2022 Best Lawyers Business Edition
The Litigation Issue
Featured Firms
Firm
Snow Jensen & Reece, P.C.
St. George, Utah
1 Best Lawyers award
Firm
Swanson, Martin & Bell, LLP
Chicago, Illinois
37 Best Lawyers awards
Firm
Schwegman, Lundberg & Woessner, P.A.
Minneapolis, Minnesota
8 Best Lawyers awards
Firm
Link & Rockenbach PA
West Palm Beach, Florida
2 Best Lawyers awards
Firm
The Blum Firm, P.C.
Fort Worth, Texas
4 Best Lawyers awards
Firm
Munck Wilson Mandala
Dallas, Texas
27 Best Lawyers awards
Firm
Call & Jensen
Newport Beach, California
5 Best Lawyers awards
Firm
Weiner Spivey & Miller, PLC
Fairfax, Virginia
1 Best Lawyers award
Firm
Harlan Law PC
San Diego, California
1 Best Lawyers award
Firm
Orgain Bell & Tucker, LLP
Beaumont, Texas
6 Best Lawyers awards
Featured in Best Lawyers
Mr. Jowers focuses his practice on representing children with preventable brain injuries caused by negligent obstetric care. His work has led to record breaking verdicts and settlements as well as recognition by his peers in the legal profession. Throughout the years he has also been privileged to represent military families in actions against the government for negligent medical care at military hospitals. In 2020 he obtained a $15.1 million judgment for a child with cerebral palsy caused by...
Dr. Manley brings to Janet, Janet & Suggs, LLC more than 30 years’ experience in the medical profession. As a board-certified OBGYN with well over 2,000 deliveries, he is extremely knowledgeable in all areas of obstetrics. His specialty training was at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC), which included a four-month rotation of high-risk obstetrics at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Following successful completion of his residency, he served as a faculty instructor at GBMC, while al...
Richard M. Serbin is a leader in the Sexual Abuse Division of Janet, Janet & Suggs, LLC, a national law firm that has successfully represented thousands of survivors of sexual abuse. Mr. Serbin has been nationally recognized as a “crusader” for the rights of those abused by Catholic Clergy and as one of the first legal advocates for survivors of abuse by Catholic priests and clergy. His diligence, commitment, experience, and accomplishments representing hundreds of survivors a...
Kevin Kaplan joined the firm in 1992, and now serves as its President. He has extensive trial and appellate court experience in commercial litigation. As trial counsel for corporations and entrepreneurs, Mr. Kaplan has litigated matters ranging from aircraft finance, banking and partnership disputes, to trademark and copyright, construction defect and contract claims. He approaches his cases by seeking creative and cost-effective trial strategies for complicated problems.
Lincoln is a founding partner of Connelly Law Offices. He is a seasoned plaintiff trial lawyer with an in-depth knowledge of personal injury, civil rights and insurance bad faith law. Lincoln’s track record lists dozens of jury trials and settlements that far exceed multi-million dollar results on behalf of his clients. His powerful courtroom reputation brings him some of the best, most complicated cases in Washington state. He has a passion for taking on cases that involve the abuse of...
Alex Thomson is chair of Houston Harbaugh's Business Law Practice group. He serves as outside general counsel to a wide range of businesses from start-ups to large multi-nationals and represents clients in a diverse set of industries from software to international consulting to steel manufacturing. He also represents non-profit organizations such as foundations and churches as well as professional service businesses such as medical, dental and veterinary practices, and accounting and law firm...
An employment and labor attorney, Craig M. Brooks primarily represents management, providing advice on how to handle employee issues and actions, as well as defending or pursuing claims in court and before government agencies on matters including employment discrimination claims, wage and hour matters, sexual and other harassment investigations and claims, Family and Medical Leave Act, wrongful discharge, labor/union matters, restrictive covenants, affirmative action programs, defamation, and...
With a focus on business law, Dave regularly represents real estate developers, small and closely held service providers, manufacturers, professional services, lenders, and public companies. Among the many business related matters he assists with include: Negotiation and documentation Organizational governance Structuring developmental or joint venture projects Mergers and acquisitions Restructuring Project finance Extension of credit facilities Raising debt and equity Administrative and regu...
Chair of Houston Harbaugh’s Health Law Practice, Jessica works almost exclusively with health care entities and health practitioners. She has extensive experience with: Drafting and negotiating physician employment agreements from both the physician and employer perspectives Negotiating contracts between physicians and hospitals Preparing purchase agreements to govern the sale of medical practices Advising on corporate governance issues, from practice formation to dissolution Developing...
