Best Lawyers in America for Appellate Practice

Susan Horst is a specialist in writs of mandamus and prohibition in the California appellate courts. For more than 31 years, Susan served as the writ attorney for the California Court of Appeal for the First District, Division One, in San Francisco. Susan is one of the only practicing attorneys in California to have devoted virtually her entire career to appellate writs. As writ attorney in the First District, Susan evaluated thousands of pre- and post- trial writ petitions in all types of ci...

Elizabeth Carver focuses her practice on appellate litigation in federal and state courts. She has successfully handled appeals in a wide variety of substantive areas, including employment, banking, class action, product liability, breach of contract, tort and insurance matters. She has extensive experience representing defendants in appeals involving large punitive damage awards. Ms. Carver has argued cases before the Eighth Circuit, the Federal Circuit, the Missouri Supreme Court, and the E...

Margaret Oertling Cupples writes briefs and motions, and manages other lawyers who write them, in civil appeals and commercial litigation. As litigators and their clients know, a vanishingly small percentage of cases actually get to trial; for the rest, a great brief is the way to win. As national legal writing counsel in major litigation for 3M Company, Margaret’s individual contributions and her strong collaboration with colleagues have brought significant value to 3M for two decades....

William A. Waddell Jr. is a member of the firm’s litigation practice group. Bill’s work is focused on litigation and other representation for banks, insurance companies, healthcare entities, and other businesses. He has deep experience in class actions, bet-the-company jury trials, and regulatory litigation.

Wallace is an experienced trial and appellate attorney, with over 60 jury trials in state and federal courts throughout the Southeast, and approximately 100 bench trials, jury trials, and arbitration trials, as well as numerous appeals in the South Carolina appellate courts and the United States Courts of Appeals for the First, Fourth, Sixth, and Eleventh Circuits. His practice involves complex securities, corporate, and intellectual property cases, as well as news media and First Amendment d...

Gregg Costa is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Appellate Practice, Bet-the-Company Litigation, Commercial Litigation and Criminal Defense: White-Collar. Gregg, who practices law in Houston, Texas, has been recognized since 2024. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Gregg is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, Kevin P. Parker is the head of the Issues and Appeals Section of The Lanier Law Firm. His pre-trial work insures that client cases will stand the test of an appeal. Mr. Parker is an accomplished lawyer, having personally handled more than 20 cases at the appeals court level. He was a key member of the firm’s Pinnacle bellwether trial team that won a $1 billion combined jury verdict and a $502 million jury...

Ben Cooper advocates for clients in high-stakes appeals and writ proceedings in the U.S. Supreme Court, federal circuit courts, and state supreme and intermediate appellate courts from coast to coast. Ben’s practice also emphasizes both trial-court and appellate representation in such fields as intellectual-property protection and e-commerce disputes; federal, state, and local taxation; insurance coverage and bad-faith defense; and public pension plans. In the U.S. Court of Appeals for ...

C. Mitchell Brown is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Appellate Practice, Bet-the-Company Litigation and Commercial Litigation. C. Mitchell, who practices law in Columbia, South Carolina, has been recognized since 2003. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which C. Mitchell is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Michael Bentley is a partner in the Jackson, Mississippi office, where he concentrates his practice on appellate and commercial litigation. In addition to his responsibilities at the firm, Michael was elected Chair of the Mississippi Bar Association’s Appellate Practice Section (2013-2014) and currently serves on the Board of Governors for the Bar Association of the Federal Fifth Circuit. Prior to joining the firm, Michael clerked for Judge Leslie H. Southwick at the Fifth Circuit Court...

Martin A. Kasten is a partner in the Litigation department of Friday, Eldredge & Clark, and focuses his practice on tort litigation and class actions in federal and state courts. His trial work includes the defense of claims involving business torts, Attorney General actions, Arkansas’ deceptive trade practices act, insurance coverage, products liability, including pharmaceuticals, automobile accidents, premises liability and breach of contracts. Martin also regularly handles appeal...

Ken Soo’s areas of practice include public school law, employment law and civil litigation. He received his law degree with honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1991. During law school, he was a note editor for the North Carolina Law Review. Mr. Soo completed his bachelor’s degree in comparative area studies at Duke University. Mr. Soo’s first career was as a wire service and newspaper reporter in Ohio, North Carolina and Florida, including stints w...

Tom is an experienced litigator who has handled complex cases in federal and state courts around the country. He represents parties in all types of litigation ranging from business tort cases to contractual disputes to personal injury, including any necessary appeals. Tom also knows the ins-and-outs of several unique types of cases; specifically, Tom handles utility ratemaking cases, administrative law cases, and qui tam cases. He also represents plaintiffs in pharmaceutical and medical devic...

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...

William E. Thomson is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Appellate Practice. William E., who practices law in Los Angeles, California, has been recognized since 2023. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which William E. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Fred Burnside concentrates his practice in complex civil litigation, with particular emphasis on consumer class action defense. He is co-chair of Davis Wright Tremaine’s class action defense group. Fred has counseled and represented numerous clients in class action lawsuits across the country, including Amazon.com, AOL, AT&T, eBay, eNom, Microsoft Corp., Providence Hospital Systems, Scholastic Inc., Shell Oil, Skype Inc., Starbucks, T-Mobile USA, The University of California, Verizo...