Best Lawyers in America for Appellate Practice
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State
Daryl Manhart is an AV® Preeminent 5.0 out of 5 peer review rated attorney in Martindale-Hubbell. He is a senior shareholder handling commercial and real estate transactions, commercial litigation, and general business representation. Daryl is also the firm’s principal appellate attorney handling civil appeals, including special actions, in state and federal appellate courts in diverse practice areas, including cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. The firm’s trial lawyers regu...
A Shareholder and Co-Chair of the Appellate Practice Group, Robert C. Little is a seasoned business lawyer and appellate litigator with over two decades of legal experience. Mr. Little is certified as a legal specialist in the practice of appellate law by the State Bar of California, one of fewer than 350 attorneys who hold this distinction among California’s 191,350 practicing lawyers. He has served as counsel of record in over 200 state and federal appeals and writ proceedings for ins...
Shawn McCaskill is a member of the Godwin Bowman PC Appellate Section. Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, he is experienced in litigation support, appeals and original proceedings in business contracts and torts, insurance coverage, medical malpractice, product liability and premises liability cases in state and federal courts. Within the Firm, Mr. McCaskill chairs the Opinion and Audit Committee, and is a member of the Conflicts & Ethics Co...
Steven Bader is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Appellate Practice. Steven, who practices law in Raleigh, North Carolina, has been recognized since 2025. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Steven is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Sharon Baumgold is an expert in the arcane science of California appellate writs. She spent nearly four decades as a writs attorney on the California Court of Appeal’s Second District. There, she reviewed, analyzed, and advised appellate justices on more than 10,000 appellate writ petitions in all areas of state law, including arbitration, business and commercial litigation, employment, entertainment, government, insurance, real estate, and probate law. Frequent topics included jurisdic...
Her clients, co–workers, and colleagues and competitors in the marketplace remark that Janel M. Dressen is a tenacious business litigator who will advocate tirelessly and creatively to resolve her client’s business disputes. Janel prides herself on being the most prepared person in the room, solving problems that lawyers and clients refer to as “the most challenging” and getting to know her clients and their businesses as much as they do. She loves to solve problems an...
R. Brent Cooper focuses his practice on commercial litigation, insurance litigation, and appellate practice. He has had significant experience in the representation of clients before federal and state trial and appellate courts, as well as in arbitration proceedings. He has tried numerous cases covering areas of business litigation, construction litigation, catastrophic personal injuries, complex litigation, intellectual property, constitutional and business tort cases. In his 35 years of pra...
Mark practices commercial litigation and co-chairs the firm’s appellate practice section, handling civil appeals in the state and federal courts. For 25 years, he has represented clients in a wide variety of areas, including business torts and contracts, securities fraud, trade secrets, employment, professional malpractice, officer and director liability, and real estate litigation. Mark has been named a Best Lawyer by the Best Lawyers in America since 2009 , and is also recognized by A...
Ted Gentry focuses his practice on counseling colleges and universities and on appellate litigation. Ted’s career handling complex litigation gives him valuable insights into the ways that today’s decisions affect tomorrow’s disputes. Ted has served education clients for over two decades, and has extensive appellate experience, including cases before the South Carolina Court of Appeals, the South Carolina Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and t...
Mr. Rosenberg is Board Certified in Appellate Practice with The Florida Bar—a status earned by less than two-tenths of one percent of all Florida lawyers. Mr. Rosenberg is a partner in the Fort Lauderdale West Office. He practices in the areas of appellate litigation and trial support. Mr. Rosenberg maintains an AV Preeminent® distinction, the highest available mark for professional excellence issued by Martindale-Hubbell’s Peer Review Ratings held only by approximately 10% of...
Nancy Copperthwaite litigates complex disputes, including class actions and appeals, and advises employers on employment law issues. She has handled more than 100 appeals and has argued in all five of Florida’s district courts of appeal (DCA) as well as in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Ranked by Best Lawyers in America for appellate work, her diverse experience includes handling appeals of bankruptcy proceedings, class actions, complex commercial matters, ...
Andrew Wier is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Appellate Practice and Personal Injury Litigation - Plaintiffs. Andrew, who practices law in Kenosha, Wisconsin, has been recognized since 2024. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Andrew is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Chris Nickelson is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Appellate Practice and Family Law. Chris, who practices law in Fort Worth, Texas, has been recognized since 2025. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Chris is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
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.