2023 Best Lawyers Business Edition
The Litigation Issue
Featured in Best Lawyers
Bio Deborah Chang, one of the founding members of Athea Trial Lawyers, has won record-breaking verdicts and settlements in catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases across the country. As if this wasn’t enough, she’s also a partner at Los Angeles firm Chang | Klein LLP. As a trusted advocate at two powerhouse firms, Deborah has made a name for herself as an attorney capable of fighting complex and high-profile cases. At Athea Trial Lawyers, Deborah has been involved in some of ...
Mr. Nguyen is a distinguished Shareholder at Shegerian & Associates, with a rich background in employment law. With previous representation of Fortune 500 companies in labor and employment disputes, Mr. Nguyen has garnered extensive experience on both sides of the litigation field in matters relating to workplace discrimination, harassment, and retaliation on state and federal levels. He also possesses significant expertise in entertainment business and legal affairs. At the firm, Mr. Ngu...
Bryan Kirsh is an accomplished Senior Trial Attorney with Shegerian & Associates, recognized for his comprehensive approach to case management in employment law matters. With a steadfast dedication to serving his clients, Bryan holds individuals and employers accountable for their actions while ensuring his clients receive the maximum recovery available to them. A Ventura County native, Mr. Kirsh obtained his Juris Doctorate from the prestigious Pennsylvania State University, Dickinson Sc...
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....
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.
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,...
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...
Featured in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch
John David is a highly accomplished attorney who joined the firm in 2017 and has since gained significant experience in all stages of litigation. During his time at law school, Mr. David worked full time for the firm as a certified law clerk, conducting and defending depositions, drafting and arguing substantive discovery and dispositive motions, and even trying cases before a jury. Currently, as a Managing Attorney, Mr. David is entrusted with overseeing all aspects of case management, inclu...
Mahru Madjidi is an accomplished Shareholder at Shegerian & Associates, with extensive experience in employment law. She adeptly handles all aspects of case management, from pre-litigation to trial, and even at the appellate level. Throughout her career, Ms. Madjidi has successfully litigated cases across the United States, in both State and Federal courts. She has a wealth of experience in discrimination, harassment, whistleblower retaliation, and wrongful termination matters, making her...
Mark Lim is a highly esteemed Managing Trial Attorney at Shegerian & Associates, renowned for his exceptional legal acumen and unwavering commitment to his clients. Mark earned his Juris Doctor degree from the prestigious Pepperdine University School of Law, where he published an impressive article in the Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal titled “A Business Alternative: Changing Employers’ Perception of the EEOC Mediation Program.” Prior to joining the firm, Mark...
Ms. Zilifyan is a Senior Associate Attorney with Shegerian & Associates. Her practice primarily focuses on representing plaintiffs in employment matters involving claims of wrongful termination and workplace discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. Since the firm has opened it’s practice to sexual assault cases, Ms. Zilifyan has taken lead on managing most of the sexual assault cases for the firm. Since joining the firm in 2020 Ms. Zilifyan has advocated for employee rights. She...
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 ...
Leigh Anne is the Managing Partner of the Nashville office of Sanford Heisler Sharp. Since joining Sanford Heisler Sharp, Leigh Anne has been recognized in the legal community as a Mid-South Rising Star by Super Lawyers, was named one of the Top 40 Under 40 Lawyers in Tennessee by the National Trial Lawyers Association, and was recognized in the 2021 and 2022 edition of The Best Lawyers in America “Ones to Watch” in the field of Employment Law – Individuals. At Sanford Heisl...
Featured "Lawyer of the Year" Honorees
Carney Shegerian began his legal career at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. As an experienced trial attorney, Mr. Shegerian has tried numerous jury trials to verdict in both state and federal court, always representing individuals that have suffered financial or emotional losses and have been wronged by employers, including major corporations. Winner of the 2013 Trial Lawyer of the Year Award as a result of trying a number of significant cases, Mr. Shegerian was also nominated, and a finalis...
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...
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...
