Belleau, Ashley L.
Biography
Named one of the Top 25 Women Louisiana Super Lawyers every year since 2018, recognized by The Best Lawyers in America© and a Recognized Practitioner by Chambers and Partners USA in its Commercial Litigation category, Ashley advises businesses, financial institutions, and individuals concerning bankruptcies, class actions, contracts, construction, environmental issues, fidelity, surety and financial institution bonds, insurance, professional malpractice, real estate, corporate, and estate matters. She also mediates and arbitrates business disputes. Ashley currently serves as a member of the AAA Construction Panel, AAA Commercial Panel and FINRA Panel as an arbitrator and mediator. After Hurricane Katrina, she served as a member of the Panel of Mediators for the Louisiana Department of Insurance Hurricane Mediation Program Administered by American Arbitration Association (AAA) mediating over 350 hurricane wind damage disputes between homeowners and insurance companies.
Ashley currently serves in several professional organization leadership positions including her most recent elected position as the American Counsel Association's President-Elect, her appointment to the Council of the Louisiana State Law Institute for 2020-2021, and her re-elected position serving as the FBA Delegate to the American Bar Association, as well as the Vice-Chair of the ABA's Fidelity and Surety Law Committee. A long-standing prominent and active member of the Federal Bar Association, she was the 2010-2011 National President.
A former entrepreneur, Ashley knows how a business operates from the inside out, having been a business owner since 1988. First as the owner of a publishing company, and then an owner and managing partner of a law firm, she understands the need for efficiency in the management and marketing of a business and how to address the employee and financial aspects of a business.
Ashley works with business owners and entrepreneurs assisting them with every aspect of the business from inception through growth and development to, when necessary, dissolution. She assists her clients in obtaining financing, provides on-going business advice, represents clients during litigation, and counsels them through the dissolution of the business. Ashley also consults with individuals on how to protect their personal assets through estate and trust vehicles.
Among her numerous honors and accolades, Ashley was the selected recipient of the Jack Martzell Professionalism Award by the New Orleans Bar Association in 2018, has appeared in multiple 'Top Lawyers' listings, and also honored to have been included in the 2011 Inaugural Edition of the Martindale-Hubbell Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers™, an exclusive honor reserved for less than five percent of female lawyers who are rated AV Preeminent Women™. Since that first edition, Ashley has been selected for multiple subsequent editions as well. She is also very proud to be included in the 2020 class and 2016 class of New Orleans CityBusiness Magazine 'Leadership in Law' and the 2021 and 2012 class of CityBusiness Magazine 'Women of the Year' awards.
A native of Mobile, Alabama, Ashley received her B.A. from Newcomb College and her J.D. from Tulane University School of Law. Upon graduating from Tulane University School of Law, she clerked in the Eastern District of Louisiana for the late Judge Henry A. Mentz, Jr. and was awarded the Eastern District of Louisiana Distinguished Service Award.
