Juge Selected by New Orleans Magazine as One of New Orleans' Top Lawyers For 2009

Attorneys profiled for this selection were determined by the New Orleans Magazine editorial staff based on the listed names. In making our choices we looked for diversity as well as variety among specialties. There were no advertising considerations in selecting those listed or those profiled. We rest our case.

Creating His Niche

Denis Juge

Denis Juge has focused on workers’ compensation before it was even considered an important facet of law.  He grew up in Metairie, where he attended the school that is now East Jefferson High School, and went on to the University of New Orleans where earned a bachelor’s degree in political science. He subsequently earned his master’s degree in political science from UNO, and then started attending night school at Loyola School of Law so he could focus on his family during the day. He later transferred to the day school and earned his juris doctor from the school in 1976.

He began his law career as an associate at a small insurance defense firm, where he first encountered workers’ compensation law.

“At the time I started practicing, a lot of the big firms in town didn’t consider workers’ compensation to be really important, so they would generally have younger associates handle it,” he says.

After becoming comfortable in that area and developing a substantial client base, Juge decided to branch off on his own and start a law firm based on the growing importance of workers’ compensation law.

“There was a major change in the law, and workers’ compensation became a much more important part of insurance law. So I was lucky enough at that time to learn about workers’ compensation and I would kind of develop a little bit of expertise and a reputation [in that area],” he says. “It was sort of like a market that was there, and I was lucky enough to work on that market before a lot of attorneys figured it out.”

The firm started with Juge and another attorney, but WC Defense has since grown to include 16 attorneys who are all trained in workers’ compensation law.

Juge’s job involves representing employers and insurance companies when someone is injured at work. He enjoys this focus because after many years of experience he feels confident in his abilities.

“There aren’t that many cases that come up that I haven’t seen or thought about. It’s a comfortable practice because it’s an area I feel confident in,” he says.

 “You get to know pretty much all of the attorneys representing claims and develop pretty good relationships with them, and there’s a smaller number of judges we appear before,” he says. “It’s a pretty good comfort zone dealing with judges you know, law you know and attorneys you’re familiar with.”

Recently Juge helped the Coushatta American Indian tribe to draft its own workers’ compensation law. He said it was a great experience because he was able to review workers’ compensation laws from all over the country in the process of drafting the law.

Since 1983 he has been involved with advising the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry with matters relating to workers’ compensation legislation. He taught insurance law and workers’ compensation at Loyola School of Law from 1982 to 2005, and has written a book about workers’ compensation and co-wrote another about insurance adjusting. He has also written a number of law review articles.

In his spare time he enjoys pursuing his interest in political science and law.

“I really enjoy the study of political science and law as an academic subject rather than a practice,” he says. “Every spare moment I try to read books on political science.”

He has a wife, Joel, and four children, one of whom may follow in his father’s footsteps.

“I have a 12-year-old, and based on the debates I’ve had with him, I suspect he’ll be a lawyer.”

– L.L.