Kelly is Managing Partner of the San Francisco office of Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein, LLP. She is Immediate Past Chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Labor and Employment Law, and a member of the ABA’s Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Council. Kelly specializes in civil rights and employment class and collective actions on behalf of plaintiffs, and individual cases addressing sexual abuse, harassment, and trafficking. Kelly is a nationally-recognized a...
A partner based in our Nashville office, Kenneth S. Byrd is an experienced trial attorney at Lieff Cabraser, obtaining several large jury trial verdicts against Big Tobacco over the past several years. He received the Tennessee Association for Justice’s 2015 Paladin Award for his successful litigation against cigarette manufacturers R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Philip Morris USA Inc., and Lorillard Tobacco Company in Florida federal courts. The Paladin Award is TAJ’s highest hon...
A partner in our New York office, Wendy R. Fleishman is a passionate and experienced lawyer for the injured and the loved ones of those who died due to the wrongful misconduct of others. With more than thirty years of courtroom experience to draw upon, a large part of Wendy’s practice today consists of representing patients prescribed drugs with undisclosed and dangerous side effects or who received defective medical devices . Wendy has served in leadership roles in significant Multidis...
Bradley M. Cosgrove is a Chicago medical malpractice attorney, personal injury attorney, and partner at Clifford Law Offices. He is an experienced trial attorney in the areas of medical malpractice, trucking accidents, automobile collisions, personal injury, and wrongful death who believes that results speak for themselves. As a young Chicago personal injury attorney, Brad began his career as a trial lawyer. As a matter of fact, he undertook his first jury trial just one day after he received...
Keith Hebeisen is a partner at Clifford Law Offices. One of the most respected medical malpractice attorneys in Illinois, Mr. Hebeisen has achieved great results for clients in settlements and trials. Although Mr. Hebeisen concentrates his practice in the area of medical malpractice cases against doctors and hospitals, he has represented individuals in a wide variety of cases, including transportation, product liability and toxic torts. We are proud to have him on our team. Mr. Hebeisen has b...
Kevin Durkin is a partner at Clifford Law Offices. Over a career that spans more than 35 years, Mr. Durkin has successfully represented clients in many practice areas, including: Aviation accident litigation and transportation liability Truck, railroad and automobile litigation Premises liability and negligent security Medical malpractice Mr. Durkin has been named a top-tier attorney by U.S. News-Best Lawyers in the areas of personal injury litigation, aviation law and product liability since...
Shannon McNulty is a Chicago personal injury lawyer and wrongful death attorney who comes to Clifford Law Offices with a wealth of professional experience from previous employment. Having worked for 10 years with the administration of the Chicago Police Department, she served as the Director of Administration in the Bureau of Operational Services. In this critical role, she was Chief of Staff to the First Deputy Superintendent. She not only became familiar with the inner workings of this comp...
In Brief
Rise of the Machines
by Michele M. Jochner
New “generative AI” programs have great potential to help attorneys with certain tasks that will make their work more efficient. Yet the use of any new technology must always adhere to strict ethical standards. One notorious recent case shows why.
Getting Even
by Matthew Gomes
You keep using that word, “retaliation.” Does it mean what you think it means?
The Long, Short, Thick and Thin of It
by Avrohom Gefen
“Appearance discrimination” based on employees’ height and weight is the latest hot-button issue in employment law. Here’s a guide to avoid discrimination.
Incendiary Behavior
by Lyssa A. Roberts and Rahul Ravipudi
California’s future will see more frequent wildfires caused by faulty equipment. Litigation tied to recent Golden State infernos shows the way forward.
Chemical Considerations
by David A. Fusco, Laura K. Veith, Tara L. Pehush and Vincenzo R. Chimera
Consumer exposure to a variety of chemicals is increasingly fertile ground for the plaintiffs’ bar, with an array of litigation targeting manufacturers.
Bringing Down the Hammer
by Joseph Trotti
Thor relied on one weapon, his mighty hammer. General counsel tends to play to their own strengths. What worked for the Viking deity may be a bad idea for you.
