Gerald E. Meunier was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on November 20, 1948, and admitted to the Louisiana Bar in 1974. He received his college education at Georgetown University and graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in 1970.
Mr. Meunier attended Georgetown University Law Center while working in the United States Senate as an assistant to the Secretary for the Majority. He was a contributing Editor of the Georgetown Law Journal and received his J.D. in 1974. He also served in the D.C. National Guard and in the U.S. Army Reserves, from which he received an Honorable Discharge in 1976.
After serving as a law clerk to two different judges in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of La. (the Hon. James Comiskey and the Hon. Edward Boyle) from 1975-1977, Mr. Meunier joined the law firm of Kierr, Gainsburgh, et al., which became the current firm of Gainsburgh, Benjamin, et al. in 1981. Mr. Meunier was made a partner of the firm in January 1981.
Admitted to practice in all courts of Louisiana, both state and federal, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court, Mr. Meunier has had a distinguished career as a trial attorney, with current emphasis in complex litigation, mass torts and class actions. He served as a Court-appointed Co-Liaison Counsel for plaintiffs in the Xarelto MDL (E.D. La.), and a member of the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in both the Chinese Drywall MDL (E.D. La.) and the Vioxx MDL (E.D. La.). He was Court-appointed Co-Liaison Counsel for plaintiffs in both the FEMA Trailer Formaldehyde MDL (E.D. La.) and the consolidated Katrina Levee litigation (E.D. La.). His past service as a member of Court-appointed Plaintiffs’ Steering Committees in mass tort litigation includes, among others, the Murphy Oil Spill class action (E.D. La.), the M/V Bright Field litigation (E.D. La.), and the Industrial Life Insurance MDL (E.D. La.).
Mr. Meunier is past President of the Louisiana Chapter of the Federal Bar Association (1998-99), and received that organization’s “Martzell Professionalism Award” in 2010. He also is past President of the Louisiana Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (1994-95), past Chair of the Admiralty Section of the American Association for Justice (1994-95), past Chair of the Board of Directors of the New Orleans Pro Bono Project (1993), and past Chair of the Board of UNITY for the Homeless (2002-2003). He was inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers in 2003.
A frequent CLE presenter and the writer of numerous professional papers and articles, Mr. Meunier is a Lead Author of “Louisiana Civil Pretrial Procedure” (West 1997) and a Co-Author of a publication for judges and attorneys entitled “A Practical Digest of Louisiana Class Action Decisions.” Listed since 1999 in “The Best Lawyers in America” (Woodward & White), since 2004 in Chambers U.S.A.’s “America’s Leading Lawyers for Business,” and since 2008 in “Louisiana Super Lawyers” (Law and Chambers USA Politics), he has been recognized by “Best Lawyers” in 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2019 as the New Orleans “Lawyer of the Year” in Mass Tort litigation and Plaintiffs Personal Injury.
