Best Lawyers in America for Eminent Domain and Condemnation Law
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State
Joan has over thirty years of experience in eminent domain and condemnation law and has taught seminars to other lawyers on how to handle condemnation cases involving commercial property. She has a wide range of experience in federal district court, federal bankruptcy court, and many state court systems. Joan has been inducted as a Lifetime Member of the Million and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forums for obtaining multiple recoveries for her clients in excess of One Million Dollars. She ha...
Sharon V. Lovejoy represents clients in a wide variety of litigation matters with primary focus in commercial, real estate and business litigation. Ms. Lovejoy has been named to The Best Lawyers in America ® , "Lawyer of the Year" in Honolulu list, Appellate P ractice (2020), Mortgage Banking Foreclosure Law (2015, 2019, 2024, 2026) and Litigation-Banking & Finance (2014, 2022, 2025). Lovejoy is also recognized by The Best Lawyers in America ® (in “Appellate Law”, "Arb...
John Murphy focuses his practice on eminent domain, inverse condemnation and other complex real estate trials. He represents a wide variety of public agencies, corporations, and landowners. Mr. Murphy and his firm have earned its clients over $275 Million in eminent domain awards over the past six years. His firm has won arguably the highest condemnation awards in the State in each of the past four years. Its 2017 judgment against the County of San Bernardino totals $48 Million. He has been c...
Mr. Terpak is one of the premier Eminent Domain Lawyers in Virginia. He is editor of “Eminent Domain Law in Virginia” (2017), and is listed in BEST LAWYERS in the area of Eminent Domain. He has three times been named Best Lawyers LAWYER OF THE YEAR in the DC Metro area in the area of Eminent Domain, most recently for 2018. He has handled many hundreds of eminent domain (or condemnation) cases, including over 40 trials before juries and commissioners in every jurisdiction in Northe...
Blake Gaylord is a partner practicing in the field of eminent domain and property rights. He has successfully represented property owners statewide in jury trials, bench trials, and administrative and Value Adjustment Board proceedings. Prior to joining the firm, Blake served as an officer in the U.S. Army where he was deployed in both Operation Iraqi Freedom (Kuwait) and Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan). Professionally, he has served as the Chairman of the Eminent Domain Committee of...
Bill concentrates his practice in all phases of complex commercial litigation, including trials. He has litigated a broad range of commercial disputes. His experience encompasses legal malpractice defense, suits alleging the theft of trade secrets and violations of non-competition clauses, major eminent domain proceedings, and cases involving environmental contamination and the breach of real estate and other contracts. Bill has successfully litigated cases in the Chancery and Law Divisions o...
Michael B. Odom is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Banking and Finance Law, Eminent Domain and Condemnation Law, Litigation - Land Use and Zoning and Litigation - Real Estate. Michael B., who practices law in Birmingham, Alabama, has been recognized since 2010. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Michael B. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Ms. Harden has 20 years of civil litigation experience in the Commonwealth of Virginia. She has litigated diverse and varied topics throughout her career including eminent domain, breach of contract, medical malpractice, construction defect, partition, establishment of prescriptive easement, professional liability, covenant enforcement, and actions to quiet title. In recent years, Ms. Harden’s practice has focused on representing condemning authorities in eminent domain matters. Ms. Har...
Stephanie Hutchins Autry has been a trial lawyer since 1987 and has focused her practice on eminent domain since 2000. Before joining Cranfill Sumner & Hartzog as a partner in 1995, Stephanie was a partner in the Raleigh office of an international law firm. Stephanie’s career has included dozens of successful jury and bench trials and reported appellate decisions. For the last 15 years, Stephanie has concentrated her practice exclusively in the area of eminent domain, representing p...
Jerome P. Pesick is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Eminent Domain and Condemnation Law and Real Estate Law. Jerome P., who practices law in Birmingham, Michigan, has been recognized since 2007. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Jerome P. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
A. Bernard “Bernie” Bays is a Director of the firm. Mr. Bays has over 50 years of experience successfully representing clients in over 150 landmark Hawaii litigation cases. Mr. Bays focuses his practice in the areas of complex commercial litigation, business litigation, real estate litigation, trusts and estates litigation, legal malpractice law-defendant litigation, real estate law and land use and zoning law. Mr. Bays is Board Certified in Civil Trial Law by the National Board o...
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...
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...
3 Things to Know About Jason Campbell: He is the former Chair & Legislative Co-Chair of the Eminent Domain Section of the North Carolina Advocates for Justice. He worked for 13+ years as an Assistant Attorney General for the North Carolina Department of Justice representing the North Carolina Department of Transportation. He has argued cases before the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Jason Campbell is a Partner at the NC Eminent Domain Law Firm , a division of the Law Offices of James Sc...
Dubbed zealous and creative by opposing counsel, Aaron S. Evenchik focuses on construction and real estate law, where he represents clients in both transactional and litigation matters. Serving as co-chair of both the firm’s construction and real estate practice groups, his cross-practice technique allows him to help resolve disputes innovatively and effectively. Aaron’s Cleveland experience with transactions and handling multiple first chair litigation/arbitration matters enables...
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.