Best Lawyers has announced the 22nd edition of The Best Lawyers in America. Attorneys named in the guide were recognized by their peers in the legal industry for their professional excellence in 140 practice areas.
Best Lawyers also recognized the 2016 Lawyer of the Year recipients. Lawyer of the Year honorees receive this award based on high overall feedback within specific practice areas and metropolitan regions.
The process begins when attorneys are nominated for consideration. They are divided by geographic regions and practice areas, and are evaluated by their peers on the basis of professional expertise. Those who receive high peer reviews undergo an authentication process to make sure they are currently practicing and in good standing.
Search The Best Lawyers in America by name, firm, region, and practice area by visiting BestLawyers.com.
Baker Donelson
Twenty-one of Baker Donelson’s Chattanooga-based attorneys are named in the 2016 edition of The Best Lawyers in America, including: Kenneth C. Beckman; Joe A. Conner; Robert C. Divine; Richard D. Faulkner, Jr.; Sheri A. Fox; Richard B. Gossett; Russell W. Gray; Carl E. Hartley; Thomas O. Helton; Cameron S. Hill; Micheline K. Johnson; James H. Levine; Virginia C. Love; Joshua Powers; K. Stephen Powers; Susan Elliott Rich; William E. Robinson; Ross I. Schram III; Louann P. Smith; Jerry Stauffer; and Philip B. Whitaker.
Best Lawyers named two of the firm’s local attorneys as Lawyers of the Year: Hartley, Chattanooga Corporate Law Lawyer of the Year; and Smith, Chattanooga Mergers and Acquisitions Law Lawyer of the Year.
Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel
Twenty-four Chambliss attorneys have been selected by their peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America. Additionally, Best Lawyers has named Chambliss attorney William H. Pickering as a 2016 Chattanooga Lawyer of the Year.
The 24 attorneys are William P. Aiken; T. Maxfield Bahner; Bruce C. Bailey; William M. Barker; Richard W. Bethea, Jr.; Mark A. Cunningham; Timothy M. Gibbons; Tom Greenholtz; William R. Hannah; David J. Hill; Rosemarie L. Hill; Frederick L. Hitchcock; Richard T. Hudson; J. Nelson Irvine; Anthony A. Jackson; Hugh J. Moore, Jr.; Harold L. North, Jr.; Dana B. Perry; Pickering; Michael N. St. Charles; Glenn C. Stophel; Mark Turner; Gregory D. Willett; and Jay A. Young.
Best Lawyers recognized Pickering as the 2016 Employment Law – Management Lawyer of the Year in Chattanooga. Only a single lawyer in each practice area within a community is given this distinction. Pickering, listed in Best Lawyers in America since 2007, focuses on representing management in labor and employment matters.
Miller Martin
Fourty-one of Miller & Martin’s Chattanooga-based attorneys are named in the 2016 edition of The Best Lawyers in America, eight of which have also been recognized as 2016 Lawyer of the Year recipients.
The 41 attorneys are: Donald J. Aho; Evan A. Allison; Roger D. Bailey, Jr.; John R. Bode; Edward N. Boehm; William L. Brown; Christie Kizer Burbank; Christopher A. Crevasse; Richard D. Crotteau; Robert L. Dann; Mark W. Degler; Roger W. Dickson; Marcia Meredith Eason; Gary D. Gerbitz; Leah M. Gerbitz; James M. Haley IV; R. Alston Hamilton; Thomas L. Hayslett III; John F. Henry, Jr.; Brian E. Humphrey; E. Mattias Jannerbo; Douglas T. Johnson; Jonathan F. Kent; Charles B. Lee; Howard I. Levine; Allen L. McCallie; W. Scott McGinness, Jr.; Donald E. Morton; Ansley T. Moses; J. Patrick Murphy; Ward W. Nelson; Richard C. Rose; Hugh F. Sharber; Carlos C. Smith; Alfred E. Smith, Jr.; Stephen John Stark; C. Crews Townsend; William G. Trumpeter; Franklin M. Williams; James T. Williams; and W. Randall Wilson.
Miller & Martin attorneys named Chattanooga Lawyers of the year are: Brown, Chattanooga Arbitration Lawyer of the Year; Burbank, Chattanooga Health Care Law Lawyer of the Year; Haley, Chattanooga Securitization and Structured Finance Law Lawyer of the Year; Hayslett, Chattanooga Real Estate Law Lawyer of the Year; Murphy, Chattanooga Banking and Finance Law Lawyer of the Year; Stark, Chattanooga Trademark Law Lawyer of the Year; Townsend, Chattanooga Product Liability Litigation – Defendants Lawyer of the Year; and Wilson, Chattanooga Litigation – Construction Lawyer of the Year.
Sources: Best Lawyers, Baker Donelson, Chambliss Bahner, and Miller Martin