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Jennie and her husband, Brad, have been married for 30 years and are proud parents of Grace (their 16 year-old daughter), who attends the Episcopal School of Acadiana (ESA). When Jennie is not at the office, she probably is on campus at ESA – either watching Grace play volleyball, soccer or tennis, or volunteering at school events such as career day and sports tournaments, or on the sidelines of soccer fields in Louisiana and surrounding states – cheering Grace and her travel soccer teammates on to victory. Jennie and Brad also serve as the ESA Class of 2025 Annual Fund Class Captains.
In early 2023, Jennie was a member of a 6-person philanthropic leadership team assembled by Grace (who was one of the Student Visionaries of the Year (SVOY) for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS)). Over the course of the LLS’s six-week campaign, Jennie worked with her team (Giving Through Grace) to identify sponsors and to secure individual donations for the LLS. As a result of the personal fulfillment Jennie received from this effort, she accepted a spot on the SVOY’s Leadership Team for 2024.
Jennie Porche Pellegrin began her career as a lawyer in 1997, when she joined the firm as an associate after graduating from the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center.
Jennie was born in Houma, Louisiana in 1972. She attended St. Bernadette Catholic (elementary) School through the seventh grade and went on to attend Vandebilt Catholic High School, where she was involved in student council and was a member of various academic groups and service clubs. She also played on the school’s volleyball, softball & basketball teams until her junior year, when she transferred to the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts – a preeminent, state-supported residential high school in Natchitoches, Louisiana.
Jennie graduated from LSMSA in 1989 and went on to attend LSU. There, she pursued a double major in political science and geography. Jennie received a Bachelor of Arts degree from LSU in 1992.
Uncertain about whether the pursuit of a law degree was the right path for her, Jennie decided to delay her application to law school and opted instead to enroll directly in the LSU Paralegal Studies Program. After completing this accelerated paralegal program and receiving her paralegal studies certificate in December 1992, Jennie began working at a defense-based law firm in Lafayette, Louisiana. It was not long thereafter that her decision to seek admission to law school was solidified, and Jennie was accepted for admission to LSU.
Jennie attended the LSU Law Center from 1994 to 1997 and after graduation, joined the firm of Laborde & Neuner (now, NeunerPate). In her years as an associate, Jennie practiced primarily in the areas of workers’ compensation defense, municipal entity & municipal employee defense, asbestos defense and personal injury defense. Among her clients were Grey Wolf Drilling (now, Precision Drilling), Dow Chemical, Ingersoll-Rand and the St. Martin Parish Sheriff, as well as various insurers of each.
Jennie became an equity partner in the firm in 2004. Since then, her practice has expanded into other areas, including premises liability defense, employment law and governmental entity & governmental employee defense. Her clients have included Specialty Retailers (d/b/a Stage Stores), Stallion Oilfield, Island Operating Company and various state departments/boards/offices & state employees. Jennie currently serves by appointment as a Special Assistant Attorney General in cases throughout the state – a title she has held for the past 15 years.
Having represented many out-of-state clients over the years and being retained in many cases in which Section 1983 claims have been made, Jennie often represents clients (and routinely practices) in federal court. There, she has secured countless dismissals for various clients through a vigilant motion practice. Jennie also has been successful in securing money judgments in favor of various state offices as a result of her efforts in both state and federal district courts. She also has enjoyed a successful appellate practice in various Louisiana courts of appeal and in the United States Fifth Circuit.
Jennie is admitted to practice in all state district and state appellate courts in Louisiana, as well as all federal courts in Louisiana, including the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, and the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Jennie also has been admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States.
In addition to a successful defense litigation practice, Jennie serves as a firm leader, having been elected to one of four seats on NeunerPate’s Management Committee – a position she has held since July 2018.
On July 1, 2023, Jennie became the President of the Louisiana Association of Defense Council. As the fourth female to serve as President of this 61 year-old statewide defense organization, Jennie is thankful for having had the opportunity to lead the LADC and for the responsibility entrusted in her by its members and directors.
Jennie had her most memorable legal encounter on April 15, 2019, when she and her husband & daughter (then 11) gained access to the United States Supreme Court (after standing in line in the rain for several hours) and observed oral argument before the Court in the First Amendment/free speech case of Iancu v. Brunetti, 139 S.Ct. 224 (2019).
Ms. Pellegrin has been married to Brad Pellegrin since January 1993. They have one daughter who attends Episcopal School of Acadiana, where Ms. Pellegrin has served as a co-chair for the school’s Annual Giving Campaign, as a room parent, and as the Spring Fling Raffle Committee Chairperson. Ms. Pellegrin enjoys outdoor activities such as saltwater and deep-sea fishing, as well as traveling, reading, and arts and crafts.
