Mary Beth Akin came to Sher Garner in January of 2009 to engage in appellate practice following a more than 20-year career as a judicial law clerk at all three levels of the Louisiana state court system.  She served for 15 years as a law clerk to Judge Steven R. Plotkin, first at New Orleans Civil District Court during the last five months of 1987, then at the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal beginning in January of 1988.  Following Judge Plotkin’s retirement in 2003, Ms. Akin served as an “elbow” clerk to Chief Justice Pascal F. Calogero of the Louisiana Supreme Court until his retirement at the end of 2008.  During her judicial law clerk career, she was involved in the preparation of numerous judicial decisions.  Since joining the firm, Ms. Akin has participated in appellate work involving diverse areas of civil litigation at several Louisiana appellate courts, as well as the Louisiana Supreme Court.  Along with Judge Plotkin, she is the co-author of a three-volume treatise interpreting the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure articles governing trial and appellate practice:  Louisiana Civil Procedure (West Publishing Company).

A native of Natchitoches, Louisiana, Ms. Akin received her Juris Doctorate from Loyola New Orleans School of Law in 1987.  While at Loyola, Ms. Akin was a member of Law Review, represented Loyola Law in the National Civil Rights Moot Court competition in the Spring of 1987, and served as a Legal Writing Teaching Assistant from September of 1984 until May of 1987.  She is a 1976 graduate of Louisiana State University, where she earned a Bachelors of Art in Journalism, and a 1979 graduate of Northwestern Louisiana State University, where she earned a Bachelors of Art in Journalism and English Education.  Ms. Akin also holds a Master of Divinity degree with a Specialization in Biblical Languages from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, awarded in December of 2003.