Twenty-two Kline & Specter lawyers were named as 2023 Pennsylvania Super Lawyers or Rising Stars, with Tom Kline selected as the state’s No. 1 attorney a nationally unprecedented 20th straight year and Shanin Specter selected for the 20th year among the state's Top 10. Super Lawyers includes the best 5 percent or less of all lawyers in a state. Additionally, the firm has been selected by the independent rating service as one of the Top 50 in the country with attorneys known for their excellence in litigation. Super Lawyers has recommended the firm as one people should seek out for representation in civil matters.
Other Kline & Specter lawyers selected by Super Lawyers 2022 are Lee B. Balefsky, senior counsel and also an 20-year selection, Charles L. Becker, head of the firm’s Appellate Division, who was named in Super Lawyers Top 100 Pennsylvania list, Michael A. Trunk, who was named for the 12th year, Dominic Guerrini, Nadeem Bezar, Christopher Gomez , Priscilla Jimenez, Colin Burke and Tobi Millrood, head of the firm's Mass Tort Department who was selected for his 15th year.
For Kline, becoming Pennsylvania Super Lawyers’ Top Point Getter for the 20th straight year was a first for any lawyer in any state. He has been recognized over the years for myriad legal victories, including his $8 billion punitive damages verdict against Johnson & Johnson in a Risperdal case. A past president of the Inner Circle of Advocates, Kline has also won jury verdicts of $80 million and $41 million in cases against Johnson &Johnson in transvaginal mesh cases. Kline was a leader in litigation involving victims of the Amtrak 188 derailment that resulted in a $265 million settlement.
Specter won a $153 million verdict against Ford Motor Company for the family of a young boy who was run over and killed when a parking brake failed in an F-series truck and also a $109 million verdict for the family of a woman killed by a fallen power line, a case that later settled for $105 million. Specter has also won verdicts of $12.5 million and $13.5 million for women injured by surgically implanted vaginal mesh products.
Super Lawyers is an independent service that rates outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who "have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement." The multi-phase selection process includes independent research, peer nominations and peer evaluations in voting across the state, followed by a Blue Ribbon Panel review.
Kline & Specter attorneys also were named as Pennsylvania Rising Stars for 2022, designating them as among the top 2.5 percent of attorneys in the state who are 40 or younger or practicing 10 years or less. They are Aaron Dunbar, Kyle Nocho, Philip Pasquarello, Elizabeth Crawford, Braden Lepisto, Patrick Fitzgerald, Ben Present, Elia Robertson, Frank Mangiaracina, Terrance DeAngelo and Timothy Burke.
Additionally, Jordan Merson, who heads the firm's New York City office, has been named a New York Super Lawyer and Gilbert Shelsby and Robert Leoni, members of the firm's Delaware office, have been named Super Lawyers in that state. Melissa Baxter is a Super Lawyers Rising Star in New Jersey.
A description of the selection methodology of Super Lawyers can be found here. No aspect of this information has been approved by the Supreme Court of any state.
News
Tom Kline featured in "Where are they now?", Super Lawyers 2011
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