Bill Watts and Karen Tucker were recently named Best Lawyers® for 2026 in Appellate Practice in Mobile, Ala. Best Lawyers® identifies top lawyers in a practice area and location each year. Bill and Karen are routinely recognized as leading appellate advocates in state and federal court.

Helmsing Leach’s experienced litigators are admitted to appellate courts in the states of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, the United States Courts of Appeal for the 5th Circuit and 11th Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court. To learn more, visit our appellate practice area page.

Twelve Helmsing Leach attorneys were named to the 2026 edition of Best Lawyers in America® in Mobile, Ala. Best Lawyers® recognizes the top attorneys in a metropolitan area each year. The full list is below:

Joseph P.H. Babington

• Commercial Litigation
• Litigation – Construction
• Litigation – Environmental
• Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Defendants
• Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants
• Product Liability Litigation – Defendants

Russell C. Buffkin

• Commercial Litigation
• Litigation – Real Estate

John T. Dukes

• Commercial Transactions / UCC Law
• Real Estate Law

Thomas O. Gaillard III

• Litigation – Construction
• Municipal Law
• Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants
• Product Liability Litigation – Defendants

Jeffery J. Hartley

• Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law
• Bet-the-Company Litigation
• Litigation – Bankruptcy

James B. Newman

• Commercial Litigation
• Insurance Law
• Litigation – Banking and Finance
• Litigation – Construction
• Litigation – Labor and Employment

J. Casey Pipes

• Eminent Domain and Condemnation Law
• Land Use and Zoning Law *Lawyer of the Year
• Litigation – Land Use and Zoning
• Litigation – Real Estate *Lawyer of the Year
• Municipal Law
• Real Estate Law

Robert H. Rouse

• Business Organizations (including LLCs and Partnerships)
• Tax Law
• Trusts and Estates

A. Edwin Stuardi III

• Commercial Litigation
• Litigation – Construction
• Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants
• Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants *Lawyer of the Year
• Professional Malpractice Law – Defendants

Karen Tucker

• Appellate Practice
• Litigation – Health Care
• Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants

William W. Watts III

• Appellate Practice

W. Kirkland Mattei (Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch®)

• Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants
• Product Liability Litigation – Defendants
• Professional Malpractice Law

 

Casey Pipes has been a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers (ACREL) since 2018. The American College of Real Estate Lawyers is the select national association of preeminent commercial real estate lawyers focused on service to clients, colleagues and the profession. Admission is by invitation only after a rigorous screening process. ACREL’s distinguished, nationally known lawyers have been elected to fellowship for their outstanding legal ability, experience and high standards of professional and ethical conduct in the practice of real estate law. There are several substantive and practice area committees in which Fellows of the College can explore more deeply specific areas of real estate law that interest them.

Casey requested the creation of a new Subcommittee to focus on Eminent Domain, and he is now the chair of that newly formed Subcommittee. Issues surrounding private property rights are fundamental to the entire field of real estate law, and the ACREL Eminent Domain Subcommittee will focus on the intersection where private property rights meet (or get met by) the sovereign’s power of eminent domain, including regulatory takings.

Anyone interested in learning more about joining ACREL or the work of the ACREL Eminent Domain Subcommittee should feel free to contact Casey.

Helmsing Leach partner Joe Babington spoke at the Trial Attorneys of America’s 54th annual meeting in Chicago on June 12, 2025, providing an update on 11th Circuit cases released in products liability and commercial litigation during the last year. A former president of TAA and present board member, Joe primarily focuses on products liability, catastrophic injury, and wrongful death defense, and commercial litigation. TAA is an exclusive defense lawyers’ group of trial lawyers who gather each June in Chicago for continuing legal education and fellowship.

Samantha Gunnoe received the 2025 Distinguished Service Award from the Young Lawyers Section of the Alabama Defense Lawyers Association (ADLA). Samantha has been an active member of ADLA since 2019 and joined its Young Lawyers Section Board of Directors in 2024.

To learn more about Samantha’s practice, visit this link.

Casey Pipes will be a co-presenter with Jon Houghton of the Pacific Legal Foundation on the topic of “Housing Affordability and Post Disaster Recovery” as part of the Counselors of Real Estate’s Legal Specialty Interest Group presentation on February 5, 2025. This presentation is reserved for members of the Counselors of Real Estate only, and it will cover topics relating to housing affordability problems, the near and long-term impact of natural disasters on housing affordability, and the constitutionality of commonly used governmental approaches to addressing housing affordability.

To learn more about Casey’s practice, visit this link.

Helmsing, Leach, Herlong, Newman & Rouse was named to Best Lawyers® 2025 Best Law Firms list in 24 practice areas in the Mobile, Ala. region. Twenty of those practice areas received Tier 1 recognition.

Best Law Firms rankings celebrate firms that have consistently demonstrated excellence in legal expertise and industry knowledge. Each firm included has been rigorously evaluated based on client feedback, peer recommendations, leadership interviews, and the depth of their practice. The result is a comprehensive guide for businesses and individuals seeking top-tier legal counsel in the United States.

For the complete list of Helming Leach practice areas recognized by Best Lawyers ®, click here

Casey will speak at the American Law Institute Continuing Legal Education (ALICLE) course, Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation, being held January 30-February 1, 2025, in San Diego, California. Casey will be co-presenting at the conference with Anthony Alderman, a senior managing director with the Valuation & Advisory service line at Cushman & Wakefield. Casey and Anthony’s presentation will be on the valuation of temporary construction easements in land condemnation actions. For more information about the conference, click https://www.ali-cle.org/CG204.

Helmsing Leach’s Casey Pipes has been a member of the Counselors of Real Estate for more than ten years. Due to his service on numerous national committees and task forces over that period, Casey was recognized as the 2024 recipient of the CRE’s Committee Service Award which, since 2002, has been named after George Lovejoy, Jr., CRE Emeritus. Casey is honored and humbled to be the recipient of the 2024 Lovejoy Award for Committee Service.

More information about the award can be found here.

Tom Gaillard and Bill Watts successfully defended a local municipality and three of its police officers in a false arrest and malicious prosecution lawsuit filed in federal court. The plaintiff alleged that he was subjected to an improper arrest and a malicious prosecution while also being involved in a dispute with some of his family members. The plaintiff sued the municipality and these police officers for alleged constitutional violations pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Tom and Bill defended the case and obtained summary judgment in favor of all defendants. The plaintiff filed an appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. After briefing all the issues, the Eleventh Circuit issued an opinion upholding summary judgment in favor of all defendants.