Sonnier Named Harrison County’s 2007 Young Lawyer of the Year

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss., January 31, 2008 -- The Young Lawyers section of the Harrison County Bar Association has selected Lauren Duvernay Sonnier, of Rushing & Guice, P.L.L.C., as its Young Lawyer of the Year for 2007. The award was presented during HCBA’s January meeting. This is the first time in several years that the association has given the award.

A native of Ocean Springs, Sonnier joined the law firm of Rushing & Guice in 2001 and received her Juris Doctorate from Tulane University School of Law in 2003 with a specialty certificate in Environmental Law. She is also a real estate closing attorney for Renaissance Title, L.L.C., which is a subsidiary of Rushing & Guice.

She was admitted to the Mississippi Bar in 2005 and the Alabama Bar in 2006. Sonnier has been admitted to practice in all of the courts in Mississippi and Alabama, both state and federal, including the Mississippi Supreme Court, the United States District Court for both the Southern and Northern Districts of Mississippi, the Alabama Supreme Court, and the United States District Court for the Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Alabama. Sonnier has also been admitted to the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the United States Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Court of Federal Claims.

Sonnier enjoys a practice in the area of general civil litigation. She also handles environmental matters, both civil and criminal, and has additional experience in real estate and business transactions. Sonnier is a member of the American Bar Association, the Mississippi Bar Association, the Harrison County Bar Association, the Jackson County Bar Association, and the Alabama Bar Association.

Established in 1908, Rushing & Guice, P.L.L.C., (www.rushingguice.com) is the oldest law firm in south Mississippi and one of the oldest in the State. With numerous historical ties to the Gulf Coast, Rushing & Guice has been instrumental in the economic development of the region by assisting clients in a wide variety of business endeavors, as well as personal legal matters. The firm also engages in commercial and general litigation in all state and federal courts, banking, business, maritime, white collar criminal defense, creditor bankruptcy and complex financial and real estate transaction law. With its long-time Biloxi headquarters sustaining extensive damage during Hurricane Katrina, the firm now maintains offices in Ocean Springs and Gulfport. Rushing & Guice can be contacted at 228-374-2313.