Nine Vorys Attorneys Selected by Their Peers as “Lawyers of the Year”

Nine Vorys attorneys have been named 2021 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 Flahive has been named the 2021 Best Lawyers’ Columbus Lawyer of the Year in Corporate Governance Law. He is a partner in the Vorys Columbus office and a member of the corporate group. Flahive performs services for corporations, partnerships and limited liability companies involving a wide range of legal issues. 

• Kimberly Herlihy has been named the 2021 Best Lawyers’ Columbus Lawyer of the Year in Litigation - Labor and Employment. She is a partner in the Vorys Columbus office and a member of the trial group. Herlihy has a varied litigation practice and extensive trial experience, with a focus on commercial litigation.

• William G. Porter has been named a 2021 Best Lawyers’ Columbus Lawyer of the Year in Litigation. He is a partner and immediate past chair of the firm’s litigation practice group. Porter’s practice focuses on complex business matters where, for over 30 years, he has led trial teams, litigated and tried a wide variety of cases on behalf of public and private corporations and their directors and officers, including class actions and injunctions in federal and state courts.
• Gregory Russell has been named the 2021 Best Lawyers’ Columbus Lawyer of the Year in Energy Law. He is a partner in the Columbus office and leads the firm’s energy group, one of the most experienced energy state and national practices in the Midwest. For more than 25 years, Russell 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. 

• Andrew Smith has been named the 2021 Best Lawyers’ Columbus Lawyer of the Year in Labor Law – Management. He is a partner in the Vorys Columbus office and a member of the labor and employment group, which he chaired for eleven years.  Smith’s practice focuses on all aspects of labor and employment law, including employment litigation, wrongful discharge, and wage and hour class actions. 

• John Weimer has been named the 2021 Best Lawyers’ Columbus Lawyer of the Year in Commercial Transactions / UCC Law. He is a partner in the Vorys Columbus office and the leader of the finance practice group. Weimer represents borrowers and lenders in all types of commercial finance transactions ranging from syndicated secured credit facilities to public notes offerings to securitization facilities to receivables purchase transactions.

Cleveland

• James McMonagle has been named the 2021 Best Lawyers’ Cleveland Mediation Lawyer of the year. He is of counsel in the Vorys Cleveland office and a member of the corporate and litigation practice groups. McMonagle has been involved with the mediation and arbitration of complex cases throughout the United States, including tort business, securities and employment litigation as well as unwinding and restructuring businesses as a result of unexpected market changes. 

Akron

• Thomas Crookes has been named the 2021 Best Lawyers’ Akron Employment Law – Management Lawyer of the Year. He is a partner and member of the labor and employment group.  Cookes 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, public and private sector collective bargaining, non-competition litigation, civil rights actions, wage and hour disputes, and workplace safety matters. 
• Mark Watkins has been named the 2021 Best Lawyers’ Akron Trademark Lawyer of the Year. He is a partner and member of the technology and intellectual property group and Vorys eControl.  Watkins’ practice 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 2021 Best Lawyers in America ^® List and 26 Vorys attorneys were named to the 2021 Best Lawyers “Ones to Watch” list. Click here to see a full listing of the firm’s 2021 Best Lawyers and Ones to Watch.

About Vorys: Vorys was established in 1909 and has grown to be one of the largest law firms with nearly 375 attorneys in seven offices in Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Akron, Ohio; Washington, D.C.; Houston, Texas; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Vorys currently ranks as one of the 200 largest law firms in the United States according to American Lawyer magazine.