Two hundred and nineteen Alston & Bird attorneys have been selected by their peers for inclusion in the 2021 edition of The Best Lawyers in America©, and 69 attorneys have been selected for the inaugural edition of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch.
The Best Lawyers ranking includes eight attorneys who were named “Lawyer of the Year” and 26 who earned first-year honors. The lawyers span the firm’s nine U.S. offices and represent 70 practice areas.
For “Lawyer of the Year,” Best Lawyers selects only one attorney in each practice category and designated geographic region, making this recognition especially noteworthy. The following attorneys who were named “Lawyer of the Year” reflect a broad spectrum of experience, from strong up-and-comers to partners capping a long and distinguished career:
- Sandy Brown: Financial Services Regulation Law (Dallas)
- Steve Collins: Litigation – Securities (Atlanta)
- Sam Kaywood: Tax Law (Atlanta)
- Matt McGuire: Litigation – Banking and Finance (Raleigh)
- Glenn Patton: Employment Law – Management (Atlanta)
- Ben Pleune: Litigation – Intellectual Property (Charlotte)
- Grant Stein: Litigation – Bankruptcy (Atlanta)
- David Teske: Information Technology Law (Atlanta)
Ranked for the first time in Best Lawyers are the following Alston & Bird attorneys:
- Jeff Adams: Real Estate Law (Atlanta)
- Peter Barwick: Banking and Finance Law (Charlotte)
- Liz Brown: Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Defendants (Atlanta)
- Clark Calhoun: Litigation and Controversy – Tax (Atlanta)
- Stephanie Clouston: Commercial Litigation (Dallas)
- Maki DePalo: Privacy and Data Security Law (Atlanta)
- Aaron Dixon: Corporate Law (Atlanta)
- Blake Estes: FinTech Practice (New York)
- Ashley Gillihan: Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law (Atlanta)
- Patrick Hanchey: Banking and Finance Law (Dallas)
- Kyle Healy: Securities / Capital Markets Law (Atlanta)
- Jenny Hergenrother: Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Defendants and Product Liability Litigation – Defendants (Atlanta)
- Russell Hilton: Health Care Law (Atlanta)
- Jason Howard: Real Estate Law (Atlanta)
- Deanna Kashdan: Banking and Finance Law (Atlanta)
- Kara Kennedy: Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Defendants (Atlanta)
- Meredith Kingsley: Criminal Defense: White-Collar (Atlanta)
- Scott Kitchens: Mergers and Acquisitions Law (Atlanta)
- Chris Lightner: Patent Law (Atlanta)
- Sarah Mackenzie: Mergers and Acquisitions Law (Atlanta)
- Randy Moore: Mergers and Acquisitions Law (Atlanta)
- Hemant Piduru: Real Estate Law (Atlanta)
- Jason Popp: Health Care Law (Atlanta)
- Angela Spivey: Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Defendants (Atlanta)
- Rosemarie Thurston: Securities / Capital Markets Law (Atlanta)
- Alison Waterson: Real Estate Law (Atlanta)
Please see here for a complete list of Alston & Bird attorneys recognized in this year’s Best Lawyers.
The Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch is a new publication focusing on lawyers who have been in private practice for between five and 10 years. The 69 Alston & Bird attorneys included here span seven U.S. offices and represent 25 practice areas.
See here for a complete list of Alston & Bird attorneys recognized in Ones to Watch.
First published in 1983, Best Lawyers is the world’s oldest peer-review attorney guide. For the 2021 edition, attorneys cast more than 9 million votes on the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same legal practice and geographical region. Best Lawyers lists are published in top-tier publications such as The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times.