About Monica J.
Monica J. Manzella built her education on a sequence of public service and law. She earned a B.A. from Spring Hill College in 2002 and completed her J.D. at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law in 2005. Later, she returned to graduate study and received an M.A. in Security Studies and Homeland Defense & Security from the Naval Postgraduate School in 2016.
Her early career moved between legal practice and roles that intersected with defense and public safety. Over time she took positions that combined litigation, counsel work, and issues tied to national security and emergency services. Those experiences shaped a practice that bridges traditional civil defense and emerging regulatory challenges.
Manzella is listed as Senior Counsel at Kean Miller LLP. In that role she advises clients on a mix of legal matters, drawing on both courtroom experience and advisory work. Her title reflects a senior advisory position inside the firm rather than an entry-level courtroom role, placing her where litigation strategy, regulatory interpretation, and client counseling meet.
She holds an ANSI-accredited Certified Information Privacy Professional credential for the U.S. private sector (CIPP/US) from the International Association of Privacy Professionals. That certification signals formal training in privacy law, data protection principles, and sector-specific compliance issues. It complements her legal training and the security studies background she gained at the Naval Postgraduate School.
Professional involvement has been a steady part of her career. She maintains memberships in the American Bar Association, the Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit, the Federal Bar Association, the Defense Research Institute, and the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel. She serves as a director of the New Orleans Bar Association and has been involved with the New Orleans Emergency Medical Services Foundation. Those affiliations reflect both a regional legal footprint and connections to national bar institutions.
Colleagues describe her work as rooted in practical problem-solving. She brings academic study, bar association engagement, and a privacy credential to bear on client matters. Her background in security studies gives an additional lens on regulatory risk and emergency-response issues.
She practices from Kean Miller LLP and continues to handle matters that draw on privacy, information governance, regulatory compliance, and defense-related legal work. Her current practice focuses on privacy and information governance, regulatory compliance, and defense-related matters.
