Associate Professor of Law
(225) 771-4900 ext. 215

Courses currently taught: torts I, torts II, toxic torts, international environmental law

Courses previously taught: basic civil procedure, professional responsibility, advanced legal writing I, advanced legal writing II, legal writing I, legal writing II

Judith Perhay has been a full-time faculty member at Southern University Law Center since 1993. She is a tenured associate professor of law.

In 2000, Professor Perhay earned a Master of Laws, Energy and Environment, with distinction, from Tulane University School of Law (New Orleans). Recent publications in environmental law include “The Natural Step: A Scientific and Pragmatic Framework for a Sustainable Society,” and “Louisiana Coastal Restoration: Challenges and Controversies,” published respectively in the Spring 2006 and the Spring 2000 Southern University Law Review. She was contributing author/researcher on the Louisiana Construction Law Manual (Lawyers Cooperative Publishing, 1991).

After graduating from Loyola University of Law (New Orleans) in 1985, and upon admission to the Louisiana State Bar that same year, Perhay was a federal judicial law clerk at the United States District Court in the Eastern District of Louisiana. Subsequently, she engaged in active private practice in New Orleans, focusing on civil litigation. Primary areas of specialization included professional liability, construction, fidelity and surety, and insurance defense. She was admitted to practice before all Louisiana state courts; before the United States District Courts for the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of Louisiana; and before the United States Fifth Circuit.

A cum laude graduate of John Carroll University (University Heights, Ohio), Perhay earned a Bachelor of Arts, with concentrations in English, Psychology, and Education, and was inducted into the Jesuit Honor Society (Gamma Pi Epsilon, later merged with Alpha Sigma Nu). She earned a Secondary Teaching Certificate in Ohio, and enjoyed a diverse career in education in both Ohio and Louisiana, encompassing teaching and school administration on both the secondary and elementary levels. She also engaged in curriculum development, compiling reading selections and writing background and commentary for approximately 50% of the social studies text Patterns of Civilization: Asia, published by Cambridge Book Company, a division of the New York Times Company.