Twenty- seven attorneys with Brunini, Grantham, Grower & Hewes, PLLC, were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in the 2017 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. Brunini lawyers were recognized in the following categories:

Jackson, Miss.

• Matt Allen: Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Defendants
• Sheldon G. Alston: Litigation-Real Estate, Personal Injury Litigation-Defendants
• P. David Andress: Real Estate Law
• Benje Bailey- Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Defendants
• Stephen J. Carmody:  Employment Law – Management, Labor Law – Management, Litigation – Intellectual Property, Litigation – Labor and Employment,  Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – Defendants
• R. Richard Cirilli: Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Defendants, Product Liability Litigation – Defendants
• John M. Flynt: Administrative/Regulatory Law, Corporate Law
• Louis G. Fuller: Litigation and Controversy – Tax, Tax Law
• Lynne K. Green: Trusts and Estates
• James L. Halford: Communications Law and Energy Law
• William Trey Jones III: Commercial Litigation and Litigation – Environmental
• R. David Kaufman: Bet-the-Company Litigation, Commercial Litigation, Litigation – Securities, Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants, Product Liability Litigation- Defendants
• Samuel C. Kelly: Construction Law, Litigation – Construction
• James A. McCullough, II: Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law, Commercial Litigation, Litigation-Bankruptcy, Mortgage Banking Foreclosure Law
• M. Patrick McDowell: Commercial Litigation, Mass Tort Litigation/ Class Action- Defendants, Product Liability Litigation – Defendants
• John E. Milner: Environmental Law, Litigation – Environmental
• William C. Penick, IV:  Corporate Law
• W. Ken Rogers: Corporate Law
• Joseph A. Sclafani: Appellate Practice
• Watts C. Ueltschey: Administrative/Regulatory Law, Energy Law, Energy Regulation Law, Mining Law, Oil and Gas Law, Real Estate Law
• Leonard D. Van Slyke, Jr.: Litigation – First Amendment, Litigation – Trusts and Estates, Litigation and Controversy – Tax, Tax Law, Trusts and Estates
• Joseph E. Varner, III: Tax Law, Trusts and Estates
• John E. Wade: Commercial Litigation, Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants
• Walter S. Weems: Corporate Law, Mergers and Acquisitions Law, Tax Law
• Ron A. Yarbrough: Construction Law and Litigation – Construction

Biloxi, Miss.

• Leonard A. Blackwell II:  Gaming Law

Columbus, Miss.

• J. Gordon Flowers: Commercial Litigation, Environmental Law, Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – Defendants, Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants, Product Liability Litigation – Defendants

In addition to the above selections, the following attorneys were chosen as the Lawyer of the Year:

• J. Gordon Flowers:  Best Lawyers® 2017, Tupelo, Miss., Personal Injury Litigation-Defendants
• R. David Kaufman: Best Lawyers® 2017, Jackson, Miss., Product Liability Litigation-Defendants
• Watts Ueltschey:  Best Lawyers® 2017, Jackson, Miss., Energy Law
• Ron Yarbrough: Best Lawyers® 2017, Jackson, Miss., Construction Law

The Best Lawyers lists, representing over 125 specialties in all 50 states and Washington D.C., are compiled through an exhaustive peer-review survey in which thousands of the top lawyers in the U.S. confidentially evaluate their professional peers. Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as a reliable guide to legal excellence. Because Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey in which more than 36,000 leading attorneys cast almost 4.4 million votes on the legal abilities of other lawyers in their practice areas and because lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed, inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a true honor.

 

On May 18, 2016, Trey Jones, Taylor McNeel, and William Drinkwater obtained summary judgment for one of the firm’s bank clients in a significant case which raised numerous important issues in the area of wrongful foreclosure claims. The plaintiff alleged that the Bank wrongfully foreclosed on his home by failing to comply with the terms of the deed of trust, failing to comply with unspecified Department of Veterans Affairs regulations and by taking action contrary to a forbearance agreement. Plaintiff sought unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. Following extensive briefing and oral argument, the Harrison County Circuit Court determined, among other things, that plaintiff had failed to prove recoverable damages, that the VA’s request for extension did not create a duty for the Bank to forbear, that a borrower must object at the foreclosure sale prior to bringing a wrongful foreclosure lawsuit and that once a borrower fails to make timely loan payments, she cannot sustain a claim for breach of the loan agreement. Accordingly, the Circuit Court granted the Bank summary judgment on all of the claims asserted in the complaint and dismissed the case with prejudice.

Brunini’s Patrick McDowell represented the Mississippi Chapter of the Federal Bar Association at the FBA’s Annual Leadership Seminar and Capitol Hill Day in Washington, D.C. on May 19-21, 2016.  Shown here are McDowell meeting with Sen. Thad Cochran and with Rep. Gregg Harper.

