Louisiana Courts of Appeal: Structure and Circuits

Louisiana's intermediate appellate courts occupy the critical jurisdictional layer between the Louisiana district courts and the Louisiana Supreme Court, handling the overwhelming majority of appeals filed within the state's three-tiered judicial system. The state is divided into 5 circuits, each assigned specific parishes and exercising mandatory jurisdiction over appeals from civil, criminal, and family law matters originating in its geographic territory. Understanding the circuit structure, panel composition, and decisional boundaries of these courts is essential for practitioners, litigants, and researchers navigating the Louisiana judicial branch.

Definition and scope

Louisiana's Courts of Appeal are constitutional courts established under Article V, Section 8 of the Louisiana Constitution (Louisiana Constitution, Article V). There are 5 circuits operating across the state, staffed collectively by 53 judges elected to 10-year terms from their respective circuits. Each circuit court has subject-matter jurisdiction over final judgments and interlocutory orders from the district courts within its geographic boundaries, as well as appeals from certain administrative agencies.

The courts function as error-correcting tribunals. They do not conduct trials, receive new evidence, or hear witness testimony. Their review is confined to the record compiled at the district court level. Appeals from the Louisiana Department of Revenue, the Louisiana Public Service Commission, and designated administrative bodies also route through the circuit courts depending on subject matter and geography.

Scope limitations: This page addresses only the state intermediate appellate courts operating under Louisiana law. Federal appellate jurisdiction — exercised by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit over federal district courts in Louisiana (Fifth Circuit, ca5.uscourts.gov) — falls outside the scope of this reference. Appeals from Louisiana's specialized courts, such as juvenile and family courts, follow their own procedural tracks under the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure and Louisiana Children's Code.

How it works

The 5 circuit structure

Each circuit is defined by statute and assigned a fixed set of parishes:

First Circuit — Headquartered in Baton Rouge; covers East Baton Rouge Parish, Ascension Parish, Livingston Parish, St. Tammany Parish, Tangipahoa Parish, Lafourche Parish, Terrebonne Parish, and 14 additional parishes in the southeastern and central regions. The First Circuit is the largest by judge count, with 12 judges (Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal).
Second Circuit — Headquartered in Shreveport; covers Caddo Parish, Bossier Parish, Ouachita Parish, Lincoln Parish, Webster Parish, and parishes across the northwest and north-central regions. The Second Circuit carries 8 judges (Louisiana Second Circuit Court of Appeal).
Third Circuit — Headquartered in Lake Charles; covers Calcasieu Parish, Lafayette Parish, Rapides Parish, Acadia Parish, St. Landry Parish, and parishes spanning south-central and southwest Louisiana. The Third Circuit carries 12 judges (Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeal).
Fourth Circuit — Headquartered in New Orleans; covers Orleans Parish, Jefferson Parish, St. Bernard Parish, Plaquemines Parish, and St. Charles Parish. The Fourth Circuit carries 12 judges and handles the highest concentration of commercial and maritime litigation in the state (Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal).
Fifth Circuit — Headquartered in Gretna; primarily covers Jefferson Parish matters not routed through the Fourth Circuit, and St. John the Baptist Parish, St. James Parish, and Lafourche Parish for specific case categories. The Fifth Circuit carries 9 judges (Louisiana Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal).

Cases are heard by 3-judge panels drawn from the circuit's bench. En banc consideration — all judges of a circuit sitting together — is reserved for significant legal questions or when a panel seeks to reconsider a prior circuit precedent.

Common scenarios

Appeals routed through the circuit courts fall into several recurring categories:

Civil liability disputes — Personal injury, contract breach, and property damage judgments from district courts, including those arising in parishes such as Calcasieu Parish and East Baton Rouge Parish where industrial and commercial litigation is concentrated.
Criminal appeals — Defendants convicted at the district court level have a constitutional right of appeal to the appropriate circuit. The circuit court reviews the record for legal error, sufficiency of evidence, and constitutional violations.
Family law matters — Custody determinations, community property partitions, and support orders from district courts are reviewable by the circuit covering the originating parish.
Administrative appeals — Decisions from agencies including the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services and the Louisiana Department of Labor are subject to circuit review under applicable enabling statutes.
Writ applications — Parties may seek supervisory writs during pending litigation when no final judgment exists. The circuit has discretion to grant or deny without full briefing.

Decision boundaries

Circuit court decisions carry binding precedential authority within their own circuit. A decision by the Fourth Circuit does not bind the Third Circuit, a structural feature that permits inter-circuit conflicts on questions of Louisiana law. Those conflicts are resolved exclusively by the Louisiana Supreme Court on application for certiorari under Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Article 2201.

Circuit vs. Supreme Court jurisdiction: The Louisiana Supreme Court exercises supervisory jurisdiction over all inferior courts (Louisiana Supreme Court), but its review of circuit court decisions is discretionary in civil matters and mandatory only in a defined class of criminal cases — specifically those involving a capital sentence or a life imprisonment term imposed without the possibility of parole. In all other criminal and civil cases, a litigant dissatisfied with a circuit ruling must petition for a writ of certiorari; there is no automatic further review.

Standard of review: Circuit courts apply differentiated standards depending on the question presented. Factual findings from a bench or jury trial are reviewed under the manifest error / clearly wrong standard articulated in Arceneaux v. Domingue (Louisiana Supreme Court, 1978). Questions of law receive de novo review. Mixed questions require the court to separate legal error from factual determination before applying the appropriate standard.

What circuit courts cannot do: They cannot retry facts, substitute their credibility assessments for those of the fact-finder at trial, or issue advisory opinions. They cannot accept jurisdiction over matters pending exclusively in federal district courts or the Fifth Circuit. Appeals from Louisiana parish governing bodies acting in a legislative rather than quasi-judicial capacity are generally not cognizable in the circuit courts without a statutory grant of appellate jurisdiction.

The broader structure of Louisiana's three-branch government — of which the courts form the judicial pillar — is indexed at the Louisiana Government Authority home.