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Who Were Watching 2

Across more than a decade of coverage, Courtroom View Network cameras have captured the country's best trial lawyers earning their reputations in their biggest cases. "Who We're Watching" represents the best of the best, the attorneys making headlines with the courtroom work that delivers blockbuster verdicts or clears clients in bet-the-business trials. They're the attorneys we recommend any lawyer watch themselves when they're looking to improve in their craft.

Plaintiff Attorneys


 

Alex Alvarez

The Alvarez Law Firm

Why we're watching: Alvarez is one of the country's leading tobacco attorneys, with a string of big verdicts that include a $41.7 million win against R.J. Reynolds in 2017.

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Mark Avera

Avera & Smith

Why we're watching: CVN Florida's 2019 Plaintiff's Attorney of the year, Avera's history of 8-figure verdicts includes a $30.8 million award against two bars for the catastrophic brain damage a woman suffered in an alcohol-fueled hit-and-run.

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Lloyd Bell

Bell Law Firm

Why we're watching: Bell, a member of the prestigious Inner Circle of Advocates, is a leading medical malpractice attorney, with a slate of wins that includes a $26 million verdict in 2017 for the catastrophic brain damage a patient suffered at a Georgia hospital. 

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Jim Butler

Butler Wooten & Peak

Why we're watching: Butler is nationally recognized in products liability litigation, making headlines for a $150 million verdict at trial against Jeep over the death of a toddler.

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Sean Claggett

Claggett & Sykes Law Firm

Why we're watching: Claggett's blockbuster verdicts include a $10 million win against a homeowner's association for a swing set accident that left a teen with a traumatic brain injury.

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Michael Goldberg

Fried Goldberg

Why we're watching: Goldberg, Georgia's Plaintiff's Attorney of 2016 and '18, has built his reputation with a long list of major verdicts, including a $25 million win against MARTA for the brain damage a bus passenger suffered in a fall.

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Daniel Harwin

Freedland Harwin Valori

Why we're watching: Harwin is one of Florida's leading lawyers, with big wins that include a $24 million medical malpractice verdict for the death of a woman following childbirth.

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Arash Homampour

Homampour Law Firm

Why we're watching: CAALA's Trial Lawyer of the Year in 2009, Homampour is known for a list of major trial wins, including a headline-making verdict against the City of San Diego for an accident that paralyzed a cyclist. 

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Karen Koehler

Stritmatter

Why we're watching: Among Koehler's string of blockbuster awards is a $123 million product liability trial verdict for victims of a 2015 Washington duck boat crash. 

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Jane Lamberti

The Cochran Firm

Why we're watching: Lamberti has won record-setting verdicts for years, including a $20.5 million award against Emory University for a patient's death at a sleep center.

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Mark Lanier

The Lanier Law Firm

Why we're watching: One of the nation's biggest names in civil litigation, Lanier's landmark verdicts include a $550 million win in a 2018 California talc trial.

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Pete Law

Law & Moran

Why we're watching: Law's big-ticket awards include a $21.6 million verdict for a trucking crash that cost a Georgia man his leg.

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Chris Panatier

Simon Greenstone Panatier

Why we're watching: A preeminent mesothelioma attorney, Panatier recently grabbed headlines with a $750 million punitive verdict in a talc trial against Johnson & Johnson.

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Brian Panish

Panish Shea & Boyle

Why we're watching: Panish's big verdicts across the decades, including a $52.8 million award for two brothers injured in a truck crash, have placed him in the Inner Circle of Advocates, a select group of the nation's top 100 plaintiff's attorneys.

Watch now.

 

Nick Rowley

Carpenter Zuckerman & Rowley

Why we're watching: CAALA's 2018 Trial Lawyer of the Year, Rowley has a national reputation for keying major wins, including $10.5 million post-liability verdict settlement for a high school student injured at a football rally. 

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Joseph Satterley

Satterley & Kelley

Why we're watching: Satterley's massive talc verdicts place him among the elite of product liability attorneys, with notable wins that include a $29.4 million verdict against J&J in 2019. 

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Scott Schlesinger

Schlesinger Law Offices

Why we're watching: Schlesinger, a member of the Inner Circle of Advocates, has established himself among the country's top tobacco lawyers by securing record awards such as a $157 million verdict against RJR and Philip Morris for a smoker's COPD-related death.

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Adam Slater

Mazie Slater Katz & Freeman

Why we're watching: Slater's major verdicts, including a $68 million pelvic mesh trial win against C.R. Bard, have bolstered his stellar reputation in product liability law.  

