A Paul M. Hebert Law Center alumna will take the reigns of the Louisiana Supreme Court today as its first female chief justice.The induction ceremony for Catherine Kimball was held Monday at 11 a.m. on the steps of the Supreme Court Building in New Orleans. A reception followed on the Supreme Court lawn, and the event is open to the public.Kimball graduated from the Law Center in 1970 with a juris doctorate degree, a doctoral law degree obtained after completing three years of law study. She said her experience in law school prepared her for what would become a history-making career.”At LSU law school, they give you the good fundamentals of law, but more importantly, they teach you how to think and analyze, which is very beneficial in this field,” Kimball said.Kimball served as a trial judge for 10 years before becoming the first female elected to the Louisiana Supreme Court. She has served on the Supreme Court for 16 years, a feat which qualified her for chief justice after winning an October district election with 65 percent of the vote.Joseph Cheney Jr., Law Center vice chancellor of academic affairs, described Kimball’s opinions as very textbook-oriented.”She explains the background of all of her decisions so people know why and how she came to it,” Cheney said. “She is very active in judicial reform and improving the juvenile justice system in Louisiana, and I feel those efforts will contribute a lot to the administration.”Kimball was a visiting professor at the Law Center’s 2008 summer program.”Justice Kimball possessed both the judicial skills and the administrative acumen to be a great chief justice,” said Jack Weiss, Law Center chancellor. “Perhaps above all, she is a thoroughly decent, down-to-earth person who will never forget the impact of her work on the lives of real people.”Kimball was inducted into the Louisiana Justice Hall of Fame in 2006, and she is an honorary member of the Louisiana chapter of the prestigious legal society The Order of the Coif.Guest speakers at the induction will include Sen. Mary Landrieu; Jimmy Faircloth, executive counsel to Gov. Bobby Jindal; Elizabeth Foote, president of the Louisiana State Bar Association; and Judith Kaye, Louisiana’s chief judge.”The law is constantly changing,” Kimball said. “However, the values that were instilled within me at LSU Law School have not changed.”
 
 
 
—-Contact Kristen Higdon at [email protected]