Lawdragon Announces 2023 Hall of Fame Inductees

Photo of Judy Barrasso by Sara Essex Bradley.

We are honored to introduce the 2023 class of the Lawdragon Hall of Fame.

Where else will you find such an array of remarkable lawyers whose contributions to the law range from civil rights leadership to trailblazing female litigation partners; a barrier-denying state Supreme Court Chief Justice to lawyers who helped elevate Silicon Valley; and pioneers who brought new thought to environmental protection, national security and plaintiff advocacy?

Virtually all of these lawyers have devoted roughly 40 or more years of their lives to the law, in most cases representing clients whose lives, livelihoods or businesses depended on a great lawyer.

Judy Barrasso founded Barrasso Usdin Kupperman Freeman & Sarver in New Orleans in 2003, building a top litigation firm hired for the toughest cases. She has tried cases in more than a dozen states and routinely wins defense verdicts in cases alleging vast liability. She represents a path similar to that of a number of the women selected for the Hall of Fame this year, who used their skills to break down walls and excel in the law on their terms.

We’re particularly proud of the dimension of this year’s class, most of whom we’ve gotten to know over the years as we’ve watched them practice their craft in areas ranging from employee benefits to discrimination, accounting liability to corporate dealmaking, going from private practice to public service and creating new laws and protections to keep up with our rapidly evolving world.

We founded our Hall of Fame in 2015, and you can view all those inducted here. It’s become our custom to kick off each New Year announcing their selection – our thank you to individuals who dedicated their careers to the legal profession, each in his or her own way, to find a way forward to a better future.

You inspire us.

First	Last	Organization	Location	Category
Judy	Barrasso	Barrasso Usdin	New Orleans	Litigation Defense
David	Berry	BAL	San Francisco	Employment, Immigration
Michael	Blair	Debevoise	New York	Dealmaker
Jamie	Boucher	Skadden	Washington, D.C.	Financial Regulation
David H.	Braff	Sullivan & Cromwell	New York	Litigation, esp. White Collar
James S.	Bramnick	Akerman	Miami	Employment
Eugene	Brown Jr.	Hinshaw	San Francisco	Business Litigation
M. Malissa	Burnette	Burnette Shutt McDaniel	Columbia, S.C.	Plaintiff Employment, Civil Rights Litigation
Larry A.	Campagna	Chamberlain Hrdlicka	Houston	Tax Litigation
Ricardo G.	Cedillo	Davis Cedillo & Mendoza	San Antonio	Litigation
Robert	Clifford	Clifford Law Offices	Chicago	Plaintiff Litigation
Richard	Climan	Hogan Lovells	Redwood City	Dealmaker
Robert L.	Corbin	Kendall Brill	Los Angeles	Litigation, esp. White Collar
Gordon K.	Davidson	Fenwick	Mountain View, Calif.	Dealmaker
William	Dougherty	Simpson Thacher	New York	Dealmaker
Karen	Dyer	Cadwalader	New York	Remembered; Litigator
Gary	Ford	Synergos	New York	Employment
Dennis J.	Friedman	Gibson Dunn	New York	Dealmaker, M&A
Glenn	Gerstell	Center for Strategic & International Studies	Washington, D.C.	National Security
Robert V.	Gunderson	Gunderson Dettmer	Redwood City	Dealmaker, Venture Capital
Rusty	Hardin	Rusty Hardin & Associates	Houston	Litigation
Randy	Holland	Wilson Sonsini/Delaware Supreme Court	Wilmington	Remembered; Corporate Governance
Sherrilyn	Ifill	Ford Foundation/NAACPLDEF	New York	Civil Rights
Randy	Johnston	Johnston Tobey	Dallas	Legal Malpractice
Marc E.	Kasowitz	Kasowitz Benson Torres	New York	Litigation
Jennifer	Keller	Keller Anderle	Irvine	Commercial Litigation, White Collar
Frank E.	Lamothe III	Lamothe Law Firm	New Orleans	Plaintiff Litigation
Bradley M.	Marten	Marten Law	Seattle	Environmental Law
Darin P.	McAtee	Cravath	New York	Litigation
Richard	Mithoff	Mithoff Law	Houston	Plaintiff Litigation
Charles W.	Mulaney Jr.	Skadden	Chicago	Dealmaker, M&A
Linda	Myers	Kirkland	Chicago	Dealmaker, Private Equity
William H.	Narwold	Motley Rice	Hartford, Conn.	Plaintiff Financial Litigation
Ron	Peterson	Jenner & Block	Chicago	Bankruptcy
Carl L.	Reisner	Paul Weiss	New York	M&A, Dealmaker
Robert H.	Riley	Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila	Chicago	Litigation
Jeffrey J.	Rosen	Debevoise	New York	M&A, Corporate
Paul N.	Roth	Schulte Roth & Zabel	New York	Investment Funds
S. Shay	Samples	Hare Wynn	Birmingham	Plaintiff Litigation
Leah Ward	Sears	Smith Gambrell & Russell	Atlanta	Leadership; Litigation
Joseph M.	Sellers	Cohen Milstein	Washington, D.C.	Civil Rights & Employment Litigation
William R.	Sieben	Schwebel Goetz & Sieben	Minneapolis	Plaintiff Litigation
Grace E.	Speights	Morgan Lewis	Washington, D.C.	Employment
Sally	Thurston	Skadden	New York	Tax
Arthur	Wolk	The Wolk Law Firm	Philadelphia	Plaintiff Litigation
Michael R.	Young	Willkie	New York	Financial Litigation, esp. Accounting, Securities