LAURA SMITH HATCH

Laura has a track record for standing up for the rights of individuals and families harmed by corporate wrongdoing.  She has helped recovered millions of dollars on behalf of her clients. 

Laura earned her Bachelor of Science in Public Relations and minors in Gerontology and Family, Youth and Community Science from the University of Florida in 2007. While at the University of Florida, Laura was a student senator for the College of Journalism and Communications and the president of her sorority, Alpha Delta Pi. Her scholastic achievements earned her the distinct honor of membership in Honor College and the Florida Blue Key.

Laura is a 2010 graduate of Loyola University College of Law where she was a competitive member of the prestigious Loyola Mediation Clinic. Laura was active in student affairs, serving as a student ambassador, member of the Loyola Education Board, New Law School Dean Selection Committee, and elected president of the Student Bar Association, 2009-2010. During her time at Loyola, Laura clerked at several law firms and served as an intern for Judge Pamela A.M. Campbell in Pinellas County Criminal Court. In an effort to gain a greater understanding of the criminal system and courtroom experience, Laura interned at both the Orleans Parish Public Defenders and the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office in the summer of 2009. In Laura’s last year at Loyola, she served as a judicial intern in U.S District Court, Eastern District for Judge Ivan R.L Lemelle. Laura also participated in the Loyola international law program in Vienna, Austria.

After graduation, Laura worked for the City of New Orleans advocating for juvenile justice and served as the 2010 alumni admission adviser for Loyola University College of Law. While promoting rehabilitation services for New Orleans youth, Laura also worked for Kenneth Feinberg’s Gulf Coast Claims Facility with the Block Law Firm before she joined Hanly Conroy Bierstein Sherdian and Hayes in 2011. As an associate for Hanly Conroy, Laura spent two years working for the Plaintiff Steering Committee, In re: Oil Spill by the Deepwater Horizon. Laura has also worked on several mass tort litigations including Pinnacle Metal-on-Metal, Actos Bladder Cancer, Transvaginal Mesh, Hernia Mesh, IVC Filters, and Taxus Stents.

Laura joined Heaviside Reed Zaic in November 2013.  Currently, she is working on cases that involve defective medical devices and drugs, medical negligence, product liability, human trafficking, and clergy abuse. 

- California

- Louisiana 

- U.S. Central District of California

- U.S. Eastern District of Louisiana

- U.S. Fifth Circuit of Appeals

- U.S. Ninth Circuit of Appeals 

- American Association of Justice

- American Bar Association

- Trial Attorneys for Justice

- St. Thomas More Inn of Courts