Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani welcomes Kay Barnes Baxter as partner in the firm's New Orleans office. She joins the firm's Environmental/Toxic Tort, Cannabis, Hemp & CBD, Product Liability, and Trucking & Transportation practice groups.
Kay Barnes Baxter is a seasoned litigator focused on the defense of toxic torts, occupational disease and environmental claims alleging personal injury and property damage, as well as matters involving construction and transportation litigation. More recently, Ms. Baxter has become a frequently invited speaker at national conferences where she presents and discusses the latest challenges for her clients and others involved in the ever expanding cannabis business, including compliance issues and the environmental impact of the cannabis industry. She is a driven litigator who enjoys the challenge of finding and implementing innovative ways to advise, defend and protect her clients’ interests. She has extensive experience defending cases involving a wide range of products including asbestos, benzene, silica, talc and chemical solvents. These matters include individual claims, as well as mass torts and class actions.
Ms. Baxter serves a wide range of clients in varied aspects of litigation including manufacturers, miners, suppliers, contractors, employers, service providers,and executive officers in toxic torts, environmental, transportation, construction and workers compensation claims. A widely acknowledged authority in her field of practice, she handled the first Chinese Drywall claim accepted for defense by one of the largest insurance companies in the United States. She has also served as national trial counsel for Fortune 500 companies and has worked with the foremost nationally and internationally known experts in their various fields of specialty and continues to develop new experts for her clients.
"We are pleased that Kay has joined the firm," said Joe DiCecco, Managing Partner of the New Orleans office. "She is a creative, skilled, proven trial attorney and will be a superb addition to the New Orleans office as Gordon & Rees continues to service the needs of our clients in the Gulf Coast Region and throughout the U.S.”
Ms. Baxter is a regular presenter at national conferences in her practice specialties and actively involved in leading legal defense organizations. She is admitted to practice in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas, and Oklahoma.
She earned her law degree from Loyola University School of Law and her undergraduate degree from the University of Arkansas. She is Rated AV® Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell® and also recognized as one of the Best Lawyers in America® in the categories of Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Defendants; Product Liability Litigation – Defendants, 2012 -2022.