Andrea La'Verne Edney
Office Information
La'Verne is a member of Butler Snow’s litigation department and practices within the Pharmaceutical, Medical Device and Healthcare Litigation Group. La'Verne has significant trial experience in state and federal courts in Mississippi and other states, and has tried to verdict numerous cases, including medical negligence, premises liability, products liability, bad faith insurance, employment disputes and legal malpractice.
Biography – View PDF Bio
- Associations
- Bar Admissions
- Civic Involvement
- Distinctions
- Education & Honors
- Experience
- In the News
- Papers, Presentations, & Publications
Bar Admissions
- Mississippi, 1996
Civic Involvement
- Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership
- Board Member
- Magnolia Speech School
- Board Member
- March of Dimes of Mississippi
- Board Member
- Mission Mississippi
- Advisory Board, 2006 – present
- Mississippi Center for Justice
- Board Chair
- Mississippi College
- Board of Trustees, 1999 – present
- Search Committee, President of Mississippi College, 2017-2018
Distinctions
- Associate, American Board of Trial Advocates
- Bencher, American Inns of Court, 2000 – present
- Leadership Jackson
- Best Lawyers in America®
- Mass Torts/Class Actions – Defendants, 2016-2019
- Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants, 2019
- Martindale-Hubbell®
- AV®-Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated, 2012-2017
- Recognized as one of The National Black Lawyers Top 100, 2015
- Feature, "La'Verne Edney Profiled in Jackson Publication," December 8, 2014
- Lawyer of the Year, Mississippi College School of Law
- Distinguished Service Award, Mississippi Bar Association, 2012 More...
- Mississippi’s Fifty Leaders in the Law, Mississippi Business Journal, 2012
- Outstanding Woman Lawyer of the Year, Mississippi Women Lawyers’ Association, 2011
- Selected as an Honoree by Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project, 2011
- Outstanding Service Award, Capital Area Bar Association, 2010
- Outstanding Service Award, Magnolia Bar Association, 2010
- Outstanding Service Award, Black Student Law Association, 2010
- Mississippi’s 50 Leading Business Women, Mississippi Business Journal, 2007
- Young Lawyer of the Year, Mississippi College School of Law, 2005-2006
- “Movers and Shakers”, Mississippi Business Chronicle, 2005
- Mississippi Supreme Court Appointments
- Access to Justice Commission, 2009 – present
- Task Force on Gender Fairness, 2009 – present
- Bar Commissioner, Mississippi Bar Association
- Judicial Appointments Advisory Committee, appointed by Governor Haley Barbour, 2004 – 2011
- Chairperson, Ethics Committee of the Mississippi Bar Association,2005 – 2006
- Member, Mississippi Board of Bar Commissioners
- Bar Exam Review Committee
- Certified Mediator
Education & Honors
- Mississippi College School of Law, J.D., 1996
- Alcorn State University, B.S., 1988
Experience
- La’Verne has significant trial experience in state and federal courts, and has tried numerous cases to verdict. In addition to her trial practice, Ms. Edney serves on the board of the American Board of Trial Advocates, and is on the faculty of that organization's Masters in Trial program, where she has taught in Iowa, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Reno, Nevada. She has been chosen to teach two trial academies this year for the American Bar Association and American Board of Trial Advocates - a class in Reno, Nevada and a class at Yale University. She has been named one of the Best Lawyers in America in the area of Mass Torts/Class Actions for two years in a row and has recently been chosen as Lawyer of the Year by Mississippi College School of Law. La’Verne is licensed to practice law in Mississippi and Tennessee.
- La'Verne serves on numerous boards and committees including the Board of Trustees of Mississippi College, where she is also serving on the search committee for the new President of Mississippi College; the Mississippi Center for Justice board (Chair); the Mississippi Bar Foundation board (President Elect); the Magnolia Speech School board; and the Greater Jackson Chamber board. She has served as a Supreme Court appointee to the Access to Justice Commission, and was elected by the Mississippi Bar to serve as a Bar Commissioner. She has also served in several capacities with the State Bar Association and continues to be actively involved.
