New Orleans Mayor-Elect Helena Moreno Taps Special Counsel Sharonda Williams to Assist in Search for Next City Attorney

On October 20, 2025, New Orleans Mayor-elect Helena Moreno’s transition team announced that Fishman Haygood special counsel and former New Orleans City Attorney Sharonda Williams has been tapped to help lead the search for the city’s next chief legal officer. Sharonda, working alongside trial attorney Jennifer Greene, will be looking for a leader who “combine[s] impeccable legal skill with integrity, fairness and public trust” for “one of the most consequential positions in city government,” Mayor-elect Moreno said in a press release. Read more about the search on Nola.com.

Sharonda served as City Attorney from May 2013 to November 2015 and as Chief Deputy City Attorney from October 2011 until May 2013. As City Attorney, she worked closely with the United States Department of Justice as the lead attorney handling the most comprehensive police consent decree in the history of the United States and the consent decree aimed at reforming the Orleans Parish Jail. Sharonda was also the lead attorney representing the City in settling a more than 30-year dispute relating to back pay and pension issues for the New Orleans Firefighters. Learn more about Sharonda here.

“Having served as City Attorney, I understand how vital this position is to ensuring government acts with both integrity and accountability,” Sharonda said in the press release.

Our attorneys regularly devote their time and talent to community causes, including serving in volunteer roles and as members of nonprofit boards. Read more about the firm’s community and civic engagement here.