Anne B. Shaver is a partner with a focus on employment and antitrust class actions. She is currently co-lead counsel in an Equal Pay Act case against Google, representing a certified class of female employees in California. She also represents a certified class of female employees challenging systemic gender discrimination Goldman Sachs. In the antitrust area, she represents classes of workers challenging unlawful “no-poach” agreements between employers. Currently, she represents ...
Annika K. Martin is a partner in the firm’s New York office and head of the firm’s Sexual Abuse Survivors Practice Group . She has represented plaintiffs since 2005 in environmental , mass tort , consumer protection , and sexual abuse cases. In May 2020, Annika was appointed Interim Class Counsel for the plaintiffs in the University of Michigan / Dr. Robert E. Anderson sexual abuse litigation pending before Judge Victoria A. Roberts in the United States District Court for the East...
Brendan P. Glackin chairs the firm’s antitrust practice group and supports the firm’s antitrust cases. He has practiced antitrust law for nearly two decades and has tried more than 20 civil and criminal cases. His successes include the titanium dioxide antitrust class action ($163.5 million in settlements); the liquid crystal displays (LCDs) price-fixing litigation ($470 million in settlements); and the Norvir antitrust litigation. Mr. Glackin served as trial counsel in all three ...
A Business Leader, Innovator and Defender of Investor Rights Bruce W. Leppla is a partner in the San Francisco office of Lieff Cabraser, the 2022 New York Law Journal “Class Action Department of the Year,” the 2021 American Lawyer “Boutique Litigation Firm of the Year,” and the Benchmark Litigation “California Plaintiff Firm of the Year.” Bruce has received numerous honors and awards, including: Lawdragon named Bruce “one of the nation’s best pl...
Daniel M. Hutchinson chairs the firm’s employment practice group and supports the firm’s employment cases. His practice has been focused on litigating, settling, and taking to trial complex class actions that have advanced the public interest. As a partner at Lieff Cabraser, Daniel served as lead or co-lead counsel on cases that recovered over $800 million for his clients in all variety of industries and across myriad discrimination, unpaid wages, ERISA, consumer protection, and f...
A partner in our San Francisco office, Fabrice N. Vincent is a tireless and principled advocate for the injured and the families of loved ones who died in personal injury and wrongful death cases. Fabrice’s cases include aviation accidents, auto and recreational vehicle accidents , cases arising from defective infant and consumer products , dangerous prescription drugs , and faulty medical devices . Fabrice’s practice also includes cases involving environmental toxic exposures , m...
Featured in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch
Andrew Janet joined Janet, Janet & Suggs, LLC after serving as an associate attorney in the litigation department of Cleary Gottlieb, a preeminent international law firm. He practiced at Cleary’s headquarters in New York and worked on high-profile corporate litigation and investigations where billions of dollars were at stake. At JJS, his practice focuses on representing victims of negligence and other wrongful conduct in sexual abuse cases, high-stakes medical malpractice suits, en...
Matthew White’s practice focuses on representing victims with catastrophic injuries due to medical negligence or other wrongful and negligent conduct. He proudly advocates for victims who suffer from physical harm or economic injury caused by the improper acts of others. He joined JJS after several years of representing individuals and companies in high-stakes disputes and transactions. Matthew is admitted to practice in state courts in Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia, Nort...
Patrick Thronson has a national practice focused on helping people obtain just compensation for preventable medical errors, sexual abuse, and other catastrophic injuries. With his team at Janet, Janet & Suggs, he has recovered tens of millions of dollars to help injured plaintiffs and their families rebuild their lives. Patrick represents clients in individual lawsuits and in class actions in trial courts across the country. NBC News, the Associated Press, the Washington Post, and other l...
Stephen Rigg joined Janet, Janet & Suggs, LLC after several years of representing individuals and companies at all stages of litigation. At JJS, his practice focuses on representing victims with complex cases requiring extensive pre- and post-trial proceedings. Stephen has brought to JJS his experience ranging from massive civil rights class actions to permitting disputes. In law school, Stephen served as a research assistant for several notable professors, including Donald G. Gifford and...
Corey Bauer is an intellectual property and commercial litigator practicing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the firm of Houston Harbaugh. He works in Houston Harbaugh's substantive practice areas of Business Litigation, Intellectual Property Litigation, Cybersecurity and Data Breach Response, Trade Secret Litigation and DTSALaw®, and UAS/UAV (drone) litigation and investigations. Corey acts as a litigation team lead for the firm in complex trade secret, patent, contract, and tort disputes ...
Andrew Kaufman is a partner in our Nashville office. Prior to joining Lieff Cabraser, Andrew was a law clerk for Judge Martha Craig Daughtrey in Nashville and Judge Stephen Glickman in Washington D.C., and a fellow at Public Citizen Litigation Group. Andrew graduated from Harvard Law School cum laude in 2012. During law school, he was an Executive Editor of the Harvard Law and Policy Review , and was honored with the Dean’s Scholar Prizes in Federal Courts, Civil Procedure, and Legislat...
