Amber Sheppard leads therapy dog services and education in Louisiana
Amber Sheppard calls Tubbs her “little litigator.”
The Labrador/basset mix, who has short legs and weighs about 50 pounds, fits the description.
“She goes to court with me,” Sheppard says of Tubbs, her 10-year-old service dog. “She goes to depositions. She goes to trial. She goes to hearings. And it’s always funny, because people, if they come in after we are seated, they have no idea she’s there.”
Sheppard, a neurodiverse attorney in southeastern Louisiana, has been working with Tubbs since 2018. Because she understands the positive impact a dog can have on a person’s well-being, she founded Be Fierce & Kind Canine a few years later.
Through her nonprofit organization, Sheppard provides therapy dog services and education to courthouses, community organizations and schools.
She implemented two landmark therapy dog programs in the 22nd Judicial District Court in St. Tammany Parish, which is located on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, across from New Orleans. The one in Family Preservation Court was the first in the courthouse. The other is in Assisted Outpatient Treatment, which focuses on adults with serious mental illness, and it was the first of its kind in Louisiana.
“I’m 38 now, and maybe it sounds hokey, but everything I do is because I want to be the person I needed,” says Sheppard, an associate at Pugh Accardo’s Mandeville, Louisiana, office. “I want people to remember me when they’re going through rough times.”
“And I know they’ll remember me mostly because of my dog, which is fine. She’s adorable,” she adds. “But I’m always a resource for them to reach out to later.”
Greatest strengths
Sheppard grew up in Slidell, Louisiana, and has Cajun roots on both sides of her family.
“My favorite food is gumbo, and I can eat boiled crawfish like nobody’s business,” she says.
Sheppard didn’t know any lawyers but read The Chamber, a legal thriller written by John Grisham, when she was in fourth grade. She ended up reading most of Grisham’s books, and that’s why she wanted to be a lawyer, she says.
“I still have a very tattered copy of The Rainmaker on my desk,” Sheppard says.
Sheppard, the first person in her family to go to college, graduated from Southeastern Louisiana University with a bachelor’s degree in political science in 2009. She also worked as a law clerk and the office manager at a local personal injury firm before attending the Mississippi College School of Law.
She intended to pursue personal injury law after being struck by a van while training for a triathlon during college. She had been a serious athlete since high school, where she was the captain of the three-time state championship powerlifting team.
Sheppard continued lifting through college and law school and captured nine state records over the course of her career. In addition to triathlons, she competed in 100-plus-mile cycling races and half-marathons. She also was a weightlifting coach and spin instructor.
During law school, she co-founded Mississippi Barbell, the first USA Weightlifting-sanctioned club in the state. She helped organize the state’s first weightlifting meets, conducted seminars for coaches and trained national and world champion athletes. After graduating in 2013, Sheppard became the director of operations for a national gym management company.
When starting her legal career a couple years later, she passed the bar first in Mississippi and then in Louisiana.
In 2017, Sheppard returned to her hometown, where she focused on personal injury, family law and business law in her own firm. Last year, she joined Pugh Accardo and now practices primarily in intellectual property and workers’ compensation defense.
“She’s very active and very productive, because she works really, really hard,” says Larry Pugh, the founding member of Pugh Accardo. “I’ve been impressed all the way around because she’s also just always up and upbeat.”
‘Changed my whole life’
Earlier in Sheppard’s practice, she served as a public defender in Child in Need of Care cases, which arose in the 22nd Judicial District Court after a child had been neglected or abused or was at risk of harm.
Sheppard, who has anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, eventually decided she needed to step away from that work. She says she experienced a mental breakdown, started therapy and began to reassess her career.
Sheppard also went to the St. Tammany Parish animal shelter and rescued Tubbs. “She changed my whole life, and I think career path as well,” Sheppard says.
Having Tubbs trained as a service dog allowed her to continue going to court without worrying that panic attacks would affect her and her clients, she says. Educating herself about service and emotional support animals also showed her that information on the internet is often confusing and incorrect.
“I figured if it was that difficult for me to digest and figure out these laws, it has to be the same way for other folks,” Sheppard says.
In recent years, Sheppard has spoken about neurodiversity and service dog laws to bar associations, businesses and other groups nationwide. Along with writing extensively on the topic, she created a coloring book (featuring Tubbs) that teaches children about therapy dogs.
As the 22nd Judicial District Court’s first therapy dog, Tubbs has provided comfort to both children and adults before and during court sessions. Tubbs offers deep pressure therapy, leaning against people or gently sitting on their feet, Sheppard says. People also can pet her ears and rub her paws.
“But her biggest job has been when the kids had to go in chambers and talk to the judge with their lawyers [by] themselves,” Sheppard says. “That can be scary, but we always tell them, ‘Be brave like Tubbs.’”
Pugh, who has been with Sheppard and Tubbs in the courtroom, says there is an “empathetic aspect” to Sheppard’s work that “invites people in.” He also says Sheppard has made a huge impact on the community.
“She’s found a way to participate in a natural and positive way that I think is inspirational,” he says.
Sheppard received an ABA Young Lawyers Division’s On the Rise Award for her work in 2025. She has been an ABA member since law school and has become a leader in the association’s Section of Intellectual Property Law.
Locally, she is active in the Louisiana State Bar Association, and this year she received its Young Lawyers Division’s Young Lawyer of the Year Award.
“I feel really strongly about public service,” says Sheppard, who also handles hundreds of hours of pro bono work each year, including adoptions for LGBTQ+ families. “And I really feel strongly about putting in the time and giving back to the profession that gives back to others.”
Members Who Inspire is an ABA Journal series profiling exceptional ABA members. If you know members who do unique and important work, you can nominate them for this series by emailing [email protected].
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