Joseph Rice, a founding member of Motley Rice in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, was honored for a career in which he's "recovered more than $300 billion for plaintiffs in some of the largest civil actions our courts have seen in four decades," according to his nominator essay.

"Historically, Joe is well regarded for his role in crafting the landmark tobacco master settlement agreement in the 1990s, which remains the largest civil settlement in U.S. history," the essay said. "Currently, he is one of three co-lead lawyers for more than 3,000 plaintiffs in the National Prescription Opiate Litigation."