Magistrate Judge Joseph H.L. Perez-Montes has worked in the areas of labor and employment law throughout his career.
Judge Perez-Montes earned his JD summa cum laude from Tulane Law School, where he studied labor and employment law with Professor Friedman. After graduating, he clerked for Senior U.S. District Judge Dee D. Drell, a position in which he routinely researched and helped decide federal employment cases. Judge Perez-Montes then practiced law at the Gold Law Firm in Alexandria, Louisiana, where he specialized in labor and employment law. Representing both public and private employers, he consulted on and litigated all manner of employee benefits, discrimination and harassment issues before state and federal courts and administrative agencies.
Judge Perez-Montes was appointed to the bench in 2015. As a federal trial court judge, he regularly presides over labor and employment cases. He has also taught undergraduate courses in labor and employment law since 2011, and has given dozens of professional and academic lectures and workshops in the field.