Attorney Profiles

Biography

Cameron Waddell joined Baron & Budd as Special Counsel from the Louisiana law firm LeBlanc & Waddell when the two firm’s consolidated in 2008.  Cameron is an experienced and tremendously successful trial lawyer, having handled cases on behalf of asbestos victims throughout the United States, including Arizona, Idaho, Georgia, Louisiana, Florida, Arkansas, Texas, Minnesota, Iowa, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Kentucky.  His trial record has encouraged more than one asbestos manufacturer to come to the negotiating table rather than face Cameron at trial.

After earning a history degree in his native South Carolina, Cameron entered law school—where he fell in love with the law.  He clerked for South Carolina’s most senior district court judge, Dan Laney, and he realized that he wanted to spend his life in trial, advocating for people who needed him. 

Cameron worked hard to develop his skills as a trial lawyer, amassing a remarkable record for successfully representing injured workers in state after state.  In the mid-1990s, Cameron settled with his family in Louisiana and established his namesake firm LeBlanc and Waddell, which he co-founded with Burton LeBlanc in 1996.

Cameron says that his favorite cases are often the ones others say are unwinnable.  He successfully tried the first premises liability to go to verdict against Dow Chemical in Texas.  He has also been successful in trying the cases of smokers who develop asbestos-related lung cancer when many thought those cases couldn’t be won.  And his success in trial was instrumental in achieving substantial settlements for victims of occupational hearing loss in a number of Louisiana plants. 

When he looks forward to a trial, Cameron thrives on careful preparation.  He wants to work as hard as he can beforehand to anticipate everything that could happen at trial.  This careful preparation has been a mark of his success in the courtroom. 

“Preparing for every possibility with a really strong team, where we know each other so well we can communicate without talking, means that in trial, I am able to see everything unfold just as we wanted, just as it should, for a worker who was hurt and deserves justice,” Cameron says.  “It’s the way we can help give David a fair shot against Goliath, because these companies aren’t willing to pay for the harm they cause just because it’s the right thing to do.  We fight, and push and prepare everything.”

Cameron saw great success very early in his career, but he’s looking forward for new and bigger challenges each year and, most of all, to the clients relationships that are in his future. 

“I get the chance to help families who are struggling, sometimes to provide them some security for the future, and that’s a great gift to me,” Cameron says.  “But I also have the honor of getting to know my clients as individuals, and I learn so much from the people I represent.  It is so painful when someone I’ve come to know and care about dies, and it happens too often, but I couldn’t give it up, because I grow as a human being from getting to know these families.  It’s a gift to me to be able to serve others and help with their needs.” 

Cameron and his wife are raising their two children, now growing into teenagers, in Baton Rouge Louisiana.  As he sees in many of his client’s lives, family is central to Cameron and his greatest joy. 

Not surprisingly, Cameron is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell Law Directories, its highest rating.  He has also been recognized as a Super Lawyer