BEST LAWYERS: ONES TO WATCH® IN AMERICA
JOHN W. FLORA NAMED BEST LAWYERS® 2025 “LAWYER OF THE YEAR”
Flora Pettit announces that eight of its lawyers were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in the 2025 edition of Best Lawyers in America® and one of its attorneys has been named to the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America list (COPYRIGHT 2013 BY WOODWARD/WHITE, INC., OF AIKEN, SC).
The attorneys listed include Michael E. Derdeyn, John W. Flora, Richard H. Howard-Smith, Donald D. Long, Marc A. Peritz, Jennifer E. Shirkey, Elizabeth C. Southall, Cathleen P. Welsh, and J. Page Williams.
Mr. Derdeyn was selected in the practice area of Commercial Litigation; Mr. Flora was selected in the practice area of Tax Law, and Trusts and Estates; 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. Peritz was selected in the practice area of Professional Malpractice Law–Defendants; Ms. Shirkey was selected in the practice area of Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law; 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 Banking and Finance Law, and Real Estate Law.
In addition, the firm is pleased to announce that John W. Flora was named the Best Lawyers® 2025 Tax Law “Lawyer of the Year” in the Charlottesville metropolitan area which includes the Shenandoah Valley.
Elizabeth C. Southall was also included in the 2025 edition of the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America for her work in Personal Injury Litigation-Defendants.
Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers® has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. Best Lawyers recognitions are compiled based on an exhaustive Purely Peer Review® evaluation. More than 184,000 industry leading lawyers are eligible to vote (from around the world), and have received more than 25.8 million evaluations on the legal abilities of other lawyers based on their specific practice areas around the world.
For the 2025 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®, more than 23 million votes were analyzed, which resulted in more than 80,000 leading lawyers included in the milestone 31st edition.
For the 2025 edition of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America, more than 4 million votes were analyzed, which resulted in more than 27,000 lawyers honored in the new edition.
“Lawyer of the Year” honors are awarded annually to only one lawyer per practice area in each region with extremely high overall feedback from their peers, making it an exceptional distinction.
