Shoran Williams of Atlanta's Reid Williams

The Daily Business Review is announcing honorees for its 2018 Professional Excellence Awards in recognition of exemplary work by attorneys in the legal profession and the community in 2017.

An event set for May 30 at the Rusty Pelican in Miami will welcome all the winners, and the Attorney of the Year will be announced from among the three finalists.

Special reports will be published on May 7 and May 21 to profile the honorees and elaborate on the work that warranted recognition.

ATTORNEY OF THE YEAR

Broadly, the recognition honors attorneys who produced a notable impact on the law and the legal profession or did the most to advance the cause of justice in the previous year.

  • Jaret Davis, Greenberg Traurig
  • Peter Prieto, Podhurst Orseck
  • Walter Andrews, Hunton Andrews Kurth

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT

Lifetime achievers are singled out for having a significant impact on the practice of law over a noteworthy legal career.

  • Melvia Green, Third District Court of Appeal
  • Paul Hancock, K&L Gates
  • Andrew Smulian, Akerman

DISTINGUISHED LEADERS

These honorees have demonstrated clear leadership skills that helped them achieve impressive results, whether in law firm management, litigation, corporate law, transactions or public service .

  • Suzanne Amaducci-Adams, Bilzin Sumberg
  • Bowman Brown, Shutts & Bowen
  • Charles Caulkins, Fisher Phillips
  • Judge Peter Fay, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
  • Gerald Greenspoon, Greenspoon Marder
  • Patricia Hernandez, Avila Rodriguez Hernandez Mena & Ferri
  • John Hogan, Holland & Knight
  • Alan Kluger, Kluger Kaplan
  • Leslie Kroeger, Cohen Milstein
  • Richard Lorenzo, Hogan Lovells
  • Brian Miller, Akerman
  • Thomas Panza, Panza, Maurer & Maynard
  • Cristina Perez Soto, Jones Day
  • James Sammataro, Stroock & Stroock & Lavan
  • Charles Tatelbaum, Tripp Scott

LEGAL DEPARTMENTS

This category recognizes top in-house legal departments led by general counsel in Florida. The focus is on innovative programs, problem-solving ingenuity and high quality-client service.

  • Legal Department of the Year: University of Miami
  • Outside Counsel Management: Ilumno
  • Corporate Compliance: Memorial Healthcare System
  • Diversity and Quality of Life: Miami Gardens City Attorney's Office
  • Pro Bono and Community Service: Citicorp Latin America and Mexico

LITIGATION DEPARTMENTS

Split into two segments by law firm size, this section recognizes firms based on their work results obtained pretrial, at trial or on appeal in 2017. The midsize law firms have a total of 70 to 200 attorneys. The small firms are smaller than that.

MIDSIZE FIRMS

  • Litigation Department of the Year: Berger Singerman
  • Products Liability: Weinberg Wheeler Hudgins Gunn & Dial
  • Real Estate & Other Litigation: Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson

SMALL FIRMS

  • Litigation Department: Levine Kellogg Lehman Schneider + Grossman
  • Labor and Employment: Bryant Miller Olive
  • Real Estate & Other Litigation: Assouline & Berlowe

REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS

With the strength of real estate in the South Florida economy, a special category was carved out for special recognition of noteworthy transactions.

  • Bilzin Sumberg
  • Broad and Cassel

INNOVATIVE PRACTICE GROUPS

In a new category introduced this year, nominations were sought for law firms that pursued unique ways of differentiating a practice group in a crowded legal market.

  • Greenspoon Marder
  • Silver Miller

ON THE RISE

Always a competitive category, honorees are recognized for wielding influence and showing expertise in their practice areas and committing themselves to pro bono, charitable and professional volunteer work. One overriding condition is that the lawyers must be under age 40 as of Jan. 1, 2018.

  • Lara Bach, Weil, Gotshal & Manges
  • Shahrzad Emami, Legal Services of Greater Miami
  • Pedro Gassant, Holland & Knight
  • John Cody German, Cole, Scott & Kissane
  • Andrew Gordon, Hinshaw & Culbertson
  • Eddie Holiday, Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office
  • Andrew Ittleman, Fuerst Ittleman
  • Jason Joffe, Squire Patton Boggs
  • Wilnar Julmiste, AndersonGlenn
  • Matthew Kissner, Broad and Cassel
  • Adriana Kostencki, Berger Singerman
  • W Mason, Fox Rothschild
  • Melissa McDavitt, Conroy Simberg
  • Victor Petrescu, Levine Kellogg Lehman Schneider + Grossman
  • Michael Pineiro, Marcus Neiman & Rashbaum
  • Karen Poy, K&L Gates
  • Shani Rivaux, Pillsbury
  • Ryan Roman, Akerman
  • Marina Ross, Greenberg Traurig
  • Erica Rutner, Lash & Goldberg
  • Fausto Sanchez, Diaz Reus
  • Jeffrey Wank, Kelley Kronenberg
  • Jamie Wasserman, Shutts & Bowen
  • Matthew Weinshall, Podhurst Orseck
  • Lauren Whetstone, Greenberg Traurig