Best Lawyers in America for Appellate Practice
State
Mike Jakes concentrates his practice on patent litigation and related counseling. He serves as lead counsel in federal district courts and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), before arbitration panels, and on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Mike deals mainly with computer, electronics, semiconductor, software, and medical device technologies. Mike has vast experience at the Federal Circuit, having argued more than 45 appeals and prepared and filed brief...
Costa Pleicones, former Chief Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court, advises Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd clients on complex litigation and appellate matters. He is a Certified Circuit Court Arbitrator and Mediator and his experiences as a successful practitioner, trial judge and appellate jurist allow him to provide skillful and effective dispute resolution services.
David J. Minkin has been a resident of Hawaii since 1975. Licensed in Hawaii in 1984, he spent ten years in the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City & County of Honolulu before joining the law firm of McCorriston Miho Miller Mukai in 1995, where he has specialized in civil litigation in state and federal trial and appellate courts, administrative hearings, arbitrations and mediations representing individuals, corporations and municipalities. David has been recognized annuall...
Dorothy of Easley Appellate Practice PLLC focuses her work on Appellate Practice nationally, from her office in Miami, Florida. She is the published author of Successful Federal Appeals in All Circuit Courts: A Practical Guide for Busy Lawyers , a practical resource addressing federal appellate procedure and appeal strategies. She has advanced hundreds of appeals. Her work reflects a long-standing interest in legal writing, careful analysis of the record, and clear presentation of complex leg...
Amy Rao Mohan provides a practical, problem-solving approach for her clients whether it involves litigation, crisis management or general counsel work. As a former Emmy-award winning television journalist, Amy brings a unique approach to the law to develop effective approaches to protect her clients’ interests and reputations inside and outside of the courtroom. She takes pride in her ability to connect with clients, ease their minds during a crisis, and provide them with a clear path f...
Thomas R. Freeman is a principal at Bird Marella and a graduate of the Northwestern University School of Law. His practice is focused on civil litigation at the trial and appellate levels, and criminal appeals. He is certified as an appellate specialist by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization and has argued countless cases before federal and state appellate courts and case-dispositive motions before trial courts. Tom has handled a broad range of complex matters, including...
Jason LaFond is board certified in Civil Appellate Law and focuses his practice on appellate advocacy, commercial litigation, and administrative and regulatory law. Based in Austin, Texas, he represents clients before the Supreme Court of Texas, intermediate state appellate courts, and federal appellate courts in complex, high-stakes disputes. Jason has handled more than 50 appeals and authored hundreds of appellate briefs involving constitutional law, statutory interpretation, sovereign immu...
Published Works · Articles on Litigation (Co-Authored) Representative Cases · IEL Liquidation Proceedings, Wayne C. Metcalf, Insurance v. Gary L. Vose, et al · HIG Rehabilitation, HUI/UNICO Liquidation and Linda v. Hawaiian Electric Co. · State v. Kealakekua Ranch · Maunawili Lessees v. Trustees of Castle Estate · State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Robinol, 699 F.Supp. 819 (D.Hawai'i 1988) · Tilton v. Rivera · Eder v. County of Kauai and ...
Universally considered to be among the country's premier Supreme Court and appellate advocates, Seth Waxman served as Solicitor General of the United States from 1997 through January 2001. In addition to leading the firm's appellate practice, Mr. Waxman engages in a broad litigation and counseling practice, with particular emphasis on complex challenges involving governments or public policy, intellectual property, regulatory, criminal and commercial issues.
Linda B. Clapham is an appellate attorney whose practice focuses on insurance coverage and insurer-related litigation. For more than three decades, she has represented insurance companies in state and federal courts throughout the Pacific Northwest, advising clients on coverage disputes, bad faith claims, appellate strategy, and preservation-of-error issues. Linda regularly works alongside trial counsel to preserve legal issues for appeal and has extensive experience handling appeals from not...
Ben serves as General Counsel representing the firm on a variety of issues, including ethics and risk management matters. Ben is also a member of the firm’s Commercial Litigation Group where he focuses his practice on director and officer defense, trade secret litigation, contract litigation, intellectual property litigation, administrative law, and aviation law.
Peter G. Verniero is Chair of the Sills Cummis & Gross Corporate Investigations and Integrity and Appellate Practice Groups. He is often called on to handle high‑stakes appeals and internal investigations. He leads an active appellate practice, frequently filing briefs and appearing at oral argument before appellate courts and the New Jersey Supreme Court. He has appeared before the New Jersey Supreme Court a dozen times (including two cases he argued while serving as New Jersey Attorney ...
Kevin Welsh practices in the areas of insurance, reinsurance and litigation. He has represented clients in a range of litigation matters including professional liability claims, commercial class actions, education law, real property disputes and casualty litigation. Outside of litigation, Kevin has assisted clients in regulated industries by preparing draft legislation in support of broader, successful legislative lobbying efforts.
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.
