanagan the New Orleans “Lawyer of the Year” in the areas of appellate practice and bet-the-company litigation a combined five times since 2015. He is a member of the American Law Institute, a fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, and the immediate past president of the New Orleans Bar Association. Mr. Flanagan is also a co-author of Tort Law: The American and Louisiana Perspectives (5th ed. 2026) and an adjunct professor at Tulane Law School.