2023 Southeastern Legal Awards Honorees Announced

The Daily Report is pleased to announce its winners and finalists for the 2023 Southeastern Legal Awards.

The honors will be presented at a gala on June 22 at Flourish Atlanta. In June, we’ll publish a special section, further highlighting these skilled attorneys and their important accomplishments. We’ll announce the Attorney of the Year and Law Firm of the Year winners from among this group of three finalists at the awards gala.

Previously known as the Georgia Legal Awards, the program was expanded this year to include Georgia plus North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi.

The award winners and finalists are:

Diversity Initiative: Adams and Reese and King & Spalding

In-House Impact Award: Rachel George of Aaron’s

Law Firm of the Year Finalists: King & Spalding, McGuireWoods and Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough

Legal Innovators:

Larry Bridgesmith of DASH4Law DAO/Vanderbilt

Jonathan Friedman and Shane O’Neill of Weinberg Wheeler Hudgins Gunn & Dial

John Martin of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough

Heather McCullough of Society 54

Sarah Sawvell of Honeywell

Litigation Department of the Year – Small/Midsize Firms: Caplan Cobb

Most Innovative Law Firms: Hall & Lampros, McGuireWoods, Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders

Attorney of the Year Finalists:

Jonathan Ellis of McGuireWoods

Parker Miller of Beasley Allen

Robert “Bob” Wilson Jr. of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough

Best Mentors:

Kimberly Barone Baden of Motley Rice

Denise Gunter of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough

Daniel Huynh of Morris, Manning & Martin

Rose Jones of King & Spalding

Jon Jordan of King & Spalding

Johanna Jumper of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings

Courtney Noce of Greenberg Traurig

Jocelyn Mallette of McGuireWoods

Adria Perez of Kilpatrick Townsend

Distinguished Leaders:

Kevin Abernethy of University of Georgia

Mark Carter of Taylor English Duma

Mark Chalos of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein

David Esquivel of Bass, Berry & Sims

Greg Kilpatrick of McGuireWoods

John McDonald of McGuireWoods

Steven Meckler of Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick

Tracy Ann Moore-Grant of Patterson Moore Butler

Mike Rafi of the Rafi Law Firm

Kevin Sharp of Sanford Heisler Sharp

Joseph Silver of DLA Piper

Lester Tate of Akin and Tate

Mike Terry of Bondurant Mixson & Elmore

Jim Vann of Dentons Sirote

Rocky Wilkins of Morgan & Morgan

Ricardo Woods of Burr & Forman

Lifetime Achievers:

Sarah Borders of King & Spalding

Randy Hafer of Kilpatrick Townsend

Jim Hardin of Offit Kurman

Harrison Marshall of McGuireWoods

Jill Steinberg of Baker Donelson

Most Effective Deal-Makers:

Billy Ching of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough

G. Kirk Domescik of Duane Morris

Kate Hardey of McGuireWoods

John Kennedy of James Bates Brannan Groover

Wes Misson of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft

Matt Peurach of Morris, Manning & Martin

Gene Price of Burr & Forman

Joseph Rice of Motley Rice

Evan Rosenberg of Morgan & Morgan

On the Rise:

Marissa Coleman of Arnall Golden Gregory

Jackson “Jad” Dial of Weinberg Wheeler Hudgins Gunn & Dial

Chris Dickson of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft

Anna Altizer Dix of Troutman Pepper

Stephanie Nullman Eban of Thrift McLemore

Nick Foreste of Morris, Manning & Martin

Matthew Friedlander of Webb Daniel Friedlander

Rachel Friedman of Burr & Forman

Jasmine Gardner of McGuireWoods

Caroline Gieser of Shook, Hardy & Bacon

Meagan Griffin of Paul Hastings

TaCara Harris of King & Spalding

Ashley Heintz of Jones Day

Edward Ivey of Moore & Van Allen

Andrew Kaufman of Lieff Cabraser

Jeffrey Kelly of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough

Meredith Kingsley of Alston & Bird

Andrew Knowlton of Hall Booth Smith

Temitope Leyimu of Motley Rice

Benjamin Little of Dentons Sirote

Molly Lovedale of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft

Jocelyn Mitnaul Mallette of McGuireWoods

Emily McGowan of Alston & Bird

Louis Mendez of Bressler Amery & Ross

Mary Alexander Myers of Jones Day

Erica Opitz of Chamberlain Hrdlicka

Jonathan Parente of Alston & Bird

Adam Peoples of Hall Booth Smith

Alex Peurach of Alston & Bird

Jonathan Porter of Husch Blackwell

Sarah Primrose of King & Spalding

Gautam Reddy of Kilpatrick Townsend

Donna Tillis of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough

Laura Wagner of Hunton Andrews Kurth

For more information on the awards gala or to purchase tickets, visit https://bit.ly/43Qt9CN.

This article was updated at 8:29 p.m. April 27 with the correct spelling of Jasmine Gardner’s last name.