Expert Guides recently published their Energy edition, and two Brunini lawyers were named. Jim Halford and Watts Ueltschey, both members of the firm’s regulatory department, were featured.

Jim Halford represents energy, pipeline, and gas, telecommunications and electric utility clients in the Gulf South region with the Brunini Firm. He serves on the Firm’s four-person Board of Directors and is past Chairman of the Firm’s Regulatory Department.

Watts Ueltschey has spent most of his career representing companies and individuals in the energy sector, both upstream and mid-stream. He was named the 2015 Attorney of the Year by the Mississippi Business Journal.

Expert Guides is a world-wide research process that has been researching legal markets for over 20 years. The guides cover Aviation, Banking, Capital Markets, Commercial Arbitration, Competition and Antitrust, Construction, Corporate Governance, Energy and Natural Resources, Information Technology, Insolvency and Restructuring, Insurance and Reinsurance, International Trade, investment Funds, Islamic Finance, Labour and Employment, Litigation, Media, Mergers and Acquisitions, Patents, Private Equity, Product Liability, Project Finance, Real Estate, Rising Stars, Shipping, Structured Finance and Securitisation, Tax, Telecoms, Trade Marks, Transfer Pricing, Trusts and Estates, and White Collar Crime.

On May 17, 2016, Chris Fontan discussed Diversity in the Changing Workplace at the 21st Annual Mississippi Human Resource Conference and Expo held at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Materials used during the discussion may be viewed here.

The 2016 edition of Chambers USA, which lists leading law firms and individual lawyers in an extensive range of practice areas, jointly awarded high rankings to ten Brunini attorneys and five of the firm’s practice areas.

Chambers USA ranked five of Brunini’s practices, including the firm’s Energy & Natural Resources, Environment, Real Estate, Commercial Litigation and Corporate/Commercial practices, all of which were highly ranked.

Each year, Chambers USA conducts thousands of interviews and surveys with lawyers and their clients, as well as analyzes its own database resources, to determine rankings for top law firms and individual attorneys. The qualities on which rankings are assessed include technical legal ability, professional conduct, client service, commercial astuteness, diligence, commitment and other qualities valued by clients.

“The Brunini firm is truly honored to have its practice groups and individual lawyers recognized by our clients as among the best in Mississippi through one of the nation’s most respected legal directories,” said Sam Kelly, Chairman of the firm’s Board of Directors. “Our commitment to client service and a long history of legal excellence are hallmarks that set us apart in Mississippi, and those are good reasons to earn the respect of business leaders and peers.”

A collective list of the ten Brunini attorneys recognized as among the best in their fields in Mississippi by Chambers USA include:

Corporate/Commercial

Louis Fuller

Walter Weems

Energy & Natural Resources

James L. Halford

Watts C. Ueltschey

Environment

John E. Milner

Eugene R. Wasson

Litigation

R. David Kaufman

Samuel C. Kelly

Ron A. Yarbrough

Real Estate

P. David Andress

L. Kyle Williams has joined Brunini, Grantham, Grower & Hewes, PLLC as an associate in the firm’s regulatory department.

Kyle is a 2015 graduate of the University of Mississippi School of Law.  While earning his J.D., he served as an Associate Articles Editor for the Mississippi Law Journal and as a Student Editor for the Journal of Space Law. Prior to attending law school, Kyle received his Bachelors of Arts in Political Science from the University of Southern Mississippi.  Kyle will be located in the Jackson office.

On April 25, 2016 Energy Policy Institute announced that Curt Hébert would be their Keynote Speaker for the 2016 Energy Policy Research Conference to be held September 8-9, 2016 at La Fonda on the Plaza in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  He will speak on cyber security and protecting the grid.  For more information on the conference click here.

On February 18, 2016, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the United States District Court of Louisiana’s award of summary judgment to the firm’s clients in a civil RICO action accusing the clients and others of alleged racketeering activities in connection with the awarding of debris removal and clean-up contract work in Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina.  The District Court entered summary judgment in the clients’ favor on March 13, 2015, and plaintiffs appealed.  The Court of Appeals heard oral argument on February 2, 2016, and affirmed for the clients soon after on February 18, 2016.  The clients were represented by David Kaufman, Patrick McDowell (argued), and Benje Bailey.

Benchmark Litigation focuses exclusively on litigation in the United States.  Benchmark Litigation Award winners are determined through extensive interviews of the nation’s leading private practice lawyers and in-house counsel to identify the leading litigators and law firms in each jurisdiction.  The Brunini firm is proud to be recognized among the country’s most distinguished law firms.