History Makers and Innovators: The American Lawyer Industry Awards Finalists Announced

The American Lawyer has chosen the finalists for its annual Industry Awards, selecting from more than 700 submissions to find those lawyers, business professionals, law firms and organizations that are elevating the profession to new heights.

The below list includes the finalists for each category, with the winners set to be named at The American Lawyer Industry Awards gala in New York City on November 10. The winners of Corporate Counsel’s Best Legal Departments awards will also be announced at the gala.

Across our categories, we not only honor inspirational work in our storied lifetime achievement and attorney of the year categories, but we also aim to celebrate ways in which the profession is innovating and better meeting client needs. Also announced today are the finalists in the Law Firm Corporate Practices of the Year categories.

The American Lawyer pulled from relevant expertise among its senior editors and reporters across Law.com’s global newsroom to ensure only the best of a stellar crop of submissions rose to the level of finalist. Write-ups of the winners, including the specifics behind their exceptional work will follow in the remaining months of 2022.

Lifetime Achievement Award Winners

• Dr. Clarence B. Jones, retired emeritus director, The USF Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice and former personal counsel and speechwriter for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Ambassador Charlene Barshefsky, Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale and Dorr
• James Sandman, Legal Services Corporation & the University of Pennsylvania Carey School of Law Future of the Profession Initiative
• Harriet Miers, Locke Lord
• Carter Phillips, Sidley Austin
• Gordon “Gordy” Davidson, Fenwick & West (Law Firm Distinguished Leader)

Attorney of the Year Finalists

• Jeffrey Kessler, Winston & Strawn, for his groundbreaking work in the area of sports law, impacting the rights and financial opportunities of thousands of athletes
• Sigrid McCawley, Boies Schiller Flexner, for her steadfast work representing victims of sexual abuse
• Rep. Jamie Raskin, U.S. House of Representatives, for his passionate work supporting mental health in the profession and rule of law
• Debra Wong Yang, of Gibson, Dunn  & Crutcher and Tai Park of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, for their dedicated work leading the industry’s Alliance for Asian American Justice

Law Firm of the Year Finalists

• Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
• Davis, Polk & Wardwell
• McDermott Will & Emery
• Paul Hastings
• Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan
• Ropes & Gray
• Sidley Austin

Best Business Team Finalists

• Ballard Spahr
• Greenberg Traurig
• McGuireWoods
• Reed Smith
• Troutman Pepper

Best Client-Law Firm Team Finalists

• Davis Wright Tremaine and Flynn Restaurant Group
• McDermott Will & Emery and Meta
• Morgan Lewis & Bockius and 23andMe
• Ropes & Gray and Audax Group
• Steptoe & Johnson LLP and DISH Networks
• Williams & Connolly and CVS Health Corporation

Best Diversity Initiative Finalists

• Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft
• McDermott Will & Emery
• Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
• Shook Hardy & Bacon
• Sidley Austin
• Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr

Best Mentor Finalists: In-House

• Dorothy Capers, Xylem
• Shelley Webb, PagerDuty

Best Mentor Finalists: Law Firm 

• Daniel Bookin, O’Melveny & Myers
• David Farhat, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
• Dionysia Johnson-Massie, Littler Mendelson
• Coral Negron, Jenner & Block
• Ellen Dwyer, Crowell & Moring
• Scott Ellis, Foley & Lardner
• Joseph Centeno, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney

Best Provider Collaboration Finalists

• Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld and CASA
• Kaplan Hecker & Fink; Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison; and Cooley
• McGuireWoods, VCU Health, and Dominion Energy

Best Use of Technology Finalists

• Ballard Spahr
• McDermott Will & Emery
• Fox Rothschild
• Berry Appleman & Leiden
• Goodwin
• DLA Piper

Corporate Purpose Award Finalists

• Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld
• Greenberg Traurig
• Latham & Watkins
• Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
• Ropes & Gray
• Willkie Farr & Gallagher

Legal Services Innovation Finalists

• Honigman
• McGuireWoods
• Reed Smith
• NEXT powered by Shulman Rogers
• Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
• Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Litigator of the Year Finalists

