Janika D. Polk, Trial Lawyer, Kuchler Polk Weiner, LLC
The Greater New Orleans Louis A. Martinet Legal Society, Inc. is excited to recognize Janika D. Polk for her outstanding accomplishments and commitment to diversity in the legal profession.
Janika D. Polk is a New Orleans native and co-founder of Kuchler Polk Weiner, LLC. Her firm is one of the only minority and women-owned civil litigation firms in New Orleans. The firm is comprised of twenty-nine attorneys and has offices in both New Orleans and Houston, Texas. Her primary practice areas include Commercial Litigation, Toxic Tort Litigation, Environmental Litigation, and Product Liability Litigation.
Ms. Polk recently served as lead counsel in the Eastern District of Louisiana and (together with a team that she describes as “top-notch”) won a sixty-one million dollar verdict. The case involved a contract dispute between oil companies about the costs surrounding the shutdown of four oil and gas wells in the Gulf of Mexico. The trial lasted eight days and it took the jury less than three hours to issue a unanimous verdict. Ms. Polk’s recent victory is extraordinary in that women of color rarely get the opportunity to serve as lead counsel in trials. A recent study put forth by the American Bar Association states that men are three times more likely than women to appear as lead counsel. Ms. Polk and her firm help forge a better profession that ensures that diversity of the trial bar is inevitable.
The Martinet Society is pleased to honor Ms. Polk as both an exceptional trial lawyer and leader.