Six Vorys Attorneys Named 2013 Lawyers of the Year by Best Lawyers
Six Vorys partners have been named 2013 Lawyers of the Year by Best Lawyers. Best Lawyers designates Lawyers of the Year in high-profile legal specialties in large legal communities. Each year, only a single lawyer in each specialty in each community is honored as the Lawyer of the Year.
Columbus:
Stephen R. Buchenroth has been named the Columbus Franchise Law Lawyer of the Year. Buchenroth is a partner in the firm’s commercial and real estate group. He concentrates his practice in all areas of commercial real estate law and franchise law. Buchenroth’s experience includes development, financing, leasing, foreclosures, construction, opinion practice and zoning, as well as franchising, where he represents both franchisors and franchisees.
Gary E. Davis has been named the Columbus Real Estate Law Lawyer of the Year. Davis is a partner in the firm’s commercial and real estate group. He has a broad real estate practice, representing developers and property owners in a wide range of activities, including acquisitions, leasing, construction contracting, and financing transactions. Davis has also overseen the operation of the Vorys wholly owned title insurance agency for more than 30 years.
Mark E. Vannatta has been named the Columbus Non-Profit/Charities Law Lawyer of the Year. Vannatta is a partner in the firm’s tax group. His practice is focused on estate planning, with an emphasis on estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax savings, estate and trust administration and probate law. Vannatta also has extensive experience advising tax-exempt organizations.
Kristin L. Watt has been named the Columbus Environmental Law Lawyer of the Year. Watt is the chair of the firm’s environment group. Her practice focuses on environmental compliance and counseling, enforcement defense, environmental audits, and permitting issues. Watt also assists with due diligence in business and commercial real estate transactions and the contracting provisions related to each. She has worked extensively in the areas of solid and hazardous wastes, petroleum underground storage tanks, NPDES permits, wetlands, environmental investigation/remediation, and green labeling.
Cincinnati:
Terri R. Abare was named the Cincinnati Corporate Compliance Law Lawyer of the Year. Abare is a partner in the firm’s corporate and finance group. Her practice includes banking law, general corporate law, securities law, and mergers and acquisitions. She handles mergers, stock and asset acquisitions, initial public offerings, securities registration and reporting, financial services regulation, de novo bank formation, mutual to stock conversions, and general business counseling. Abare counsels a diverse group of clients including publicly traded companies, investment banking firms and closely held companies
Charles C. Bissinger was named the Cincinnati Real Estate Law Lawyer of the Year. Bissinger is a partner in the commercial and real estate group. His practice focuses on the acquisition, financing, development and sale of office buildings, apartments, nursing homes, assisted living facilities and other income producing properties, as well as leasing office space and restructuring troubled projects. He represents lenders and borrowers in financing transactions, purchasers and sellers in real estate transfers, landlords and tenants in commercial leasing transactions, developers in commercial and residential development projects and borrowers, investors and lenders in real estate workouts.
About Vorys: Vorys was established in 1909 and currently has nearly 375 attorneys in six offices in Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Akron, Ohio; Washington, D.C.; and Houston, Texas. Vorys currently ranks as one of the 200 largest law firms in the United States according to American Lawyer magazine.
