Baker Donelson attorney Charline K. Gipson has been named by New Orleans Mayor-Elect Helena Moreno as the new City Attorney for her incoming administration.
As the Chief Legal Officer of the Law Department, Ms. Gipson will be responsible for directing and supervising the legal affairs of the City of New Orleans. She will assume this new role upon Mayor-Elect Moreno's inauguration on January 12, 2026.
"I am extremely honored by Mayor-Elect Moreno's confidence in me to serve the people of New Orleans as their next City Attorney and lead with a culture of innovation, urgency, and trust," said Ms. Gipson. "I look forward to working with her administration and the City Council as we move our great city forward into a new and promising era."
Baker Donelson Chair and CEO Timothy M. Lupinacci noted, "Baker Donelson has a long history of service to the communities where we live and work. Charline exemplifies that spirit of service. We're grateful for the time and talents she brought to our Firm and our clients, and we are proud to see her sharing those same talents for the benefit of a city she cares about so deeply. We wish her all the best in this new role."
At Baker Donelson, Ms. Gipson has concentrated her practice in general corporate matters, mergers and acquisitions, and commercial transactions for publicly traded and privately held corporations. While serving as outside general counsel for corporate entities, she handled a wide array of corporate and commercial transactions, including organizational restructuring, private and public finance, non-profit organization and federal tax exemption, real estate development, settlement and negotiation strategy, contracts, and corporate governance matters.
New Orleans Managing Shareholder Noah Kressler said, "Baker Donelson is proud that Charline has answered the call to serve, and we wish her and Mayor-Elect Moreno great success."
Prior to joining Baker Donelson, Ms. Gipson co-founded a New Orleans law firm. Before that, she was a corporate associate working on corporate deals at a New York City firm. A two-time graduate of Cornell University, where she earned both her J.D. and a Bachelor of Science in communications, Ms. Gipson served as a law clerk for the Honorable Ivan L.R. Lemelle in the Eastern District of Louisiana of the U.S. District Court.