Best Lawyers in America for Appellate Practice
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Jeffrey A. Brauer is a trial attorney and partner who focuses his practice on commercial litigation and construction law. For more than 30 years, he has handled his clients’ most complex financial, construction and commercial disputes from development through discovery, mediation, trial, and appeal. He succeeds by diving into the details, embracing the complexity, and engineering outcomes that accomplish his clients’ business and legal objectives. He works across the U.S. on his c...
Kimberly A. Mello is a member of the firm's National Appellate Practice. She has briefed and argued dozens of appeals in state and federal court, including the Florida Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and Florida's District Courts of Appeal. In addition to focusing on appellate matters, Ms. Mello has extensive experience briefing complex legal issues at the trial court level during both the pre-trial and post-trial phases. She regularly consults with trial la...
Victor Ashrafi is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Appellate Practice. Victor, who practices law in Madison, New Jersey, has been recognized since 2023. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Victor is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Joe Roth is a member of the firm’s litigation group. Joe’s practice focuses on governmental investigations and litigation, complex commercial litigation, and appeals. Joe represents governmental agencies and officials, companies, and individuals in litigation and when being investigated by federal and state agencies. He also maintains an active complex commercial litigation practice, with a focus on securities and antitrust. Appeals are a significant part of Joe’s practice. ...
Ariail King is a skilled and experienced litigator. Her practice includes class actions and appellate cases. She is a partner at Lewis Babcock, LLP and has been with the firm for over two decades. Before law school, King received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Sociology from the University of South Carolina. Her background in psychology gives her valuable insight and makes her a strong researcher, helping her pinpoint crucial details for each case. King was admitted to the bar in 1996...
Mark Jacobs is a creative and accomplished litigator with deep experience that is enhanced by his background as a transactional lawyer. Mark has broad commercial litigation experience in state and federal trial and appellate courts, arbitration proceedings, and mediation. As lead trial and appeals counsel, he advises businesses on all aspects of legal issues with a focus on defining and achieving successful business outcomes. Mark also has experience in advising clients in mergers and acquisi...
Andrew Pappas is a nimble advocate and trusted counselor whose practice focuses on appeals, complex commercial disputes, and governmental and regulatory matters. Before joining Osborn Maledon, Andrew served as general counsel of the Arizona House of Representatives, where he was the principal legal advisor to the Speaker and members of the majority caucus. In that capacity, Andrew provided legal, policy, and strategic advice on a vast range of issues, with a particular focus on elections, red...
Peter Stris is one of the most prominent business litigators of his generation. He serves as a lead strategist and presenter in must-win trials, landmark appeals, and rapid media-response campaigns. Peter represents a wide range of clients including companies, governmental entities, non-profits, investors, entrepreneurs, and executives. He is also regularly hired by other attorneys to play a leading role in their most important and difficult cases. Supreme Court and Appellate Practice Peter r...
With over thirty years of experience in trial and appellate litigation, Donald has handled more than 400 appeals in state and federal courts, including over 20 cases in the Tennessee Supreme Court. Now focusing his practice primarily on appellate work and trial consulting, Mr. Capparella uses experience gained from serving as trial counsel in over 150 trials, many of them before a jury, to advise lawyers on the challenges they face at trial and to achieve the best possible outcomes at the app...
A seasoned litigator and certified mediator, Phil Brown handles complex disputes—in business, trade secret, employment, zoning, security and appellate cases—with creative and effective strategies that have won him the respect of other attorneys and the appreciation of his wide-ranging clients, both plaintiffs and defendants. Since his career began over 20 years ago at the internationally recognized law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Phil's skills have helped him ac...
Jeff Brenner is a trial lawyer who represents clients in complex business disputes in federal and state courts in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, arbitrations, mediations and before regulatory agencies. Jeff concentrates his practice on construction and real estate disputes, and he leads the firm’s Real Estate Litigation team and Construction group. What do you focus on? I help people and businesses that have disputes requiring litigation. I focus on construction and complex real estate...
Russell Post is a board-certified appellate specialist. For the last 18 years, following his clerkship with the Hon. Jerry Smith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, he has dedicated his practice to civil appeals. He has acted as lead counsel in approximately 100 appeals and has participated in countless others, preparing briefs and presenting oral arguments to the Texas Supreme Court, the Texas appellate courts, and the Fifth Circuit. Russell represents both plaintiff...
Andy Freeman obtains justice for his clients. He has won numerous verdicts, judgments, and settlements of millions, tens of millions, and in one case over a billion dollars by mastering the relevant law and getting to know his clients, their problems, and the evidence in their cases. Other lawyers bring Andy cases that present complicated combinations of law and facts or that require making new law. After finding witnesses the defendant had failed to disclose, Andy won $7 million at trial for...
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.