NEW ORLEANS — Attorney Henry P. Julien, Jr. has been appointed as a temporary judge for the Orleans Parish Civil District Court.
Julien replaces Judge Tiffany Gautier Chase, who was elected as a new magistrate for the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal, and will serve through May 31or a pending an election.
“I am not sure of the exact date of the election,” Julien told the Louisiana Record. “If there is only person who qualifies, then that person will be elected; then this vacancy will be filled; and my term will end at that point. If there is an election, then it will end after that election.”
Henry P. Julien, Jr.
Julien said he has no plans to run for the seat.
“I will be 70-years-old in January, which is the maximum age, so you can’t run for a judgeship if you are 70-years-old,” Julien said.
Julien will temporarily be working alongside his wife, Ethel Simms Julien, who has served since 1995 as a Louisiana Civil District Court judge.
“We won’t serve in the same division,” Julien said of his Division A appointment. “My wife serves in Division N.”
A 1969 Xavier University of Louisiana undergraduate and 1972 Columbia University School of Law graduate, Julien has run a private civil and criminal law practice since 1981 while also serving as an Orleans Municipal Court ad hoc judge. He also was the assistant state attorney general from 1972 to 1974 and the first African-American general counsel of the Louisiana Department of Insurance in 1975.
“I have been an active attorney for many, many years and I have served in many capacities, both in private practice and as a public servant,” Julien said. “This kind of caps it off as being a judge for a period of time.
Julien has also served as on the City of New Orleans Board of Public Access Television Network and on the board of directors of the Great Expectations Foundation.
“This is an opportunity that the supreme court offered me and I was happy to accept,” Julien said.