Nicholas J. Lorusso

Since joining the Louisiana State Bar Association in 1992, Nick Lorusso has represented clients in insurance defense and coverage, commercial auto and trucking defense, premises liability, medical malpractice defense, workers’ compensation, employment law, contract disputes, first-party property claims, and maritime law.

Nick has successfully litigated matters in bench and jury trials, and he has presented oral arguments before the Louisiana Third, Fourth, and Fifth Circuit Courts of Appeal. Additionally, Nick has mediated more than 50 cases, including multimillion-dollar matters.

Before joining Wilson Elser, Nick was Of Counsel at a Louisiana-based civil defense law firm. Prior to that, he served for six years as the Chief Deputy Commissioner of the Louisiana Department of Insurance in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, supervising the daily operations of a 222-person office that enforces the insurance laws and regulations of the State of Louisiana. He directly supervised the Legal, Fraud, Property and Casualty, Heath, and Solvency departments and managed an annual budget of $35 million. During his tenure with the Department of Insurance, Nick also served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (Citizens), a nonprofit organization that provides insurance for residential and commercial property owners who are unable to procure insurance through the voluntary insurance marketplace.

Government Service
From 2007 to 2016, Nick served as an elected member of the Louisiana House of Representatives. He served on the Special Committee on Military & Veterans Affairs (Chairman), Civil Law and Procedure (Vice-Chairman), Retirement (Vice-Chairman), Insurance, Appropriations, Ways & Means, Criminal Justice, Judiciary, House & Governmental Affairs, the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget, and the Joint Legislative Committee on Capital Outlay. He also served on the Judicial Compensation Commission and the Louisiana Military Advisory Council.

Military Service
After receiving his law degree, Nick was commissioned into the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps. Upon completing Airborne School, he served as a military prosecutor and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney with the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) in Fort Drum, New York, where he represented the United States at courts-martial, administrative boards, and Federal Magistrates Court in cases including attempted murder, rape, sexual assault, drug trafficking, larceny, and fraud. He also deployed to the Republic of Haiti during Operation Uphold Democracy as an International Law and Detention Operations Attorney. After completing his initial tour of active duty, Nick transferred to the Army Reserves. Following the tragic events of September 11, 2001, he was recalled to active duty on numerous occasions. During one such recall to active duty, while serving at Fort Hood, Texas, as the Chief of Legal Assistance for III Corps, he deployed to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the Pentagon to serve at the al-Qaida terrorist tribunals. On another recall to active duty, he served as Deputy Staff Judge Advocate for I Corps at Fort Lewis, Washington, where he was the second-in-charge of a 130-person legal office. Nick was also recalled to serve at Fort Polk, Louisiana, and Camp Shelby, Mississippi, as the Command Judge Advocate of a hurricane recovery task force.

After serving on active duty and in the Army Reserves for nearly three decades, culminating in command of the 91st Legal Operations Detachment in Chicago, Nick retired with the rank of Colonel in 2020.