Welcome to the Georgia Legal Awards, our annual recognition of professional excellence in the legal community. This page includes two new awards that reflect important aspects of legal practice today. One, Best Mentors, could have been given back when people became lawyers by "reading the law" and apprenticing with practitioners until they were ready to join the bar. The other, Best Social Mediators, addresses the fact that legal business development today often includes a social media component (#JoiningThe21stCentury). We also include traditional categories recognizing in-house legal practice, transactional work, litigation teams and our "On the Rise" class of lawyers under the age of 40 whose careers are on a particularly upward trajectory. Some of the honorees are well-known, while others don't draw much attention. Two members of the "On the Rise" group were on opposite sides of the highly-publicized Tex McIver murder case, in which lawyers battled for more than a year before trial, then during 20 days of testimony and four days of jury deliberation. (Seleta Griffin, the Fulton County chief senior assistant district attorney who gave the state's opening statement, would have been considered as well, but she turned 40 shortly before our June 1 deadline.) We also highlight leaders in the practice of law. Our Attorney of the Year finalists secured wins in courtrooms, helmed the legal work in one of the area's biggest and highest-profile real estate developments and stood for the country's overall legal community in a debate over access to justice and the rule of law. The finalists serve as a microcosm for our Distinguished Leaders and Lifetime Achievement honorees, who also have led the way in litigating, deciding cases on the bench, advancing clients' business goals and developing or executing public policy. Getting to know these leaders has inspired us, and we hope you feel the same as you read their words that follow. I want to thank the honorees for the time they spent with their thoughtful responses to our questions. I also want to thank the panel of esteemed lawyers who selected our Attorney of the Year from the finalists. Their decision will be announced at our Georgia Legal Awards event Thursday night. They are: Steve Bright, president and senior counsel of the Southern Center for Human Rights (a Lifetime Achievement honoree in 2016 and Attorney of the Year last year); Charles Johnson of Holland & Knight (a finalist in 2016); Anne Lewis of Strickland Brockington Lewis; Mike McGlamry of Pope, McGlamry; Stephanie Parker of Jones Day (a finalist last year); and Teresa Roseborough, executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of The Home Depot. —Jonathan Ringel, managing editor, Daily Report   Attorney of the Year Finalists Maxine Hicks Linda Klein Michael Terry

Lifetime Achievement Award Charles Beaudrot Steve Clay Judge Myra Dixon of Fulton County State Court William Hill Senior Judge Frank Hull of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Senior Judge Herbert Phipps of the Georgia Court of Appeals Glen Reed Juanita Stedman Bill Stevens
Distinguished Leaders Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms Kenya Johnson Paul Weathington Sally Yates
In-House Legal Department of the Year Chick-fil-A
Litigation Teams of the Year Appellate Practice (Small Firm): The Summerville Firm Appellate Practice (Midsize Firm): Rogers & Hardin Personal Injury Practice: Bell Law Firm
General Litigation (Small Firm): Gray, Rust, St. Amand, Moffett & Brieske General Litigation (Midsize Firm): Weinberg, Wheeler, Hudgins, Gunn & Dial Labor & Employment: Parks Chesin & Walbert Most-Effective Dealmaker of the Year: Althea Broughton
Best Mentors (Midsize Firms) Clyde Mize Bert Brannen Best Mentors (Small Firms) Stephanie Friese Dan McGrew Jay Rollins Best Social Mediators Jennifer Gore-Cuthbert Amy Refeca
On the Rise Adam Abbate Katie Barton Meaghan Boyd Geoffrey Drake Jake Evans Elizabeth Fite Craig Friedman Evan Holden Bethaney Embry Jones Nicole Leet Mark Loudon-Brown Shane O'Neill Amanda Clark Palmer Alyson Pirio Michelli Rivera David Sarif Jacqueline Tio Darren Tobin Lauren Villnow Jeff Zachman