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Allen Smith

The Smith Law Firm

Why we're watching: Smith has built a national reputation for massive talc verdicts, including a $110 million award in a 2017 trial.

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Steve Vartazarian

The Vartazarian Law Firm

Why we're watching: CAALA's 2019 Trial Lawyer of the Year, Vartazarian has spearheaded a host of high-stakes trial wins, including an $11 million verdict in a wrongful death, trucking case.

Watch now.

 

Defense Attorneys


 

Scott Bailey

Huff Powell Bailey

Why we're watching: Bailey, CVN Georgia's 2017 Defense Attorney of the Year, has notched a string of high-profile defense wins in medical malpractice trials, including clearing a Georgia doctor for the death of a TV sports director.

Watch now.

 

Emily Baker

Jones Day

Why we're watching: Baker's long history of success in major tobacco litigation includes a $0 verdict against R.J. Reynolds in a 2019 cancer case.

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Randall Bassett

King & Spalding

Why we're watching: Bassett is counted among the top tobacco defense lawyers in the nation, with more than a dozen Florida Engle progeny trials to his credit.

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Kimberly Branscome

Kirkland & Ellis

Why we're watching: Branscome's results in major talc cases, including a win for J&J in a 2019 California trial, have placed her among the best in the defense bar.

Watch now.

 

Allison Brown

Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom

Why we're watching: Brown is one of the go-to defense names in talc litigation, with a resume of success that includes a 2019 verdict for J&J in a Missouri ovarian cancer case.

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Pete DeMahy

DLD Lawyers

Why we're watching: DeMahy has secured high-profile defense verdicts across more than four decades of practice, including a win for a power plant in a 2017 trial over fatal plane crash.

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Morton Dubin

Orrick

Why we're watching: Dubin's track record in product liability trials, including two J&J talc case wins in 2019, has made him a favorite in big-ticket litigation.

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Joseph Fasi

Fasi & DiBello

Why we're watching: Fasi is among the nation's leading tobacco defense lawyers, with high-profile wins that include a Massachusetts verdict for Philip Morris in 2019.

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Kat Gallagher

Beck Redden

Why we're watching: Gallagher's track record in products liability litigation, including a 2019 win for R.J. Reynolds in a Florida tobacco trial, places her among the industry's elite.

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William Geraghty

Shook Hardy & Bacon

Why we're watching: Geraghty's success in high-stakes tobacco litigation around the country stretches back more than a decade, and includes a 2017 win in an $11 million trial over a smoker's bladder cancer.

Watch now.

 

Ursula Henninger

King & Spalding

Why we're watching: Henninger, CVN's Engle Defense Attorney of 2018, is one of the defense bar's preeminent product liability attorneys, with a record that includes a verdict for R.J. Reynolds in a 2019 Florida cancer case.  

Watch now.

 

Daniel Huff

Huff Powell Bailey

Why we're watching: Huff, CVN Georgia's Defense Attorney of 2018, has been a cornerstone in building his firm's reputation on high-stakes medical malpractice wins. His notable verdicts include a 2017 defense win for a urologist accused of negligence surrounding a patient's kidney cancer. 

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Jason Keehfus

King & Spalding

Why we're watching: Keehfus earned CVN's honor as Engle Defense Attorney of 2019 by clearing R.J. Reynolds in a pair of major tobacco trials.

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Daniel Kissane

Cole Scott & Kissane

Why we're watching: Kissane's trial work has helped establish his firm as one of Florida's top defense practices for years.

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Louis LaCava

LaCava & Jacobson

Why we're watching: Louis LaCava is known for big medical malpractice defense wins, such as when he helped clear doctors accused of negligence over an ectopic pregnancy in 2019.

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Edward Nicklaus

Nicklaus & Associates

Why we're watching: Nicklaus's defense win in a high-profile product liability case against a Kroger-owned nutrition company cemented his honor as CVN Florida's Defense Attorney of 2019.

Watch now.

 

Kenneth Reilly

Shook Hardy & Bacon

Why we're watching: Reilly's winning history in complex tobacco cases makes him one of the premier attorneys in the field.

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Anthony Upshaw

McDermott Will & Emery

Why we're watching: Upshaw's national reputation in product liability defense was strengthened with results for Monsanto in PCB cases.

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John Walker

Jones Day

Why we're watching: Walker's tobacco trial wins from Florida to Massachusetts have placed him among a select group of defense attorneys.

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Paul Weathington

The Weathington Firm

Why we're watching: CVN Georgi'a Defense Attorney of 2019, Weathington is one of the state's most accomplished med mal lawyers, with notable wins that include clearing a doctor accused of negligence surrounding a patient's blindness.

Watch now.