Kevin R. Budner is a partner in Lieff Cabraser’s San Francisco specializing in complex, high-impact litigation. Of particular note, Kevin is one of the lead attorneys prosecuting San Francisco’s case in the nationwide opioid litigation . Among other roles, Kevin directed the team’s discovery efforts against Walgreens and played a key role in the multi-month bellwether trial. In a milestone opinion , Judge Charles R. Breyer concluded that “the aggregate evidence that Pl...
Melissa Gardner is a partner in Lieff Cabraser’s San Francisco office. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Melissa was a semi-finalist in the Harvard Ames Moot Court Competition, as well as a Student Attorney with the Harvard Prison Legal Assistance Project and South Brooklyn Legal Services. Prior to joining Lieff Cabraser, Melissa worked at Emery Celli Brinckherhoff & Abady and at South Brooklyn Legal Services, where she assisted with the Workers’ Rights and Government Benefits...
Sean A. Petterson is a partner in Lieff Cabraser’s New York office. He is a member of the firm’s securities, consumer practice, and cybersecurity/data privacy practice groups where he has represented shareholders and consumers in a number of high-profile actions. These include representing shareholders in a derivative lawsuit against Wells Fargo that settled for $240 million and corporate governance reforms, and ongoing data breach and TCPA class actions on behalf of consumers. Pr...
A partner in Lieff Cabraser’s San Francisco office, Tiseme Zegeye represents plaintiffs in employment discrimination and women’s health individual and class actions. Prior to joining Lieff Cabraser, Tiseme was a Staff Attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York, where she litigated to protect women’s reproductive rights. Previously she was a Legal Fellow at the American Civil Liberties Union Women’s Rights Project in New York, where she worked to fight g...
Diana Sada started her legal career in Central Florida where she focused exclusively on representing homeowners and condominium associations in construction defect litigation. Prior to joining Burg Simpson Eldredge Hersh & Jardine, Ms. Sada was a trial lawyer in both the civil and criminal arenas where she conducted numerous jury trials and tirelessly represented many clients and victims in and out of the courtroom. Ms. Sada heads Burg Simpson’s Florida construction defect group whe...
Featured "Lawyer of the Year" Honorees
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE 1996 - Present: Janet, Janet & Suggs, LLC (JJS): Founding and Managing Partner of law firm concentrating in representing plaintiffs in medical malpractice, dangerous pharmaceuticals, defective medical devices, and environmental litigation. 1989 - 1996: Janet and Strausberg, P.A.: Founding and Managing Partner of law firm concentrating in representing plaintiffs in medical malpractice litigation. (The late Gary Strausberg withdrew from the firm following his appoint...
Kenneth M. Suggs, a principal in the firm of Janet, Janet & Suggs, has been a tireless champion of consumer legal rights for over 40 years. Known for his advocacy in the areas of medical malpractice, product liability, catastrophic injuries, and wrongful death, he has been recognized nationally as one of the nation’s finest trial lawyers. As head of the firm’s Personal Injury Division and a leader on medical malpractice teams, Ken has an in-depth understanding of how serious i...
Albert G. Caruana is a seasoned trial lawyer with approximately 40 years of courtroom experience. Mr. Caruana concentrates his practice in family law, including complex contested dissolution of marriage cases, paternity, domestic violence and custody issues. Mr. Caruana joined Coffey Burlington after practicing at his own firm for nearly thirty years. Prior to starting his own firm, Mr. Caruana was a partner in the Miami office of Greenberg Traurig. Mr. Caruana is actively involved in all str...
A native of Coral Gables, Andy Marks joined Coffey Burlington in 2013 as a partner after more than 25 years of practice as a litigation partner in the Washington, DC firm of Crowell & Moring LLP. Andy also maintains a practice in Washington as the Law Offices of Andrew Marks PLLC. Following graduation from the University of Michigan Law School, Andy clerked for U.S. District Judge Charles R. Richey in the District of Columbia and also served as Executive Assistant to Ambassador Sol M. Lin...
Kendall Coffey is a founding member of the law firm Coffey Burlington, PL, based in Miami, which handles matters in Florida and throughout the United States. Mr. Coffey also currently serves as the Chair of the Federal Judicial Nominating Commission for South Florida. Appointed by both of Florida's United States Senators, he presides over the 21-person commission that selects individuals to be considered by the White House to become U.S. federal judges and U.S. Attorney for South Florida. Mr....
