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About Lewis Unglesby
Lewis O. Unglesby was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1949. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Mississippi in 1971 and his Juris Doctor from Louisiana State University in 1974. He was admitted to practice in all Louisiana state courts, the U.S. District Courts for the Middle, Eastern, and Western Districts of Louisiana, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court in 1974. He is also admitted pro hac vice in numerous states. Unglesby has secured acquittals in more than 50 felony jury trials in state and federal courts and has obtained over 30 multi-million-dollar jury verdicts and more than 45 jury awards exceeding one million dollars.
He was the first lawyer in Louisiana to successfully use battered woman syndrome as a defense in a murder case. He has won multi-million-dollar verdicts in cases involving exposure to non-fatal toxic chemicals, proven products liability defects in 3-wheelers and 4-wheelers, and obtained jury verdicts that resulted in restraint systems becoming a safety requirement for sit-down and stand-up forklifts. Unglesby has successfully argued before the Louisiana Supreme Court more than 20 times. Unglesby is a Fellow of the American Board of Criminal Lawyers and is certified as a civil and criminal trial advocacy specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, currently making him one of only two attorneys in Louisiana to hold both certifications.
He has been recognized in “Best Lawyers in America” since 1986 and listed in the Martindale-Hubbell Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers since 1996. His experience and record of success led to his appointment as Special Counsel to the Louisiana State Senate from 1993 to 1996 and Special Counsel to Governor Mike Foster from 1996 to 1997. In 2019, Unglesby received the Chief Justice Pascal F. Calogero, Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award from the Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys. His cases have been featured twice on ABC’s “20/20,” and he has appeared on “Good Morning America” and CNN.
Known as the “Lawyer’s Lawyer” in Louisiana, he receives referrals from attorneys throughout the state to serve as lead or co-counsel. At 76 years old, Unglesby continues to try cases full-time. In 2025, he successfully argued the landmark case that established a new framework for reviewing general damages and upheld the largest general-damages award in Louisiana history (Barber Bros. Contracting Co., LLC v. Capitol City Produce Co., LLC), and defended the largest awards to date for the loss of a parent (Stauder v. Shell Oil Co.).
Proven verdicts and settlements
Barber Brothers was reopening an I-10 exit in LaPlace after a night of asphalt work. Its supervisor was backing an F-250 against traffic along a shoulder so narrow that the truck's left front tire sat over the fog line in the live lane. Frank Cushenberry hit it at 65 mph in a box truck and left the road with a traumatic brain injury.
David Stauder Jr., a union pipefitter, was exposed to asbestos at Louisiana industrial plants including Union Carbide's facility in Taft through the 1960s and 1970s. He was diagnosed with mesothelioma in his seventies and died within two months, on April 30, 2015. His two daughters tried the case against Union Carbide, the last defendant standing, and in December 2021 a New Orleans jury returned $10,354,620.31 and assigned Union Carbide 20 percent of the fault. The judgment against it came to about $6.19 million, and it survived two rounds in the Fourth Circuit and a Louisiana Supreme Court vacatur before the writ was finally denied in April 2025.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.
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