Laura Tuggle has been the Executive Director of Southeast Louisiana Legal Services
(SLLS) since May 2014 after beginning her career at SLLS in 1993. She previously managed SLLS’ Housing Law Unit during the years immediately following Hurricane Katrina from 2005-2010. Over her public interest career, she has excelled in many areas including direct services, systemic work, and policy advocacy resulting in increased access to housing for special populations including the homeless, people
living disabilities, and disaster survivors. Impact litigation filed by Laura resulted in significant legal victories for low-income tenants including millions of dollars in federal relocation assistance and establishing a private right of action for voucher assisted tenants to challenge utility allowances in federal court. She is an author of the Federally Subsidized Housing Program portion of the Louisiana Legal Services Desk Manual and coauthor of the housing portion of the Brookings Institute New Orleans Index at 5.
Laura has received national, state, and local awards for her work in the interest of housing justice. Laura graduated from LSU in 1984 and received her Juris Doctorate degree from Tulane Law School in 1987. She currently serves on the Board of the New Orleans Family Justice Center, Shared Housing, as Co-Chair of the Legal Services Corporation’s National Disaster Task Force Relationship-Building and Integration of
Legal Services into the Nation’s Emergency Management Infrastructure Committee, on the Louisiana Access to Justice Commission’s Funding, Technology, Disaster, and Building Brides Committees and on the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Access to Justice Committee. She was recently appointed to the Legal Services Corporation’s Housing Task Force. She also serves on several task forces to improve civil
legal services and housing opportunities for vulnerable people.
To learn more about the work of the Foundation, please visit braf.org.