Lucy Killen has joined Loyd J Bourgeois LLC as a family law attorney.
“The passion, experience and commitment she brings matches up well with our LJB Legal core values of getting things done, doing the right thing, operating with transparency, and compassionately making a difference each and every day,” says Bourgeois.
In 2010, Loyd Bourgeois opened his law firm on River Road in Luling. For many years, he was a true solo practitioner with no additional staff. In those days, he practiced mostly disability law, both Social Security Disability and ERISA Long-Term Disability (the kind usually provided by an employer.)
Past clients were regularly asking if he handled car accidents and other personal injury cases. Other times, they would call complaining that they had hired another attorney in the city for their auto injury case, but just did not get the attention, information, or family atmosphere that they experienced at Bourgeois’ office. He was driven to help his clients through their legal trials and decided to expand into personal injury.
The firm began to grow and with it came the need for some additional office staff. Bourgeois made his first hire.
The entire time he was also getting asked to handle family law matters. A past client was now getting a divorce, or their sister was in a child custody battle. Bourgeois regularly turned these cases down. He had made his reputation doing disability and injury law, and he just was not interested in venturing into family law and dealing with issues such as child custody, spousal support, divorce, and property division.
But then things changed for him. Bourgeois said the main thing that opened his eyes was a past client who told him “you say you help during life’s tough times (disability and personal injury), but divorce is one of the toughest times people face and I need your help.” And shortly after that a close family member went through a divorce and came to him for guidance. Bourgeois says that what he learned in helping him transformed him and his way of thinking for the better.
He began taking those cases from former clients and the people they referred. Word began to spread, and the family law business picked up. His staff grew by a couple more. The firm found itself on Expertise.com’s lists of 13 Best Family Lawyers in New Orleans and 18 Best Divorce Lawyers in New Orleans.
Last year, Bourgeois had family lawyer Lucy Killen come on board in an “Of Counsel” role, which is kind of a fancy legal way of saying “as needed.”
Over the course of the year, that “as needed” just grew and grew. It soon became “always needed.”
On March 15, Killen joined the firm as a full-time family law attorney.
“Loyd is a skilled and compassionate advocate for his disability and injury clients and after years of being asked by those clients to bring his client focus to the family law arena and help with their pressing family law issues, he reached out to me for help. Over the past year, I have learned it’s not just about words – he and his team really care for their clients. The culture they foster within their office and with their clients and community is infectious. Joining forces on a full-time basis with his team was an easy decision,” said Killen.
“This is a huge milestone for LJB Legal,” said Bourgeois. “When I opened the firm a little over 10 years ago, I wanted to feel good about the work I was doing and know that I was truly helping people and contributing to my community. I wanted to help as many people as possible. Every decision I have made since then has been driven with that goal in mind.”
Killen resides in Destrehan with her husband and dogs but is originally from New Iberia and attended the AB Freeman School of Business at Tulane University where she majored in business and English.
She has taught in the New Orleans metro area through the Teach for America program and worked in New Orleans city government advocating for health programs to support the city.
She then attended Loyola Law and is licensed in Louisiana.
Prior to joining the LJB Legal team as head of the family law department, Killen owned and operated her own family law firm in New Orleans.
She has been a family law attorney for 10 years and was named to the SuperLawyers list of Louisiana Rising Stars in 2020.
“Lucy and I were very similar in having a client-focused culture and providing compassionate legal help during life’s tough times,” said Bourgeois. “The combination enables us to provide a new and broader set of services to St. Charles Parish.”
More information about Bourgeois, Killen, and the LJB Legal team can be found online at LJBLegal.com.
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