Judiciary Commission of Louisiana Announces Officers and Appointments

The Judiciary Commission of Louisiana announces the election of Orleans Criminal District Court Judge Robin D. Pittman as Commission Chair, and Suzanne H. Stinson as Vice-Chair; the recent appointments of three new members to the nine-member Judiciary Commission: Mr. Lloyd J. Clark of Jefferson Parish, attorney Thomas C. Wicker, IV of Orleans Parish, and attorney David Ardoin of Lafourche Parish; and the appointment of attorney Kelly Blackwell as Judiciary Commission Counsel.

Orleans Criminal District Court Judge Robin D. Pittman was elected by Commission members to serve as Chair for a one-year term. Judge Pittman received her Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, from Loyola University New Orleans in 1991 and her Juris Doctorate from Loyola University New Orleans School of Law in 1996. Prior to taking the bench, Judge Pittman served as an Assistant District Attorney for the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office, a Deputy Disciplinary Counsel with the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, and an associate in the litigation section of the law firm of Baldwin Haspel Burke & Mayer where she worked until her election to the Orleans Criminal District Court bench in 2009. She is the Second Vice President of the Louisiana District Judges Association, serves on the Executive Board of the Judicial Council for the National Bar Association, and previously served on the Louisiana Judicial College Board of Governors and the Supreme Court Committee on Judicial Ethics. Judge Pittman is a member of the American Judges Association, National Bar Association, Louisiana Judicial Council, Louisiana State Bar Association, New Orleans Bar Association, Louisiana District Judges Association, National Association of Women Judges, Fourth & Fifth Circuit Judges Associations, Louis A. Martinet Legal Society, and Association of Women Attorneys. In accordance with the Louisiana Constitution, Judge Pittman was appointed to the Commission by the Louisiana Supreme Court.

Suzanne Stinson, a citizen member of the Commission, was elected to serve as Commission Vice Chair for a term of one year. Ms. Stinson began working at the 26th Judicial Court District in 1982 and was appointed court administrator in 1996 until her retirement in 2014. Ms. Stinson graduated magna cume laude with her bachelor’s degree in 1988, a master’s degree in business administration in 1992, and a second master’s degree in industrial/organizational psychology in 1994, all from Louisiana Tech University. She served in the Louisiana Army National Guard from 1979 to 1982. Ms. Stinson is a Fellow of the Institute for Court Management and received her Certificate of Judicial Administration from Michigan State University. She is a past president of the National Association for Court Management, served on the board of directors for the International Association of Court Management, and also served as president of the Louisiana Court Administrators Association. She served two consecutive terms on the Board of Directors for the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), and currently serves on the Editorial Board for Trends in State Courts, an annual publication by the NCSC. She previously served on the Judicial Compensation Commission, the Court Rules Committee, the Advisory Committee to the Performance Audit on Jury Practices, the Disaster Recovery Planning Committee, and the Louisiana Integrated Juvenile Justice Information System Committee. Ms. Stinson is currently serving a second term on the Commission, having been appointed by the Louisiana District Judges Association.

Selected by the Louisiana District Judges Association, citizen member Lloyd Clark is serving his second term on the Commission. Mr. Clark retired in 2008 after 36 years of service with the Jefferson Parish Public School system. He served as an instructor on the elementary, middle, and high school levels and on the administrative level as a dean of students, disciplinarian, and vice principal. He ended his tenure by serving as the supervisor of child welfare and attendance and student hearing officer for the West Bank region of Jefferson Parish. Mr. Clark received a Bachelor of Science degree in education from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and a Master of Education degree in administration and supervision from Nicholls State University. He was selected as a Fulbright Scholar in 1991 and studied in Thailand at the University of Chulalongkorn through the University of New Orleans. Mr. Clark is actively involved in many professional, community, and civic organizations and has served in leadership roles in most of them. He is past president of Jefferson Economic Development Corporation (Jedco); a member of the Louisiana Retired Teachers Association; past president of the Louisiana Association of Child Welfare and Attendance Personnel (2001-2003); and member of the board of directors of the Jefferson Financial Federal Credit Union, 1999-present and was board chairman from 2009-2012. Mr. Clark succeeds citizen member Mr. Robert P. Ackerman.

T.C. Wicker, IV, was appointed to serve on the Judiciary Commission by the Louisiana Conference of Court of Appeal Judges as the young lawyer member for a four-year term. Mr. Wicker earned his bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University in 2012, majoring in English and government. He then taught 4th and 5th grade social studies in Marrero as part of the Teach for America program. Mr. Wicker earned his juris doctor degree from Tulane University Law School in 2017 and clerked for the Honorable Nannette Jolivette Brown of the United States District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana, for the 2017-2018 term. He then joined Jones Walker LLP’s Compliance and White Collar Defense team as an associate attorney until January 2023, when he then joined the law firm of Capitelli & Wicker, currently specializing in plaintiff medical malpractice and white collar work. Mr. Wicker succeeds young attorney VaRhonda Burrell on the Commission.

David Ardoin was appointed to serve on the Judiciary Commission by the Louisiana Conference of Court of Appeal judges for a four-year term. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University in 1993, and his juris doctor from Tulane University School of Law in 1996, with an Environmental Law Certificate. Mr. Ardoin has extensive experience with complex litigation, focusing his practice on personal injury trial cases including motor vehicle accidents, offshore injuries, product liability claims, and medical malpractice. Mr. Ardoin has participated in and served as lead counsel in numerous multi-million-dollar claims. Mr. Ardoin succeeds attorney member Christopher P. Ieyoub.

Attorney Kelly Blackwell was recently appointed Judiciary Commission Counsel by the Louisiana Supreme Court. Ms. Blackwell earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in government and Spanish from the University of Texas at Austin (high honors, Phi Beta Kappa) in 2003, and her Juris Doctorate from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law in 2007. Prior to her appointment as Commission Counsel, Ms. Blackwell served for eight years as an Assistant Special Counsel in the Office of Special Counsel to the Judiciary Commission. Before joining Judiciary Commission staff in 2015, Ms. Blackwell was in private law practice. Ms. Blackwell succeeds attorney David Becker, Commission Counsel 2019-2023, upon his promotion to General Counsel to the Louisiana Supreme Court.

The Judiciary Commission of Louisiana is a nine-member constitutionally created body empowered to review allegations of judicial misconduct and to recommend to the Supreme Court appropriate discipline when misconduct is proven by clear and convincing evidence. The members of the Commission are volunteers and serve on a part-time basis. To learn more about the Judiciary Commission of Louisiana, visit https://judiciarycommissionla.org/.