Best Lawyers in America for Legal Malpractice Law - Defendants
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Matthew C. Smith has extensive experience in all aspects of civil litigation, including trials, arbitrations, and mediations. Matt represents individuals and business clients on a wide variety of professional and business litigation matters. He has served as lead counsel or co-counsel in more than a dozen trials and arbitrations. Matt also handled several successful appeals and has argued before the Fourth District Court of Appeal. Matt earned his Juris Doctor from Washington & Lee Univer...
Michael S. LeBoff brings more than 25 years of trial practice to Klein & Wilson, handling and winning high-stakes trials and arbitrations. Michael represents clients of all sizes in a wide variety of business cases, including shareholder, partnership and joint venture disputes, trade secret claims, fraud, breach of contract, business torts, real estate, attorney fee disputes and legal malpractice actions. Michael attended Loyola Law School on a full academic scholarship, graduating second...
Steve Collins is a partner practicing in the firm’s Litigation & Trial Practice and Securities Litigation Groups. His practice focuses on (1) securities litigation, investigations and enforcement proceedings; (2) financial services litigation; and (3) transaction-based litigation, as the principal components of a commercial litigation practice. Securities Litigation and Investigations: Mr. Collins represents clients in SEC, stock exchange and state securities investigations and enfo...
Jim Swanson represents state and local governments, corporations, and individuals in cases involving municipal finance, derivatives, CDOs, Ponzi schemes, corporate tax, coastal land loss, industrial and environmental accidents, and a range of other subject areas. Jim’s efforts are recorded in over 100 reported decisions. Jim is particularly known for his securities practice and has obtained multimillion-dollar judgments for his clients in jury and bench trials and commercial arbitration...
John Allen focuses his practice on business and commercial litigation. He is a Board Certified Civil Trial Advocate, by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. With over 30 years experience handling legal problems, John has written and co-written dozens of articles and books, and speaks frequently to business and law groups. On a regular basis, he teaches courses in law and trial practice to other lawyers, and often serves as an expert witness. He is a certified arbitrator and mediator.
Allen David's civil litigation trial practice focuses on the defense of professional liability claims. He primarily represents lawyers and law firms against complex claims of malpractice. In addition to his trial experience, Mr. David has significant appellate experience in both state and federal courts. His articles and book chapters in the areas of legal malpractice, insurance law and financial institution law have appeared in numerous publications. Mr. David is the author of the profession...
Barry O’Neil is a trial attorney, who is certified as a Civil Trial Specialist by the Minnesota State Bar Association. He represents professionals in malpractice claims with an emphasis in legal malpractice. Mr. O’Neil’s practice also involves the resolution of complex commercial disputes, employment-related issues and insurance claims. His commercial litigation experience has included contract, shareholder, partnership and business competition disputes in both trial and arb...
Bonnie Richardson has been a trial lawyer for 24 years and is a champion for causes in which people have been wronged by the powerful and privileged. She is driven by the desire to successfully resolve challenging and difficult cases, particularly complex commercial litigation. Bonnie is highly regarded for her work on behalf of clients who seek to hold attorneys and other professionals accountable for malpractice. She is also one of the top attorneys for large, complex estate and trust cases...
Jessica Gray Kelly is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Legal Malpractice Law - Defendants and Professional Malpractice Law - Defendants. Jessica, who practices law in Boston, Massachusetts, has been recognized since 2022. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Jessica is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
In business and legal malpractice litigation, Betsy’s clients include small and large businesses, as well as individuals seeking to protect their business and personal interests. She represents clients before state and federal trial courts, in arbitration, and on related appeals. Betsy’s trial practice focuses on high-stakes business and legal malpractice litigation in disputes involving claims of breach of fiduciary duties, fraud, negligence, breach of contract, dissolution and r...
Sims Weymuller is an attorney and shareholder at Schroeter Goldmark & Bender who focuses on legal and medical malpractice cases , complex birth trauma , brain and spinal cord injury , wrongful death and other claims. Sims has volunteered his time as a board member of the Brain Injury Alliance of WA and has chaired several Washington State Bar Association boards. He is a frequent lecturer and contributor to WSAJ practice deskbooks. Weymuller has been recognized as a Best Lawyer since 2024.
Ronald C. Minkoff is a partner in the Litigation Group and chair of the Professional Responsibility Group. Mr. Minkoff is one of New York State’s leading practitioners in the field of attorney ethics and professional responsibility, representing attorneys in a wide variety of matters including law firm partnership agreements, attorney departures and lateral hires, attorney discipline cases, legal fee disputes and legal malpractice and professional liability cases on behalf of both plain...
Richard Berwanger Jr. is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Ethics and Professional Responsibility Law and Legal Malpractice Law - Defendants. Richard, who practices law in Annapolis, Maryland, has been recognized since 2025. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Richard is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Bill serves on the firm’s board of directors. He is a board certified specialist in the area of business litigation. His practice focuses on business litigation and trial practice, including securities litigation and arbitration, professional malpractice litigation, director and officer litigation, employment litigation, restrictive covenant litigation and intellectual property litigation. Bill served as President of the Florida Bar for the 2016-2017 term. He is also a member of the boa...
David J. Beck is consistently recognized as one of our country’s best trial lawyers. This recognition has grown from the consistent results he has achieved for his clients in his more than forty years of practice. From the smallest disputes to the billion dollar cases, David understands the importance of each case to his client, and he approaches each with the same intensity and integrity that has served him - and his clients - so well for so long. For David Beck, every case is a story ...
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.