- La'Verne is currently a member of several professional and civic organizations including Leadership Jackson, Mississippi Women Lawyers’ Association, and Metro Jackson Black Women Lawyers’ Association. La'Verne was chosen as Outstanding Woman Lawyer of the Year by the Mississippi Women Lawyers’ Association in 2011 and Mississippi College School of Law’s Young Lawyer of the Year for 2005-2006. She was also chosen as one of the top African American “Movers and Shakers” in 2005 by the Mississippi Business Chronicle. In 2007, La'Verne received recognition as One of Mississippi’s 50 Leading Business Women by the Mississippi Business Journal. In 2010, she received the Outstanding Service Awards from the Capital Area Bar Association, the Magnolia Bar Association, and the Black Law Student Association. She is a Fellow of the Mississippi Bar Foundation. In July 2012, she received the Mississippi Bar Association’s Distinguished Service Award. In November 2012, she was selected as one of Mississippi's Fifty Leaders in the Law by the Mississippi Business Journal.
- Representative Matters
- Obtained numerous defense jury verdicts in state and federal court where plaintiffs alleged injuries and/or death of nursing home residents due to nursing home abuse and neglect.
- Obtained a defense verdict in a legal services fraud case.
- Obtained the voluntary dismissal of a premises liability case involving a shooting on the premises of a restaurant chain.
- Obtained a favorable settlement in a suit alleging inadequate security which led to customer’s stabbing and ultimate death at major restaurant chain.
- Obtained a defense verdict in a jury trial alleging inadequate security which led to customer’s shooting at major restaurant chain.
- Obtained favorable resolutions of uninsured/underinsured bad faith claims on behalf of a national insurance company.
- Obtained favorable resolutions for multi-family housing complexes accused of providing inadequate security and maintenance which led to assault, rape and/or other injury to residents.
- Obtained a defense verdict in a federal court jury trial alleging bad faith insurance coverage.
- Secured the summary judgment dismissal of a bad faith insurance coverage dispute in state court.
- Obtained a favorable ruling from the Mississippi Court of Appeals affirming the dismissal of claims of compensatory punitive damages in a bad faith home insurance case.
- Obtained a favorable jury verdict in a state trial alleging medical negligence and false imprisonment, with the decision ultimately upheld by the Mississippi Supreme Court.
Papers, Presentations, & Publications
- Speaker, "Balancing the Scales: Leading Women Lawyers on Meeting the Challenges of the Legal Profession CLE," March 2018
- Faculty, "Masters in Trial: A Trial Demonstration from Opening Statement through Jury Deliberation," American Board of Trial Advocates, Masters in Trial program, Des Moines, Iowa, May 2017
- Faculty, TIPS/ABOTA National Trial Academy, American Bar Association, Reno, Nevada, March 25-29, 2017
- Speaker, "Getting it Right the First Time: Learning from Today's Top Verdicts and Settlements," ACI Long Term Care & Risk Management Seminar, Miami, Florida, January 2017
- Speaker, "The Fightin' Side of Me: Trial Tactics," November 2016
- Speaker, "Lessons Learned from the Front Line," Long Term Care Symposium, Nashville, Tennessee, November 2014
- Speaker, "Motivation, Willingness to Serve and Leadership," Mississippi Women Lawyers Association, September 2011
- Speaker, "Bridge the Gap Seminar," Young Lawyers Division of the Mississippi Bar Association, July 2011
- Speaker, "Taking It to the People," Mississippi Volunteer Lawyers Project, Desoto County Civic Center, Southaven, Mississippi, June 2011 More...
- Panelist, "Diversity in the Workplace," Mississippi College School of Law's Black Law Student Association, February 2011
- Panelist, "How to Volunteer," Mississippi Bar Association On the Road CLE, 2011