Daily Business Review's 2018 Professional Excellence Awards at the Rusty Pelican. Photo: J. Albert Diaz/ALM

Attorneys at Greenberg Traurig, Weiss Serota Helfman Cole & Bierman, Becker and Stroock & Stroock & Lavan are finalists for the Daily Business Review's annual Attorney of the Year award.

Greenberg's Kerri Barsh, Weiss Serota's Jamie Cole, Becker's Gary Rosen and Stroock's James Sammataro are in the running for the top honor at the annual Professional Excellence Awards event.

The awards to be given May 23 at the Rusty Pelican in Miami recognize standout achievements in 2018 by Florida legal professionals ranging from litigators and transaction attorneys to corporate general counsel.

The lifetime achievement honorees are John Barkett of Shook, Hardy & Bacon, Jon Mills of Boies Schiller Flexner and Raquel “Rocky” Rodriguez of McDonald Hopkins.

Seven in-house legal departments are in line for awards:

  • Department of the Year: Wellcare Health Plans Inc.
  • Outside Counsel Management: JPay Inc.
  • Technology: Bruce Gendelman Co. Inc.
  • Pro Bono/Community Service: Cable & Wireless
  • Corporate Compliance: Advanced Recovery Systems LLC
  • On the Rise: Nefertari Rigsby, Kaplan Higher Education
  • On the Rise: Hemisphere Media Group Inc.

Litigation departments are recognized based on size with midsize law firms of 70 to 200 attorneys and small firms of under 70 attorneys:

 

  • General-Midsize: Bilzin Sumberg
  • Insurance-Midsize: Fowler White Burnett
  • Real estate/Other-Midsize: Berger Singerman
  • General-Small: Levine Kellogg Lehman Schneider + Grossman
  • Employment-Small: Bryant Miller Olive
  • Insurance-Small: Keller Landsberg
  • Real estate/Other: Kluger Kaplan

Three law firms will be honored for their innovative practice areas:

  • Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll
  • Salazar Law
  • Shapiro, Blasi, Wasserman & Hermann

Three firms also will be recognized for their work on real estate transactions:

  • Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney
  • Greenberg Traurig
  • Kasowitz Benson Torres

A wide assortment of attorneys will be honored as Distinguished Leaders for achieving impressive results in 2018:

  • Vivian de la Cuevas-Diaz, Holland & Knight
  • Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr
  • Albert Dotson, Bilzin Sumberg
  • Anne Marie Estevez, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
  • Philip Freidin, Freidin Brown
  • Daniel Gonzalez, Hogan Lovells
  • Edward Guedes, Weiss Serota Helfman Cole & Bierman
  • Michael Haggard, The Haggard Law Firm
  • Abbey Kaplan, Kluger Kaplan
  • Bradford Kaufman, Greenberg Traurig
  • Joshua Kaye, DLA Piper
  • Linda Leali, Linda Leali P.A.
  • Theodore Leopold, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll
  • Michael Marsh, Akerman
  • Peter Prieto, Podhurst Orseck
  • Paul Singerman, Berger Singerman
  • Peter Ticktin, Ticktin Law Group

Promising attorneys under the age of 40 as of Jan. 1 are recipients of On the Rise awards:

  • Elizabeth Somerstein Adler, Greenspoon Marder
  • Lauren Alexander, Weil, Gotshal & Manges
  • Daniel Balmori, Hogan Lovells
  • Evan Berger, Becker
  • Michael Dutko Jr., Conrad & Scherer
  • Devin “Velvel” Freedman, Boies Schiller Flexner
  • Lindsay Haber, Kluger Kaplan
  • Niyala Harrison, Squire Patton Boggs
  • Nicholas Johnson, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll
  • Alexandra Lehson, Bilzin Sumberg
  • Michael Lessne, Nelson Mullins Broad and Cassel
  • Arya Attari Li, Ver Ploeg & Lumpkin
  • Justin Luger, Weiss Serota Helfman Cole & Bierman
  • Hayden O'Byrne, K&L Gates
  • Thomas Oppenheimer, Fox Rothschild
  • Kimberly Prior, Shutts & Bowen
  • Brent Reitman, Liberman Cabrera Thompson & Reitman
  • Geri Satin, Focus Litigation Consulting LLC
  • Adam Seligman, Ward Damon
  • Schuyler Smith, Hamilton, Miller & Birthisel
  • Alessandra Stivelman, Eisinger, Brown, Lewis, Frankel & Chaiet
  • Justin Wales, Carlton Fields
  • Kenneth Wiggins, Akerman
  • Jonathan Williams, Lash & Goldberg