Lenhart Pettit announces that eleven of its lawyers were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in the 2019 edition of Best Lawyers in America®. (Copyright 2013 by Woodward/White, Inc., of Aiken, SC). The attorneys listed include Michael E. Derdeyn, Ralph L. Feil, John W. Flora, Lisa Anne Hawkins, Richard H. Howard-Smith, Donald D. Long, George H. Roberts, Jr., Jennifer E. Shirkey, Bill Shmidheiser, Cathleen P. Welsh and J. Page Williams.

Mr. Derdeyn was selected in the practice area of Commercial Litigation; Mr. Feil was selected in the practice area of Real Estate Law; Mr. Flora was selected in the practice area of Tax Law and Trusts and Estates; Ms. Hawkins was selected in the practice of Real Estate Law; Mr. Howard-Smith was selected in the practice areas of Tax Law and Trusts and Estates; Mr. Long was selected in the practice area of Securities/Capital Markets Law; Mr. Roberts was selected in the practice areas of Corporate Law and Trusts and Estates; Ms. Shirkey was selected in the practice area of Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law; Mr. Shmidheiser was selected in the practice areas of Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law Litigation–Bankruptcy; Ms. Welsh was selected in the practice areas of Employment Law–Management, Litigation–Labor and Employment, and Workers’ Compensation Law–Employers; and Mr. Williams was selected in the practice of Real Estate Law.

In addition, the firm is pleased to announce that Cathleen P. Welsh has been named Best Lawyers® 2019 Employment Law–Management “Lawyer of the Year” for the Charlottesville metropolitan area, an honor she previously received in 2013 and 2017. John W. Flora has been named Best Lawyers® 2019 Tax Law “Lawyer of the Year” for the Charlottesville metropolitan area.  Harrisonburg and other areas outside of the City of Charlottesville are included in Best Lawyer’s “Charlottesville metropolitan area.”

Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers^® has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. Best Lawyers lists are compiled based on an exhaustive peer-review evaluation. Almost 87,000 industry leading lawyers are eligible to vote (from around the world), and we have received almost 10 million evaluations on the legal abilities of other lawyers based on their specific practice areas around the world. For the 2019 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America^©, 7.8 million votes were analyzed, which resulted in almost 60,000 leading lawyers being included in the new edition. Lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed; therefore inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor. Corporate Counsel magazine has called Best Lawyers “the most respected referral list of attorneys in practice.”