Best Lawyers has named Jeffery Hartley Mobile, Ala.’s 2024 Lawyer of the Year in Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law. Recognition by Best Lawyers is highly regarded by legal professionals and clients. Only one attorney can be named Lawyer of the Year in a practice area and location.

Jeffery has been featured in Best Lawyers for the last 15 years. In addition to Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law, Jeffery was also recognized by Best Lawyers in the following practice areas this year:

• Bet-the-Company Litigation
• Litigation – Bankruptcy

Visit our Bankruptcy & Creditor’s Rights page to learn more about Helmsing Leach’s work in this practice area.

Best Lawyers has named John Dukes Mobile, Ala.’s 2024 Lawyer of the Year in Real Estate Law. Best Lawyers is known as one of the top legal publications in the U.S., and only one lawyer in each practice area and location can be named Lawyer of the Year.

John has been recognized by Best Lawyers since 2019. In addition to Real Estate Law, he was also named to Best Lawyers for his work Commercial Transactions/UCC Law this year.

To learn more about Helmsing Leach’s Real Estate practice, visit this link.

Best Lawyers has named Jim Newman Mobile, Ala.’s 2024 Lawyer of the Year in in two practice areas—Insurance Law & Construction Litigation. Best Lawyers is a leading legal publication that distinguishes the top attorneys around the country through an exhaustive peer review process. In addition to Insurance Law and Construction Litigation, Jim was recognized by Best Lawyers in the following practice areas:

• Commercial Litigation
• Litigation – Banking and Finance
• Litigation – Labor and Employment

Jim has been recognized by Best Lawyers since 2007.

Visit these links for more information about Helmsing Leach’s Insurance Defense and Construction Litigation work.

Best Lawyers® has recognized Helmsing Leach partner and managing attorney Casey Pipes as the Lawyer of the Year in the field of Municipal Law for the Mobile, Alabama metropolitan area. The Lawyer of the Year distinction is awarded to lawyers with the highest peer ratings among top lawyers in a practice area and location. Only one lawyer per metropolitan area and practice area can receive this honor each year. Casey was also recognized by Best Lawyers for his work in the fields of eminent domain and condemnation law, land use and zoning Law, land use and zoning litigation, real estate litigation, and real estate law. Casey has been named to Best Lawyers® for the past 10 years.  Casey has been recognized as a Lawyer of the Year in the Mobile metropolitan market in seven out of the last eight years.

To learn more about Casey’s legal practice, visit https://helmsinglaw.com/attorneys/j-casey-pipes/.

Best Lawyers® has named Helmsing Leach partner Jeffrey Hartley the Lawyer of the Year in Bankruptcy Litigation. Only one lawyer is recognized as “Lawyer of the Year” for each legal specialty and location. In addition to this honor, Jeffery was also named a Best Lawyer in America in the fields of bankruptcy and creditor debtor rights/insolvency and reorganization law and bet-the-company litigation. Jeffery has been recognized as a Best Lawyer in America since 2008. In 2015 and 2018, he was appointed by the Chief Justice of the United States, John G. Roberts, to serve on the influential Judicial Conference’s Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules.

For more information about Jeffery’s legal practice, visit https://helmsinglaw.com/attorneys/jeffery-j-hartley/.

Helmsing Leach’s Joe Babington has been named Best Lawyers’ 2024 Lawyer of the Year in both Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions and Product Liability Litigation (Mobile, Ala.). Best Lawyers, a highly regarded legal publication, recognizes top lawyers throughout the country via extensive peer review. Only one lawyer can be named Lawyer of the Year in a practice area and location. Joe has been consistently named to Best Lawyers since 2007.

