Ogletree Deakins Attorneys Named Lawyer of the Year

ATLANTA, GA – October 7, 2011 – Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. (Ogletree Deakins), one of the nation’s largest labor and employment law firms representing management, announced today that 16 of the firm’s attorneys have been named Best Lawyers’ 2012 Lawyers of the Year. In just one year, the firm tripled the number of Lawyers of the Year from five to 16. Best Lawyers designates Lawyers of the Year in high-profile legal specialties in large legal communities where only a single lawyer in each specialty in each community is honored as the “Lawyer of the Year.”

The Best Lawyers’ 2012 Lawyers of the Year (by office) include:
Homer L. Deakins, Jr. – Atlanta Employment Law – Management Lawyer of the Year
Michael W. Fox – Austin Employment Law – Management Lawyer of the Year
Eric C. Schweitzer – Charleston, S.C. Labor Law – Management Lawyer of the Year
Thomas H. Barnard – Cleveland Labor Law – Management Lawyer of the Year
Charles T. Speth II – Columbia, S.C. Employment Law – Management Lawyer of the Year
Joel A. Daniel – Greenville Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law Lawyer of the Year
L. Gray Geddie, Jr. – Greenville Employment Law – Management Lawyer of the Year
Thomas G. Greaves III – Greenville Labor Law – Management Lawyer of the Year
Jeffrey C. Londa – Houston Labor Law – Management Lawyer of the Year
Kim F. Ebert – Indianapolis Employment Law – Management Lawyer of the Year
Frederick J. Lewis – Memphis Labor Law – Management Lawyer of the Year
Sharon P. Margello – Newark Litigation – Labor & Employment Lawyer of the Year
Thomas A. Farr – Raleigh Labor Law – Management Lawyer of the Year
C. Matthew Keen – Raleigh Employment Law – Management Lawyer of the Year
James K. Mackie – Tucson Litigation – Labor & Employment Lawyer of the Year
Tibor Nagy, Jr. – Tucson Employment Law – Management Lawyer of the Year

Best Lawyers compiles its lists of attorneys by conducting exhaustive peer-review surveys in which thousands of leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers. The current, 18th edition of The Best Lawyers in America (2012) is based on more than 3.9 million detailed evaluations of lawyers by other lawyers. The lawyers being honored as Lawyers of the Year have received particularly high ratings in the surveys by earning a high level of respect among their peers for their abilities, professionalism, and integrity.

Earlier, Ogletree Deakins announced that 141 of the firm’s attorneys across 32 of the firm’s offices had been named to the peer-review publication, The Best Lawyers in America 2012® (Copyright 2011 by Woodward/White, Inc., of Aiken, S.C.).

About Ogletree Deakins

Ogletree Deakins is the nation’s third-largest labor and employment law firm, representing management in all types of employment-related legal matters. The firm has 600 lawyers located in 40 offices from Miami to Los Angeles. In addition to handling labor and employment law matters, the firm has thriving practices focused on business immigration, employee benefits, and workplace safety and health law. Ogletree Deakins represents a diverse range of clients, including more than half of the Fortune 50 corporations in the United States. For more information, please contact Ryan King, public relations manager, at (404) 870-1742.

About Best Lawyers in America

The Best Lawyers in America was first published in 1983 and is the oldest and most respected legal referral guide in the United States. Best Lawyers surveys thousands of top attorneys in the United States, who confidentially evaluate the legal abilities of their professional peers. The guide includes more than 43,000 attorneys covering all 50 states and the District of Columbia.