Robert Burlington is Managing Member and co-founder of the firm. In his more than 35 years of practice, he has litigated and tried to completion a wide variety of jury and non-jury trials in state and federal courts. He has served as lead counsel in multiple arbitrations. These cases include business torts, commercial and real estate contract disputes, securities transactions, class actions, as well as many aspects of state and federal employment litigation. He has built his practice by assis...
Jack Connelly John R. (Jack) Connelly has been practicing law in the Puget Sound for over 28 years, entirely in representation of plaintiffs. His practice is rooted in the core values upon which he founded the Connelly Law Offices; Truth, Justice, Accountability and Equal Access. Jack maintains a strong interest in cases which hold government and corporate entities accountable, which emphasize the dignity and value of every human being, and which make a difference in how government officials,...
Nate Roberts is a trial lawyer who represents real, everyday people as they work to hold corporations and government accountable. His primary focus is on the litigation and trial of complex personal injury and wrongful death claims. Over the course of his career, he has successfully tried a wide variety of major cases in both state and federal court, resulting in seven-figure and eight-figure verdicts in the Superior Courts of King, Pierce, and Spokane Counties, as well as U.S. District Court...
Alan S. Miller has more than thirty-eight years of experience in complex litigation and counseling, concentrating in the areas of environmental law, insurance coverage and bad faith, and commercial litigation. He chairs the firm’s Environmental and Energy Law practice and the Insurance Coverage and Bad Faith Litigation practice. Alan’s environmental law practice has involved counseling, litigation and alternative dispute resolution of matters involving municipal, residual, and haz...
A business litigator and environmental lawyer, Anthony has represented business clients in significant cases presenting issues involving unfair competition, corporate governance, Sherman and Clayton Act violations, breach of fiduciary duty, fraudulent conveyance, securities fraud, trademark protection, insurance coverage, construction litigation, legal malpractice, commercial real estate, and contract matters. He also has acted as outside general counsel to a publicly-held real estate develop...
Gary J. Gunnett concentrates his practice on employee benefit plans, including the design, implementation, maintenance, and termination of qualified retirement plans (pension, profit sharing and 401(k) plans). He works closely with employers, employee benefits consultants, actuaries, accountants and other professionals to provide guidance in matters involving the Affordable Care Act, ERISA, and the Internal Revenue Code. Gary regularly represents clients before the Internal Revenue Service, t...
A Director in Houston Harbaugh's Estates and Trusts Group , Heidi Rai Stewart assists individuals in the creation of estate plans, probate, and estate and trust administration. Her work in these areas extends to Special Needs planning and Long Term Care planning, including Elder Law . As a natural outcome of her practice, she has gained significant experience in Orphans’ Court matters such as Will contests, guardianships, and actions relating to undue influence, and breaches of fiduciar...
Henry Sneath is a complex business litigation, intellectual property , DTSALaw® trade secrets and restrictive covenant, employment , products liability , catastrophic injury, probate, estates and trusts litigation , and insurance coverage attorney, as well as a complex case certified mediator and Federal Court Special Master with Houston Harbaugh, P.C. in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He and his team are currently handling some very complex trade secrets misappropriation litigation and severa...
In Brief
The Write Stuff
by Michele M. Jochner
A series of pointers for making your legal writing clear, concise and—crucially—persuasive.
Getting Reorganized
by Sameer M. Alifarag and Seth H. Lieberman
Taking a second look at first day relief: an examination of recent bankruptcy trends through the lens of two important debtor motions and their impact on Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.
Accommodation Reigns
by J. Lott Warren and Kara E. Shea
A recent 6th Circuit Court decision could have big implications for employers who don’t follow reasonable-accommodation standards within disability and medical-leave law to the letter.
COVID-19 and a Cloud of Dust
by John J. Song and Theodore M. Becker
Think ERISA health plan litigation was convoluted before? The pandemic—and future pathogens such as the monkeypox virus currently causing consternation among health authorities worldwide—will further upend the legal landscape as new regulations and statutes take effect.
The Great Debate: Do You Arbitrate Commercial Disputes?
by David K. Taylor
In a civil case, is it wiser for a business to try to persuade the counterparty to agree from the outset to arbitration—or potentially to place its very solvency in the unpredictable hands of a judge and jury?
Punishment and Deterrents
by David A. Yeagley
Facing a jury instruction on punitive damages? Here’s a cheat sheet to help you secure the best possible outcome for the defendant you represent.
Freedom to Compete
by Alyson M. St. Pierre and Ashley C. Pack
Recent movement at the federal level regarding management-labor relations mean changes to enforcement of noncompete agreements and other covenants could be imminent.
Before the Claim Hits
by George L. Lankford
General liability insurance is rarely as simple as it might seem—and if you wait to examine your policy specifics until your business has been sued, it’s too late.
