Best Lawyers in America for Eminent Domain and Condemnation Law
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Founding partner Keith M. Babcock grew up in Haddonfield, New Jersey, and has practiced law in South Carolina for almost 40 years. Now "of counsel" to Lewis Babcock, his practice has consisted almost exclusively of litigation, with a concentration on business disputes, eminent domain, and professional negligence. He has an outstanding reputation for representing real property owners in eminent domain actions, as well as other disputes. He is an emeritus member of Owners' Counsel of America , ...
For twenty years, Carrie Bernstein has used her experience and expertise in the areas of eminent domain law and real estate litigation to advocate for her clients. Without excess drama, Carrie has a no-nonsense approach to helping her clients that people appreciate. At Alderman Bernstein, Carrie represents private landowners, quasi-municipal corporations, and public entities in eminent domain in both litigation and appeals. She has been designated as one of the Best Lawyers in America for Emi...
Gary A. Van Cleve is a seasoned trial attorney and an appellate advocate handling a full range of real estate-related litigation. Gary focuses on representing property owners in: (1) condemnation actions where either the government or a utility company takes private property for a public use through its power of eminent domain, (2) land use disputes with local governments typically involving zoning or permitting issues, and (3) property tax appeals. Gary is the chair of Larkin Hoffman’s...
Mr. Hardy’s areas of practice include: civil litigation, insurance defense, business litigation, formation & licensing; real estate; administrative & regulatory law; campaign & election law; First Amendment & defamation; legislative affairs; intellectual property; constitutional law and eminent domain. Mr. Hardy returned to Marquis Aurbach after serving as vice president and general house counsel for a prominent firearms group. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Hardy served...
Mike Shannon has over 30 years of experience in complex commercial litigation, with a practice that includes eminent domain, class action defense, products liability, e-discovery, toxic torts, medical malpractice defense, bid protests, and issues affecting the outdoor advertising industry. He has represented a broad range of clients—from multinational manufacturers and financial institutions to closely held businesses and high-net-worth individuals—across various matters, includin...
Ms. Haywood's law practice is devoted to representing private property owners in land condemnation cases. She graduated in 1977 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in International Studies. In 1982, she received her Juris Doctor degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law. After practicing for several years with a private law firm, Ms. Haywood went to work with the North Carolina Attorney General's office in Raleigh. F...
Jennifer Cranston (formerly Ratcliff) focuses her practice in three primary areas: real estate disputes involving condemnation and valuation issues; insurance coverage analysis and bad faith litigation; and public utility regulation. Jennifer’s objective is to provide sound legal advice, exceptional service, and cost-effective resolution for all her clients. She has successfully negotiated favorable settlements, as well as prevailed for clients at hearings, in arbitrations, at trial, an...
Amanda Bradley is a real estate litigation and transactional attorney with more than 20 years of experience advising clients in real property transactions, negotiating and preparing real estate contracts and related documents, and representing clients in all phases of real estate litigation. She has represented clients in eminent domain actions involving various municipal and county governments, special districts and urban renewal authorities throughout Colorado, including negotiation of poss...
Gaylord Merlin represents property and business owners in eminent domain and property rights litigation throughout the State of Florida. Our firm guides an owner through the condemnation process, protects an owner's property rights, and fights for an owner to receive full compensation. Andrew G. Diaz represents a variety of business and property owners in eminent domain and property rights litigation. He has handled cases involving the taking of large vacant parcels, national big box retailer...
As chair of the firm’s Property Tax and Valuation Department, Gregory F. Servodidio’s practice focuses on property valuation in the context of property tax appeals and eminent domain proceedings. He represents property owners and lessees throughout Connecticut seeking equitable assessments of their real and personal property by municipal assessing authorities. He represents clients in negotiations with municipal officials, revaluation companies and personal property audit firms, a...
Tyler moved to Seattle in 2007 and became a partner of Harrigan Leyh Farmer & Thomsen LLP in 2010. He co-founded Martinez & Farmer LLP in 2025. Chambers USA, Best Lawyers in America (Appellate, Commercial Litigation, Intellectual Property), Benchmark Litigation, Super Lawyers (Top 100), and Martindale-Hubbell rank Tyler among the top trial lawyers in the state. He is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, Fellow of Litigation Counsel of America and included on America’s Top 10...
Brandon Cate i s a litigation attorney based in the firm’s Northwest Arkansas office. His practice focuses on commercial litigation, including litigation involving ERISA, employment law, insurance coverage, real estate disputes, mortgage servicing, media law, and class action defense. Some of Mr. Cate’s no table successes include securing a declaratory judgment for landowners in a 27-acre adverse possession dispute near Harrison and securing a trial victory for Fayetteville homeow...
Roy is a member of the firm’s Litigation Practice Group representing individuals and businesses in commercial litigation cases in Maine, Massachusetts and beyond. He has been listed in Best Lawyers in America for the past several years in the area of Commercial Litigation. He has a varied practice with experience litigating business tort, breach of contract, trade secrets, copyright infringement, products liability, real estate, land use, and tax disputes. In addition, he maintains an a...
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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.