Danielle Aymond joined Baker Donelson after serving as executive counsel of the Louisiana Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP). While serving in this role, she was the state's legal advisor through five presidential declared disasters, including the Great Floods of 2016. She is also a current Judge Advocate in the Louisiana Army National Guard.
Mrs. Aymond's unique dual legal career has allowed her to focus her practice exclusively in disaster response and recovery. Her continued military career gives her distinctive experiences in on-the-ground response, and her years in GOHSEP provides her a deep understanding of long-term disaster recovery. Today, she represents public and private non-profit subrecipients/applicants throughout the country in navigation of the complex federal and state regulatory frameworks to help those entities obtain and maintain federal funding. Mrs. Aymond focuses largely on dispute resolution, including both the appeals and the arbitration process established at 44 C.F.R. § 206.206. She devotes a significant amount of her support to clients in federal grant compliance with an emphasis on procurement support, and she also works closely with numerous private sector partners in the emergency management industry to support compliance and federal grant retention for subrecipients.
Mrs. Aymond has been active in FEMA's new Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) competitive grant program. To date, she has authored three successful BRIC applications, providing nearly $100 million in federal funds to communities. Additionally, since the expansion of numerous federal grant programs nationwide, Mrs. Aymond expanded her experience to provide clients compliance advice across numerous non-disaster grant programs, including grants with the Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Mrs. Aymond is also skilled in policy and the federal disaster legislation process.
During her time at GOHSEP, Mrs. Aymond authored legislation during the 2017 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature that updated the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC). She also authored two state bills in the 2018 Regular Session that updated dozens of emergency management statutes, including creating a new process through which volunteers are named agents of the state in a disaster. Mrs. Aymond served on a Federal Emergency Management Legislation Reform Committee organized under the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) that assisted in the writing and passage of the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018.
In addition to her practice, Mrs. Aymond is currently an adjunct professor at the Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center. She teaches "Law of Emergencies and provides law students with both classroom education and site visits with both state and federal emergency management partners. Beyond teaching, Mrs. Aymond consistently seeks educational opportunities to expand her own experience. Most recently, she became a graduate of FEMA's Vanguard Crisis Leadership Program (2023).
In her military career, Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Aymond entered the Louisiana National Guard's Judge Advocate General's Corps in 2011, and she currently serves as the Brigade Judge Advocate of the 225th Engineer Brigade. She previously served as the first female Brigade Judge Advocate of the 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT). Additionally, her previous assignments include trial counsel of the 256th IBCT, trial defense counsel, regional deputy of Trial Defense Services, and command judge advocate for the Louisiana Aviation Command. LTC Aymond served as a full-time attorney-advisor from 2013 to 2016 in the Office of the Staff Judge Advocate of the Louisiana National Guard. She is a 2008 graduate of the Military Police Individual Training Academy, a 2011 graduate of the Louisiana National Guard Officer Candidate School, and a 2013 graduate of the Army Judge Advocate School. LTC Aymond is also a graduate of the U.S. Army Law of Domestic Operations course at the Judge Advocate School in Charlottesville, Virginia. In 2020 – 2021, LTC Aymond deployed to Iraq where she served as the Brigade Judge Advocate for the 256th IBCT and earned multiple awards including a Combat Action Badge.
Outside of her legal and military careers, Mrs. Aymond is an avid equestrian, competing in dressage nationally. She is the Junior/Young Rider Chair of the Southern Eventing and Dressage Association. Recently, Mrs. Aymond has achieved the following recognitions:
- 2020 USDF Region 9, First Level Freestyle Champion
- 2023 USDF Region 9, Second Level Freestyle AA Champion
- 2023 US Dressage Finals, Second Level Freestyle AA Third Place
- 2023 US Dressage Finals, National Canadian Warmblood High Score Breed Award
- USDF Bronze Medal
Read more about Mrs. Aymond's riding story here.