Sean J. Young of the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia took Attorney of the Year honors at the Daily Report's Georgia Legal Awards on Thursday night. A panel of six lawyers elected Young, who was nominated for his work on election litigation last year, from among three finalists. The other two were Ed Buckley of Buckley Beal, nominated for his success in race discrimination cases last year, and Laurie Webb Daniel of Holland & Knight, nominated for a string of victories she collected at the state Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. Young said in accepting the award that he was "extremely humbled," given Buckley's and Daniel's experience, whom he said were "equally deserving" of the award if not more so. He said the ACLU of Georgia was committed to making sure everyone could make "their own health care decisions" and to be able to "exercise their fundamental rights ... regardless of where they are from or what political beliefs they may have." The panel who voted on the Attorney of the Year included: Josh Belinfante of Robbins Ross Alloy Belinfante Littlefield (a 2010 On the Rise class member); Maxine Hicks of DLA Piper (a finalist for last year's Attorney of the Year);Linda Klein of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz (last year's Attorney of the Year); Senior Judge Herbert Phipps of the state Court of Appeals (a Lifetime Achievement honoree last year); Tori Silas of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough (a 2013 On the Rise class member); and Brian Steel of The Steel Law Firm (a 2017 Attorney of the Year finalist and a 2002 On the Rise class member). The Daily Report issued more than 50 awards at the event, which was sponsored by Chamberlain Hrdlicka, King & Spalding and Robbins Ross Alloy Belinfante Littlefield. The awards included recognizing 12 lawyers and judges for lifetime achievement, although several honorees noted their careers are far from over. The honorees were: |

• David Aughtry of Chamberlain, Hrdlicka, White, Williams & Aughtry;
• Senior Judge Julie Carnes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit;
• Gilbert Deitch of Deitch & Rogers;
• Senior Judge Alford Dempsey of Fulton County Superior Court;
• John Fleming of Eversheds Sutherland;
• Gordon Giffin of Dentons;
• Lash Harrison of FordHarrison;
• Richard Hines of Nelson Mullins;
• Joel Katz of Greenberg Traurig;
• Russ Richards of King & Spalding;
• Retired Chief Justice Hugh Thompson of the Supreme Court of Georgia; and
• Louise Wells of Morris Manning & Martin.