In addition to Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions and Product Liability, Joe was recognized in Best Lawyers’ 2024 edition in the following practice areas:

• Commercial Litigation
• Litigation – Construction
• Litigation – Environmental
• Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants

Visit Helmsing Leach’s practice area pages to learn more about our work:

• Mass Tort, Multi-District, and Class Action Litigation
• Products Liability Defense
• Commercial Litigation
• Construction Litigation
• Catastrophic Injury & Wrongful Death Litigation

Fourteen Helmsing Leach attorneys were named to Best Lawyers in America for 2024. Best Lawyers is regarded as a leading publication in the legal field, with tens of thousands of lawyers confidentially ranking their peers each year.

The attorneys and their respective practice areas, year first recognized, and number of years named to Best Lawyers are below:

• Alan Alexander (2007) [15 years]
  • Health Care Law
  • Legal Malpractice Law – Defendants
  • Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants
  • Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants
• Joe Babington (2007) [15 years]
  • Commercial Litigation
  • Litigation – Construction
  • Litigation – Environmental
  • Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Defendants
  • Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants
  • Product Liability Litigation – Defendants
• Russell Buffkin (2013) [10 years]
  • Commercial Litigation
  • Litigation – Real Estate
• John Dukes (2019) [5 years]
  • Commercial Transactions / UCC Law
  • Real Estate Law
• Jeffery Hartley (2008) [15 years]
  • Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law
  • Bet-the-Company Litigation
  • Litigation – Bankruptcy
• Warren C. Herlong, Jr. (2006) [15 years]
  • Eminent Domain and Condemnation Law
  • Litigation – Antitrust
  • Litigation – Real Estate
• Karen Tucker (2023)
  • Appellate Practice
• Jim Newman (2007) [15 years]
  • Commercial Litigation
  • Insurance Law
  • Litigation – Banking and Finance
  • Litigation – Construction
  • Litigation – Labor and Employment
• Casey Pipes (2011) [10 years]
  • Eminent Domain and Condemnation Law
  • Land Use and Zoning Law
  • Litigation – Land Use and Zoning
  • Litigation – Real Estate
  • Municipal Law
  • Real Estate Law
• Robert Rouse (2007) [15 years]
  • Business Organizations (including LLCs and Partnerships)
  • Tax Law
  • Trusts and Estates
• Win Stuardi (2009) [15 years] 
  • Commercial Litigation
  • Litigation – Construction
  • Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants
  • Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants
  • Professional Malpractice Law – Defendants
• Bill Watts (2009) [15 years]
  • Appellate Practice

Jim Newman, Jeffrey Hartley, Casey Pipes, John Dukes, Joe Babington, Robert Rouse, Warren Herlong, and Bill Watts were given the publication’s highest distinction, Lawyer of the Year. There is only one Lawyer of the Year for each practice area and geographic location (Mobile, Ala.).

Additionally, two attorneys were named 2024 Lawyers to Watch:

• Philip D. Mahoney (*)
  • Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants

• W. Kirkland Mattei (2021)
  • Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants
  • Product Liability Litigation – Defendants

Helmsing Leach partner Casey Pipes recently finished a three-day jury trial in Mobile County involving the condemnation of his client’s business property. The site was approximately half an acre on the Mobile River and had been the location of a family-owned business for multiple generations. The Alabama Department of Transportation took the entire site in a right of way acquisition for the I-10 Mobile River Bridge project. The state of Alabama put on evidence that it owed only $675,000 to the owner, but the jury returned a verdict for $1,636,975. The addition of interest brought the total recovery in the case to $1,965,964.60.

For more information about the firm’s eminent domain practice, visit this link.

Helmsing Leach partner Casey Pipes co-authored an article on differentiating between easements and fee takings in the context of condemnation actions that was published in the July 2023 edition of the American Law Institute Continuing Legal Education (ALI CLE)’s The Practical Real Estate Lawyer. The article addresses situations when the taking of an easement should be valued as if fee title was being condemned (or more), and procedural tools the lawyers can use in these situations to represent their clients. This publication is a follow up to a live continuing legal education presentation Casey gave earlier in 2023 in Austin, Texas on this subject.

To learn more about the firm’s eminent domain practice area please visit this link.