• Allison Brown, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
• Daralyn Durie, Durie Tangri
• John Hueston, Hueston Hennigan
• Richard Jones, Sullivan & Worcester
• Enu Mainigi, Williams & Connolly
• Josh Rosenkranz, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
• Kannon Shanmugam, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison

National Boutique / Specialty Litigation Dept. of the Year Finalists

• Bartlit Beck
• Cohen Ziffer Frenchman & McKenna
• Durie Tangri
• Kaplan Hecker & Fink
• Irell & Manella
• Rivero Mestre
• Stris Maher

Regional Litigation Finalists—California

• Cooley
• Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
• Kirkland & Ellis
• Hunton Andrews Kurth
• Covington & Burling

Regional Litigation Finalists—Florida

• Hogan Lovells
• McDermott Will & Emery
• Shook, Hardy & Bacon

Regional Litigation Finalists—Georgia

• Greenberg Traurig
• King & Spalding
• Nelson, Mullins, Riley & Scarborough

Regional Litigation Finalists—New Jersey

• Greenberg Traurig
• McCarter & English

Regional Litigation Finalists—Pennsylvania

• Cozen O’Connor
• Jones Day
• Morgan, Lewis & Bockius

Regional Litigation Finalists—Texas

• Baker Botts
• Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
• Jones Day
• Sidley Austin

Tony Mauro Media Lawyer Award Winners

• George Freeman and Lee Levine of the Media Law Resource Center
• NPR’s Media Law Team

Young Lawyer of the Year Finalists (Beyond Practice)

• Andrew Clark, Latham & Watkins
• Devon Galloway, Zuckerman Spaeder
• Lauren Champaign, Foley & Lardner
• Kimberlynn Davis, Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton
• John Gray, Perkins Coie
• Kyle Kimpler, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
• Shelisa Thomas, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
• Mary Olson, Shook, Hardy & Bacon

Young Lawyer of the Year Finalists (Corporate)

• C.J. Fisher, Fox Rothschild
• Darwin Huang, Kasowitz Benson Torres
• Emily Johnson, Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz
• Dohyun Kim, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
• Daniel Lynch, Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld
• John Pitts, Kirkland & Ellis
• Laura Turano, Paul Weiss
• Lawrence Lee, Baker McKenzie
• Oulu (Lulu) Wang, Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner

Young Lawyer of the Year Finalists (Litigation)

• Eugene Novikov, Durie Tangri
• Gary S. Ward, Wiley Rein
• Jonathan Tam, Dechert
• Joseph Reiter, Hueston Hennigan
• Megan Gerking, Morrison & Foerster
• Lee Popkin, Proskauer
• Matthew Zorn, Yetter Coleman

Law Firm Corporate Practices of the Year

Corporate Attorney of the Year Finalists

• Michael Aiello, Weil, Gothsal & Manges
• Atif Azher, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
• Scott Barshay, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
• Cheryl Chan, Davis Polk & Wardwell
• Tad Freese, Latham & Watkins
• Ken Lefkowitz, Hughes Hubbard & Reed
• Rezwan Pavri, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
• Tessa Schwartz of Morrison & Foerster

General Category Finalists

• Cravath, Swaine & Moore
• Davis Polk & Wardwell
• Kirkland & Ellis
• Latham & Watkins
• Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
• Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
• Weil, Gotshal & Manges

Health Care/Pharmaceuticals Category Finalists

• Goodwin
• McDermott Will & Emery
• Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
• Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
• Ropes & Gray
• Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton

Energy Category Finalists

• Bracewell
• Latham & Watkins
• Vinson & Elkins

Tech/Telecom Category Finalists

• Cooley
• Davis Polk & Wardwell
• Goodwin
• Latham & Watkins
• Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
• Sullivan & Cromwell
• Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Mid-/Small-Cap Category Finalists

• Akerman
• Cozen O’Connor
• King & Spalding
• McDermott Will & Emery
• Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough
• Reed Smith
• Ropes & Gray