AAJ Leadership  

President:
Gary M. Paul of Waters, Kraus & Paul LLP in Los Angeles, CA

Gary M. Paul, a partner with the law firm of Waters, Kraus & Paul LLP in Los Angeles, California, has successfully litigated cases ranging from products liability to construction negligence over the past 30 years. He has handled more than 100 jury trials and currently focuses on the trial of mesothelioma asbestos cases. Waters, Kraus & Paul LLP is a national plaintiffs’ firm concentrating on complex product liability and personal injury/wrongful death cases, particularly toxic tort litigation and pharmaceutical product liability.

Mr. Paul graduated from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles in 1974. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from Arizona State University and a Master of Science degree in Engineering from UCLA.

Prior to beginning his law career in 1975, Mr. Paul was a missile and space engineer, working in electronic design and systems engineering for aerospace companies, including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. As an engineer, he was involved in the design of spacecraft that both orbited and landed on Mars.

Mr. Paul has dedicated time and energy to improve the field of law and was cited as the Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles in 1981. In 1996 he received the Edward I. Pollock Award for his "dedication, efforts, and effectiveness" in consumer matters. He also has held such prestigious positions as the President of both the Los Angeles Consumer Attorneys and the California Consumer Attorneys and is an elected member of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers.

President-Elect:
Mary Alice McLarty of McLarty Pope LLP in Dallas, TX

Mary Alice McLarty is a partner in McLarty Pope LLP. She practices personal injury and civil trial law, concentrating on catastrophic injury cases, including Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy and brain injuries.
 
Ms. McLarty’s numerous leadership posts at AAJ include serving on the AAJ Board of Governors and the Executive Committee. She chaired the Women Trial Lawyers Caucus, the Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (RSD) Litigation Group, the Sole Practitioner & Small Firm Section, the Election Committee, the Key Person Committee, Organization & Home Office Committee, and the State Affairs Committee. She is the winner of the Marie Lambert Award (2002), and a several time winner of both the Distinguished Service Award (2010, 2009, 2008) and the Wiedemann & Wysocki Award (2005, 2002, 1998, 1997, 1995).
 
Ms. McLarty is a past president of the Dallas Trial Lawyers Association. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association. The Dallas Women Lawyers Association honored her with the prestigious Louise B. Raggio Award for her significant contribution toward the advancement of women in the legal profession. Ms. McLarty is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA).
 
Ms. McLarty graduated from West Texas State University in 1970 and earned her J.D. from Texas Tech University School of Law in 1983.

Vice President:
J. Burton LeBlanc IV of Baron & Budd, PC in Baton Rouge, LA

Upon graduation from Loyola University School of Law (New Orleans) in 1990, Burton LeBlanc had a chance encounter with a man suffering from mesothelioma, a cancer caused by asbestos, that ignited what would become the driving passion behind his career: to help people who had been harmed by exposure to dangerous workplace and environmental contaminants. Ultimately, Mr. LeBlanc's namesake law firm (LeBlanc & Waddell) was designated by both the Louisiana AFL-CIO and the Louisiana NAACP as occupational disease counsel.

In addition to litigating cases, beginning in 1996, Mr. LeBlanc became an outspoken advocate for consumers’ rights before the Louisiana legislature and the United States Congress. In these capacities, he found that, while it was important and gratifying to help craft legislation to protect consumers against corporate misconduct, litigation played a critical role in enforcing these laws and regulations.

Mr. LeBlanc has since served as president of the Louisiana Association for Justice (Louisiana Trial Lawyers Association) and has been appointed to numerous committees by federal courts and the Louisiana Supreme Court. He has testified before the Louisiana legislature, appeared on radio and television shows, and spoken at many legal seminars about consumers’ rights and misguided tort reform efforts.

Mr. LeBlanc is active in the American Association for Justice and has served as its Parliamentarian and on the Board of Governors, National Finance Committee, PAC Committee and the Leaders Forum. Recently, Mr. LeBlanc received the Wiedemann Wysocki National Finance Council Award.  He also served as Vice-President of the Council of Presidents for State Trial Lawyer Associations and more locally, as the immediate past president of Cancer Services of Greater Baton Rouge.

In 2004, LeBlanc & Waddell joined forces with Dallas-based Baron & Budd, PC, one of the country’s top plaintiffs’ firms, and with the consolidation of the two firms in 2008, Mr. LeBlanc became a shareholder at Baron & Budd.

