Term Ends: 2026
Party: R
Justice Cade Cole was elected without opposition to the Louisiana Supreme Court in 2025. He represents the Third District covering Western Louisiana. Justice Cole serves as the Chairman of the Judicial Budgetary Control Board. He also serves as a member of the Judicial Council and the Board of Directors of the Louisiana Supreme Court Historical Society.
Prior to his election to the Supreme Court, he served as Louisiana’s first state and local tax judge. Justice Cole graduated with honors from DeQuincy High School, Tulane University, and the Tulane School of Law. In law school he received the CALI Award for highest performance in Obligations II, Income Taxation, Energy Regulation and Public Utility law.
After law school, he served as a law clerk to Justice Jeannette T. Knoll at the Louisiana Supreme Court before entering private practice in Lake Charles. His legal practice involved complex business and tax litigation along with work as appellate counsel for a wide variety of cases.
Justice Cole trained as a mediator at Pepperdine’s Straus Institute and successfully mediated over 1,500 cases. He was asked by other state and federal judges to serve as Special Master and to design the program to expedite the handling of over 10,000 Hurricane Laura lawsuits.