About Matt Terrell

Matt, originally from Texas, attended Louisiana State University, where he received an undergraduate degree in Business Administration and was a member of the Dean’s List from 1998-2000. Matt went on to LSU’s Paul M. Hebert Law School where he graduated in 2004 and was inducted into the Order of the Coif, an honor for those law students graduating in the top 10% of their class. Matt was a recipient of the Louisiana Law Review Scholarship, a member of the Chancellor’s List, and received numerous CALI awards for earning the highest grades in his class, including Louisiana Legal Traditions and History, Sales and Real Estate, and Louisiana Security Devices. Following law school, Matt served as a law clerk to Judge Ralph Tureau in the 23rd Judicial District Court before becoming a partner in a multinational commercial litigation firm where he litigated multi-million-dollar cases across the United States involving pharmaceuticals, commercial construction, refinery operations, and maritime disasters. In 2013, Matt devoted 100% of his practice to personal injury law.

Since that time, Matt has successfully tried numerous civil jury trials to verdict, having earned multiple judgments in excess of $1 million dollars. In addition, Matt has settled numerous injury cases in excess of $1 million, including a products liability case settled for over $4 million. Matt was instrumental in briefing the issue of direct negligence against employers in Louisiana appellate courts and helped prepare oral argument for the landmark case of Martin v. Thomas et al., 21-1490 (La. 12/21/21), 328 So.

3d 1164, where, in a major win for the rights of injured parties, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled in favor of plaintiffs, resolving a split among Louisiana appellate and federal courts as to whether employers can be sued for their own comparative fault when one of their employees injures an innocent victim. Matt is admitted to practice before all Louisiana state and federal courts. He is a member of the Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys, an organization of lawyers nationwide who specialize in trucking cases. Matt is also a member of the Baton Rouge Bar Association and the Louisiana State Bar Association.

Matt has been nominated numerous times by SuperLawyers and Lawyers of Distinction. He continues to improve his courtroom skills, constantly reading books pertaining to trial and litigation techniques, and recently completed the intensive Roger Dodd cross-examination course with actors from Los Angeles, California, serving as witnesses. Matt is the proud and devoted father of two children; his son attends St. George Catholic School and his daughter is a senior at St. Joseph’s Academy. Being a father has been the joy and privilege of his life.

He is a retired t-ball, soccer, basketball, baseball, and softball coach. In his free time, he enjoys hunting and working out with his children. Matt is an avid LSU fan (all sports) and enjoys live music. Matt has successfully represented hundreds of clients throughout his career, many of whom keep in touch with him years after their cases are complete.

Proven verdicts and settlements at Gordon McKernan Injury Attorneys

These results are credited to Gordon McKernan Injury Attorneys. A result appears under an attorney's own name only when a published source names them as counsel on the case.

Sherri Tramble, 36, was a St. Landry Parish paramedic riding unrestrained in the back of an ambulance, starting an IV on a patient en route to hospital, when a pickup turned across the ambulance's path without yielding. She has multiple skull fractures, a C-7 fracture and a permanent traumatic brain injury, and has since been interdicted.

27th Judicial District Court, St. Landry Parish, LA (Opelousas); remitted, La. App. 3 Cir. · 2026Truck AccidentsRead the full story →

Jerrod Snearl, 22, was riding in the middle of the front seat of his employer's empty dump truck on the way to a tree-clearing job when the driver swerved on the I-12 overpass at Jefferson Highway in Baton Rouge, the brakes locked, and the truck rode up over the bridge rail and fell about 30 feet onto the bank of Ward's Creek, where it caught fire. The driver burned to death. Snearl, trapped with a broken pelvis, was burned over 51 percent of his body and lost both legs, his penis, a testicle and his spleen. An Iberville Parish jury found the state's bridge rail an unreasonable risk of harm and awarded him $9,352,826.67, which the First Circuit affirmed in 2001 while raising the driver's fault and reallocating it to the state.

18th Judicial District Court, Iberville Parish, LA (Plaquemine); affirmed, La. App. 1 Cir. · 1998Car AccidentsRead the full story →
$1.62 million

On May 10, 1993, three high school students were coming home from school on Sullivan Road in East Baton Rouge Parish when the driver lost control in the Sparkle Drive curve on wet pavement, crossed the centerline and hit a pickup. The driver and one passenger died. The other passenger, 16-year-old Jason Adams, suffered a torn heart valve requiring open-heart surgery, permanent frontal lobe brain damage, a compound leg fracture, a crushed ankle and a fractured pelvis. A jury cleared the Parish, but the trial judge granted judgment notwithstanding the verdict because the Parish had skid tests and citizen complaints showing the road was dangerously slick and had not fixed it. The First Circuit affirmed liability, put 20 percent on the driver, and left the Adams family with $1,622,757.

19th Judicial District Court, East Baton Rouge Parish, LA; amended and affirmed, La. App. 1 Cir. · 2001Car AccidentsRead the full story →

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.

Bar admissions & credentials

State Bar of Louisiana

Other attorneys at Gordon McKernan Injury Attorneys

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Proven verdicts and settlements from other Baton Rouge firms

Unglesby Law Firm
Unglesby Law Firm
$12.36 million · $18.9 Million Verdict for Driver Brain-Injured Hitting a Backing Work Truck
Murphy Law Firm, LLC
Murphy Law Firm, LLC
$12.36 million · $18.9 Million Verdict for Driver Brain-Injured Hitting a Backing Work Truck
Tomeny Best Injury Lawyers
Tomeny Best Injury Lawyers
$894,295 · $20 Million Verdict for a Boy Who Lost His Arm, Limited to $894,295 by Louisiana's Cap on State Claims

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.