On a personal level, Mr. LeBlanc resides in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is married with four daughters and serves on various leadership committees at both his church and his children’s schools.

Secretary:
Lisa Blue Baron of Baron & Blue Law Firm in Dallas, TX

Lisa Blue Baron has three decades of experience in asbestos litigation, including the complex field of mesothelioma litigation. Ms. Blue Baron represents parties in civil and personal injury trial, business litigation, estate and trust disputes, and wrongful death cases. The Baron & Blue Law Firm is in Dallas, Texas.

Ms. Blue Baron has been active in AAJ, serving on the AAJ Robert L. Habush Endowment Board of Directors (2009–13), Public Education Committee (2006–12), Key Person Committee (2003–05), and the Labor Liaison Committee (1998–2000). She received the Nancy Pelosi Know Your Power Award (2008) and Diplomate of the National College of Advocacy (2005). In 2004, she published AAJ’s Blue’s Guide to Jury Selection, coauthored with Robert Hirschhorn.

Additionally, Ms. Blue Baron was named one of the top 50 women litigators in the U.S. by The National Law Journal in 2001. She has been honored with the Trial Lawyer of the Year from the Dallas Bar Association (2006), the Louise Raggio Women’s Legal Advocate Award from the Legal Aid of Northwest Texas (2007), and the Ronald D. Secrest Outstanding Trial Lawyer Award from the Texas Bar Foundation (2008).

Ms. Blue Baron graduated from the University of Georgia in 1973. She earned her M.Ed. in 1974 and her Ed.S. in 1975 from the University of Virginia. She received a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology in 1978 from North Texas State University. In 1980, she earned her J.D. from South Texas College of Law.

Treasurer:
Larry A. Tawwater of The Tawwater Law Firm in Oklahoma City, OK

Larry Tawwater represents consumers in many types of litigation involving defective products, explosions, nursing home abuse, medical negligence, motor vehicle collisions, wrongful conduct by insurance companies, as well as class action suits and mass tort cases. The Tawwater Law Firm is based in Oklahoma City.
 
In addition to his litigation practice, Mr. Tawwater has been involved in lobbying on behalf of the Oklahoma Association for Justice for passage of legislation protecting consumer rights and was appointed by the Oklahoma Supreme Court to help revise the Court’s own rules and draft jury instructions for use in civil trials in Oklahoma. He has also lectured extensively, presenting more than 30 papers on trial practice to various lawyer groups, and speaking frequently at law schools.
 
Mr. Tawwater is active in the American Association for Justice and has served on the Executive Committee and the Board of Governors. He chairs the Budget Committee and is a past chair of the Subcommittee on AAJ’s Defined Benefit Pension Plan. He is a winner of the Wiedemann & Wysocki Citation of Excellence (2010, 2003, 2002, 1996), the Certificate of Recognition (2007), and the Distinguished Service Award (2009, 2008). He is also a past president of the Oklahoma Association for Justice.
 
Mr. Tawwater earned his B.A. from the University of Oklahoma (1969) and his J.D. from the University of Oklahoma College of Law (1972).

Parliamentarian:
Julie Braman Kane of Colson Hicks Eidson in Coral Gables, FL

Julie Braman Kane, partner with Colson Hicks Edison, has more than 15 years of experience in personal injury, medical negligence, products liability, and commercial and class action litigation.

Ms. Kane has been active in AAJ, serving in various roles for more than 25 boards, committees, and task forces. She has been honored with the Wiedemann & Wysocki Award (multiple years), the New Lawyers Division Joe Tonahill Award (2008), the Women’s Caucus Marie Lambert Award (2008), and a Distinguished Service Award (2005).

Additionally, Ms. Kane is a member of the Board of Directors of the Florida Justice Association, where she has chaired the Women’s Caucus and the New Lawyers Division. She currently is a Commissioner of the Florida Elections Commission. She has served in leadership roles for the Miami-Dade Chapter of the Florida Association for Women Lawyers and the Dade County Bar Association.

Ms. Kane is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Miami (1990). She is a cum laude graduate of the University of Miami School of Law (1993), where she was a Dean’s Merit Scholar and the recipient of the American Jurisprudence Book Award in Commercial Law II, as well as inducted into the legal honor societies of Phi Delta Phi and Omicron Delta Kappa.