About Chelsea Brener
Chelsea Brener Cusimano studied law on both coasts. She earned her J.D. from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law in 2012 and later completed an LL.M. program at George Washington University’s Mount Vernon campus. The additional graduate study broadened her exposure to federal and comparative legal issues.
She moved quickly into private practice. In 2013 she became a partner at Brener & Kraus, LLC, joining an existing small-firm practice and taking on litigation and advisory work. A few years later she shifted into public-sector employment law. In 2016 she served as in-house counsel for the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office, where she handled employment matters, internal investigations and personnel policy issues for the agency.
After that stint in house, she returned to private practice and continued to take on both plaintiff and defense-side matters in state and administrative forums. In 2023 she joined Sternberg, Naccari and White, LLC as a partner. That move placed her in a larger firm environment while keeping the hands-on case work she had built earlier in her career.
Cusimano is licensed to practice in Louisiana and Georgia. Those admissions allow her to represent clients across state lines on a range of civil and employment-related issues. Her experience inside a law enforcement agency informs how she approaches disputes that touch personnel procedures, disciplinary actions and regulatory compliance.
Colleagues describe her as practical and direct in the courtroom and at the negotiating table. She tends to break complex problems into discrete steps. That approach has guided her through administrative hearings, pre-litigation counseling and contested proceedings in state courts.
Her educational background and months spent as in-house counsel give her a mix of perspectives. She understands how institutions operate and what private clients expect when they hire outside counsel. That perspective shapes the advice and strategies she offers to employers and individuals alike.
She currently is a partner at Sternberg, Naccari and White, LLC, where she handles employment law and related civil matters.
