Donna Garbarino Schwab

Donna Schwab joined the Southern University Law Center faculty as an assistant professor of law in 2022. Before coming onboard full-time, Professor Schwab served as an adjunct professor of law at SULC for almost ten (10) years. She has taught Evidence, Matrimonial Regimes, Professional Responsibility, Basic Civil Procedure, Advanced Legal Writing and, most routinely, Federal Jurisdiction and Procedure. She was graduated from Louisiana State University with a Bachelor of Science degree and a Masters of Journalism and Arts. She then attended Loyola School of Law in New Orleans where she was graduated with a Juris Doctor. During her time at Loyola Law School, she attended summer school with the Marshall Wythe School of Law, College of William and Mary, at the University of Exeter, Devonshire, England. After graduation, Professor Schwab clerked for the Honorable Douglas Gonzales at the 19th Judicial District and then worked at the First Circuit Court of Appeal, specializing in criminal appeals and writs.
After working at the courts for two (2) years, Professor Schwab entered private practice specializing in civil litigation practice that spanned over three (3) decades. During this time, Professor Schwab did extensive work in all aspects of litigation, including construction defect litigation, bank bond claims, and director and officer liability suits. Her litigation expertise provides a valuable resource for SULC’s competitive moot court teams which compete on the national level.
Professor Schwab is licensed to practice law in the State of Louisiana. She has litigated in most of the District courts and all of the Circuit courts in Louisiana as well as the Louisiana Supreme Court. Additionally, she has litigated in all the United States District Courts in Louisiana. She is a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association where she has been an assistant bar examiner for the Successions Section of the Bar. She is also a member of the Baton Rouge Bar Association and is a lifetime member of the Phi Alpha Delta Fraternity.
Publications
“The Lost Art of Diplomacy” The Baton Rouge Lawyer, March/April 2021.
Prescription, Peremption, and the Relation Back Theory: Breathing Life into Dead Claims, La. Law. Rev., Volume 85. (Forthcoming).
Statute of Repose v. Peremption? An Analysis of What Works and What Does Not in Common Law and Civil Law. (Work-in-progress).