ATLANTA (August 15, 2018) – Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP (SGR) is pleased to announce the firm’s three attorneys who were recognized by The Best Lawyers in America©, the leading peer-review-based directory of legal practitioners, as 2019 “Lawyer of the Year” in their respective practice areas:
Dana G. Bradford II was named the Best Lawyers® Litigation-Insurance 2019 “Lawyer of the Year” in Jacksonville.
Leah Ward Sears was named the Best Lawyers® Appellate Practice 2019 “Lawyer of the Year” in Atlanta.
Kathryn M. Zickert was named the Best Lawyers® Litigation-Land Use and Zoning 2019 “Lawyer of the Year” in Atlanta.
Only a single lawyer in each specialty and location is recognized as the “Lawyer of the Year.” Attorneys who are honored as “Lawyer of the Year” have received the highest overall peer-feedback for their abilities, professionalism, and integrity in a specific practice area and geographic region.
Dana Bradford is a Partner in the Jacksonville office of SGR. Mr. Bradford’s practice is primarily devoted to representation of institutional clients in commercial litigation matters, representation of insurance carriers in litigation relating to coverage disputes and first-party and third-party bad faith claims, and in the defense of both self-insured and insured clients in the defense of personal injury and wrongful death claims, with emphasis on products liability.
The Honorable Leah Ward Sears is a Partner in SGR’s Atlanta office. She previously served as a Georgia Supreme Court Justice, and since returning to private practice, she has been recognized by Best Lawyers® the last three years. Among her many roles, Ms. Sears is an appellate lawyer, oral advocate and strategist, in addition to often serving as a neutral in arbitration proceedings and mediations. She also devotes much of her time assisting managers and institutions facing misconduct allegations, especially sexual, racial and other forms of bias claims, prepare and respond, minimize legal exposure, and protect their reputations.
Kathy Zickert is a Partner in the Atlanta office of SGR and is the leader of the Zoning, Planning and Land Use Practice. She has been recognized three previous times as “Lawyer of the Year” for Land Use and Zoning and/or for Litigation-Land Use and Zoning. Ms. Zickert practices in all aspects of land use and zoning including environmental and land use litigation, condemnation, re-zonings, variances, special or conditional use permits, special exceptions, subdivision approvals and all other permitting, fair housing, developments of regional impact and historic preservation.
About Best Lawyers®
Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers® has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. Best Lawyers lists are compiled based on an exhaustive peer-review evaluation. 83,000 industry leading lawyers are eligible to vote (from around the world), and we have received almost 10 million evaluations on the legal abilities of other lawyers based on their specific practice areas around the world. For the 2018 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America©, 7.4 million votes were analyzed, which resulted in more than 58,000 leading lawyers being included in the new edition. Lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed; therefore inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor. Corporate Counsel magazine has called Best Lawyers “the most respected referral list of attorneys in practice.” Visit www.bestlawyers.com for more information.
About Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP
SGR is a full service, international law firm that advises regional, national and global businesses on a wide range of legal matters. The firm’s more than 220 attorneys provide legal counsel in more than 45 specialized practice areas, including corporate transactions, litigation, intellectual property, aviation, banking, real estate, construction and employment law. Founded in 1893, SGR has offices in Atlanta, Austin, Jacksonville, London, Los Angeles, Munich, New York, Southampton, and Washington, D.C.