Twenty Vorys Attorneys Named 2018 Lawyers of the Year by Best Lawyers

Twenty Vorys attorneys have been named 2018 Lawyers of the Year by Best Lawyers. Each year, only a single lawyer in each specialty in each community is honored as the “Lawyer of the Year.” According to Best Lawyers, lawyers being honored as “Lawyer of the Year” have earned a high level of respect among other lawyers in the same communities and the same practice areas for their abilities, professionalism and integrity. The Vorys lawyers and their selections are listed below.

Columbus

• Shawn M. Flahive has been named the 2018 Best Lawyers’ Columbus Corporate Compliance Lawyer of the Year. He is a partner and a member of the firm’s corporate group. He performs services for corporations, partnerships and limited liability companies involving a wide range of legal issues.
• Russell M. Gertmenian has been named the 2018 Best Lawyers’ Columbus Corporate Governance Lawyer of the Year. He serves as the firm’s managing partner. Gertmenian engages in the practice of general corporate and contract law, including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and initial public offerings and acts as general counsel to a variety of public and private corporations.
• Reginald W. Jackson has been named the 2018 Best Lawyers’ Columbus Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights and Insolvency and Reorganization Lawyer of the Year. Reggie is a partner and a member of the bankruptcy practice. He has significant experience in the insolvency field having represented secured creditors, Chapter 11 debtors, trustees, creditors' committees, equity holders, asset purchasers, vendors and suppliers. 
• Judith L. Marsh has been named the 2018 Best Lawyers’ Columbus Franchise Lawyer of the Year. Judy is a partner and her practice focuses on commercial and business law, with an emphasis on general commercial transactions and the Uniform Commercial Code, commercial finance, and franchising and distribution law.
• Robert A. Minor has been named the 2018 Best Lawyers’ Columbus Employers Workers' Compensation Lawyer of the Year. Buz is a partner and a member of the labor and employment law group. He devotes the majority of his practice to matters involving occupational safety and health and disability management.
• Jonathan M. Norman has been named the 2018 Best Lawyers’ Columbus Management Employment Lawyer of the Year. Jon is a partner and a member of the labor and employment group. He represents employers in all aspects of labor and employment, including equal employment rights, wage and hour regulation, union relations, maintaining union-free status, strategic and policy planning, and training. 
• Thomas O. Ruby has been named the 2018 Best Lawyers’ Columbus Commercial Finance Lawyer of the Year. Tom is a partner and a member of the finance, energy and real estate group. His practice is focused on commercial finance, including representation of borrowers and lenders in credit facilities and letters of credit.
• Gregory D. Russell has been named the 2018 Best Lawyers’ Columbus Energy Lawyer of the Year. Greg is a partner and leads the firm’s energy group, which is one of the largest and most experienced energy practices in the Midwest. For more than 20 years, he has been advising producers and pipeline operators in Ohio on business and regulatory matters, ranging from asset transactions, to unit operations and development, to leasehold and royalty disputes. 
• Carl D. Smallwood has been named the 2018 Best Lawyers’ Columbus Defendants Product Liability Litigation Lawyer of the Year. Carl is a partner and a member of the litigation group with substantial jury trial experience. He represents clients in litigation, arbitration and mediation of employment-related injury and toxic exposure disputes
• Andrew C. Smith has been named the 2018 Best Lawyers’ Columbus Labor Law Management Lawyer of the Year. Andy is a partner and the chair of the firm’s labor and employment group. His practice focuses on all aspects of labor and employment law, including employment litigation, wrongful discharge, and wage and hour class actions.
• David A. Swift has been named the 2018 Best Lawyers’ Columbus Trusts and Estates Lawyer of the Year. Dave is a partner and a member of the tax group. He practices in the areas of estate planning, estate and trust administration and representation of tax-exempt organizations.
• Mark E. Vannatta has been named the 2018 Best Lawyers’ Columbus Tax Lawyer of the Year. Mark is a partner and a member of the tax group. He practices in the area of estate planning, with an emphasis on estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax savings, estate and trust administration, and probate law.
• John B. Weimer has been named the 2018 Best Lawyers’ Columbus Commercial Transactions and UCC Lawyer of the Year. Weimer is a partner and leader of the firm’s finance group. He represents borrowers and lenders in all types of commercial finance transactions ranging from syndicated secured credit facilities, public notes offerings, securitization facilities and receivables purchase transactions.
• James A. Wilson has been named the 2018 Best Lawyers’ Columbus Antitrust Litigation Lawyer of the Year. Wilson is a partner and member of the litigation group. He has litigated and tried a wide variety of antitrust and complex business matters over nearly thirty years, including class, injunctive and multidistrict actions, involving issues of price-fixing, tying arrangements, vertical restraints, and alleged monopolization.

Cincinnati

• Hani R. Kallas has been named the 2018 Best Lawyers’ Cincinnati Banking and Finance Lawyer of the year. Hani is a partner and is chair of the firm’s commercial finance subgroup. He has substantial experience representing banks, leasing companies, mezzanine lenders and finance companies in structuring and documenting loan and lease transactions, workouts and restructurings throughout the country.
• Andrew M. Kaplan has been named the 2018 Best Lawyers’ Cincinnati Employers Workers' Compensation Lawyer of the Year. Andy is a partner and a member of the firm’s labor and employment group. He represents employers in state and federal court employment litigation and in agency proceedings.
• Roger E. Lautzenhiser, Jr. has been named the 2018 Best Lawyers’ Cincinnati International Mergers & Acquisitions Lawyer of the Year. Roger is a partner and a member of the corporate group. His practice is focused on the representation of public and private companies in federal and state securities regulation, corporate law and corporate governance, corporate financing and insurance law.

Akron

• Thomas R. Crookes has been named the 2018 Best Lawyers’ Akron Management Employment Lawyer of the Year. Tom is a partner and a member of the labor and employment group. He represents employers with a variety of labor and employment law matters, including federal and state employment discrimination litigation, defense of administrative charges, union election campaigns, collective bargaining, non-competition litigation, civil rights actions, wage and hour disputes, and workplace safety matters. 
• Bret Treier has been named the 2018 Best Lawyers’ Akron Corporate Lawyer of the Year. Bret is the managing partner of the Vorys Akron office and a member of the corporate group. Bret is particularly experienced in representing public financial institutions, closely-held distribution companies and multi-generational family-owned businesses.
• Mark A. Watkins has been named the 2018 Best Lawyers’ Columbus Intellectual Property Litigation Lawyer of the Year. Litigation - Intellectual Property He is a partner and member of the technology and intellectual property group. Watkins focuses on all facets of intellectual property protection, including patent, trademark, copyright, trade secrets and intellectual property litigation.

More than 100 Vorys attorneys were included on the 2018 Best Lawyers in America ^® List. Click here to see a full list of the firm’s 2018 Best Lawyers.