Houma native Mary Waitz Riviere brings to Waitz & Downer a 30-year career in a variety of complex serious personal injury cases. She received her undergraduate degree from LSU in marketing before going on to earn a law degree from Tulane University School of Law, graduating cum laude.

Following law school, she clerked for both Judge Morey Sear and Judge Veronica Wicker, both distinguished district federal judges for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Riviere joined the Waitz & Downer team in 1990.

Part of her practice is devoted to the disabled. Nothing brings her more joy than helping those in need obtain the benefits they are entitled to, and she focuses a portion of her time to Social Security Disability law. She also specializes in providing legal advice and counsel to the elderly in the forms of successions, wills, donations, and estate planning. She has a heart for the injured, the elderly, and those who just need help but don’t know where to turn. She is compassionate but tough when representing her clients.

Having grown up on boats her entire life, she has a special love for maritime and offshore cases. She is an outspoken defender and advocate of victims’ rights and passionately represents her clients to ensure that justice is achieved in all of her cases.

Riviere prides herself in staying involved in her hometown and providing legal services to the local community around her. She presently serves on the Bishop’s Advisory Council for the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux as well as the Crossroads Crisis Pregnancy Center. She comes from a family of lawyers, including her father Joseph Waitz, a founder of Waitz & Downer.