Sharonda Williams Named to 2025 Edition of New Orleans 500 by Biz New Orleans

Fishman Haygood special counsel Sharonda Williams was recently selected to the 2025 edition of the New Orleans 500, an annual publication of Biz New Orleans magazine. The list “profiles the business leaders who are driving the greater New Orleans economy today and making decisions that will shape the region’s future.” Click here to learn more.

Williams’ distinguished career spans decades of both public service and private practice. She served as City Attorney for the City of New Orleans from May 2013 to November 2015 and as Chief Deputy City Attorney from October 2011 until May 2013. As City Attorney, Williams was the lead attorney handling the most comprehensive police consent decree in the history of the United States, as well as the consent decree aimed at reforming the Orleans Parish Jail. Both of those consent decrees required Williams to engage in negotiations with the United States Department of Justice on a near-daily basis. Click here to learn more about her practice.

Williams is also very active in professional and civic organizations at the state and local levels. In 2022, she was sworn in for a five-year term as a member of the board of commissioners of the Port of New Orleans, a position appointed by former Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards. Williams currently serves as the secretary-treasurer of the Port of New Orleans, secretary of the Board of the Urban League of Louisiana, vice-chair of the board of French Quarter Festivals, Inc., vice-president of the board of Louisiana Appleseed, and treasurer of the board of the New Orleans Bar Foundation. She is also a member of the boards of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, Louisiana Policy Institute for Children, LCMC Health, Ogden Museum, and the 2024-25 Federal Bar Association – New Orleans Chapter. Learn more about our attorneys’ community involvement here.