Martha Thibaut

Professor Thibaut joined the law faculty in 2023 after serving as a long-term judicial law clerk to Associate Justice Scott J. Crichton and previously practicing at the law firm of Fishman Haygood LLP, where her work focused on mergers and acquisitions and tax-subsidized corporate finance. Prior to law school, she taught English in France as an assistant de langue for the French Embassy.

While at the Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Professor Thibaut served as the articles editor to the Louisiana Law Review, was named the National Association of Women Lawyers' Outstanding Law Student, and aided in research of developmental trends in the Delaware Court of Chancery related to mergers and acquisitions for Professor Christina Sautter.

Professor Thibaut teaches in the areas of property, security rights, sales and lease, obligations (contracts), and legal ethics. Her scholarship focuses on property rights and the evolving relationship among private landowners, industry, and the state, with particular emphasis on subsurface ownership and use, eminent domain, and adapting traditional property doctrines to emerging technologies and industries. Her work is often comparative, drawing on both American common law and the civilian tradition, particularly the laws of France and Louisiana. Professor Thibaut’s research is informed by her knowledge of both legal traditions.

In professional and academic circles, Professor Thibaut is a member of the council of the Louisiana State Law Institute, for which she serves on the executive committee, and is a member of the executive committee of the Commercial and Consumer Laws Section of the American Association of Law Schools.