Shelly Spansel joined Adams and Reese in 2006 and works in various areas of litigation. Her primary areas of practice are labor and employment litigation and healthcare litigation. She is involved in all stages of lawsuits, including fact gathering; planning strategy; legal research; drafting exceptions, motions and memoranda; attending court to argue exceptions and motions; taking depositions; and trial preparation.
She has represented employers in EEOC proceedings and in state and federal court. She has defended employers on a variety of claims, including race discrimination, age discrimination, gender discrimination, and disability discrimination; FMLA claims; ERISA claims; and wage claims. Her work in healthcare litigation includes defense of healthcare providers at the medical review panel stage and in post-panel suits.
Shelly also has experience in appellate work, including drafting supervisory writ applications and appellate briefs and arguing in appellate court. She has had several appellate victories.
Some of her litigation success stories include:
- Carter v. Ochsner Clinic Foundation (drafted appellate brief and orally argued before the Louisiana Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal; district court’s decision granting exception of prescription in favor of our client upheld by the Fifth Circuit, 07-889 (La. App. 5 Cir. 3/11/08); 978 So.2d 562, cert. denied, 08-0936 (La. 8/29/08); 989 So.2d 99)
- Morales v. Ochsner Clinic Foundation (drafted supervisory writ application to the Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal; writ application granted by Fourth Circuit; district court’s decision denying exception of no cause of action reversed in favor our client, La. First Circuit Court of Appeal, Docket Number 2007-C-0594, cert. denied, La. Supreme Court, Docket Number 1007-CC-1807)
- Sharplin v. Helmerich & Payne International (drafted supervisory writ application to the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal; writ application granted by First Circuit; worker’s compensation court’s decision denying motion for summary judgment reversed in favor of our client, La. First Circuit Court of Appeal, Docket Number 2007-CW-1318, cert. denied, 2007-1954 (La. 12/7/07); 969 So.2d 634; drafted motion for summary judgment in subsequent tort action brought by plaintiff against our client; motion for summary judgment granted by United States District Court, Middle District of Louisiana, 2008 WL 2993651 (M.D. La. 2008))
- Bean v. Ochsner (drafted supervisory writ application to the Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal; writ application granted by Fourth Circuit; lower court’s decision denying motion to dismiss on grounds of abandonment reversed in favor of our client)
In law school, Shelly served as a Casenote and Comment Editor on Loyola New Orleans’ Law Review. She was also a member of Moot Court.
When she’s not in the office she’s often spending time outdoors biking, camping and canoeing. She also enjoys painting and drawing.
Presentations
- Age Discrimination and Disparate Impact; Employee Blogging: The Do’s and Don’t’s for Employers Meals, Wheels and Deals: Handling Wage and Hour Issues; The Interplay Between FMLA, ADA, and Worker’s Compensation, Air Conditioning Contractors of America: Labor and Employment Law Summit, Lorman Employment Law Seminar October 2007
Publications
- Comment, Robins Dry Dock Versus State Laws Governing Liability for Pure Economic Loss: How the Maritime Circuit Should Resolve the Preemption Conflict, 51 Loy. L. Rev. 165 (2005
- Casenote, East Baton Rouge Parish School Board v. Foster: The Constitutionality of the Appropriations to Various Schools Under Act 26, 49 Loy. L. Rev. 1025 (2003)
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