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Awards Recognition

Phelps Dunbar is recognized by the following publications for quality legal services:

Benchmark Litigation
Phelps Dunbar has been listed as a “Highly Recommended” firm within Louisiana by Benchmark Litigation. The publication conducts research on litigation in the country, and the results are the culmination of a six-month research period that includes extensive interviews between researchers and litigators and their clients.  Benchmark examines recent casework handled by the firms and asks sources to offer their professional opinions on litigators practicing within their state or national practice areas. 

For more information, please visit Benchmark Litigation.

The Best Lawyers in America
Each year Best Lawyers compiles lists of outstanding attorneys by conducting exhaustive peer-review surveys in which thousands of leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers. The most recent editions of Best Lawyers  are based on more than three million confidential evaluations by the top attorneys in the nation.  Phelps Dunbar attorneys have been recognized as "The Best Lawyers in America" since the early 1990s, and the number of firm attorneys who are recognized continues to grow each year. 

Phelps Dunbar attorneys have also been honored as Best Lawyers' "Lawyer of the Year," which recognizes attorneys in high-profile legal specialties in large legal communities. The lawyers honored as "Lawyers of the Year" received particularly high ratings in Best Lawyers' surveys by earning a high level of respect among their peers for their abilities, professionalism and integrity, and only a single lawyer in each specialty in each community is honored as the "Lawyer of the Year."

For more information, please visit Best Lawyers.

Best Lawyers and U.S. News & World Report
In 2010, Best Lawyers partnered with U.S. News & World Report, the leading rankings publication in the U.S., to establish the U.S.News – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firm” rankings.  U.S. News & World Report surveys major clients and leading lawyers, who are asked to rate the law firms they consider best in their practice area, to compile their national-scale review.  The inaugural rankings, which are presented in tiers both nationally and by metropolitan area or by state, showcase 8,782 different law firms ranked in one or more of 81 major practice areas.  As a firm, Phelps Dunbar has been recognized as a top tier in 74 practice areas, including 52 practice areas in the first tier. 

For more information, please visit Best Lawyers.

“Best Place to Work”
Several office locations of Phelps Dunbar have received the honor of being named “Best Place to Work” in their respective communities.  This honor is based on surveys regarding aspects of the workplace such as the quality of the total compensation package,  employee benefits, firm activities,  team and manager effectiveness,  as well as employee retention.

Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business
Since 2002, Phelps Dunbar has been recognized for excellence in the legal industry and is listed as a leading law firm in the nation, as well as in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Florida and Alabama, in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business.  Chambers USA research is conducted based on the strengths and reputations of U.S. attorneys. The methodology has been approved by the British Market Research Bureau, which audits the research annually. Thousands of in-depth interviews with clients and with attorneys are completed, and a team of more than 50 full-time researchers conduct research over a period of six months.  Law firms and individual attorneys are ranked in bands with the qualities on which rankings are based include technical legal ability, professional conduct, client service, commercial astuteness, diligence, commitment, and other qualities most valued by the client.

For more information, please visit Chambers USA.

Florida Trend’s Legal Elite
Phelps Dunbar attorneys in the firm's Tampa office have been recognized as "Florida's Legal Elite" by Florida Trend magazine.  The selection process includes notifying and inviting all members of The Florida Bar to participate in a balloting process. Nominators are asked to provide the names of Florida lawyers they hold in the highest regard, through working with them personally or recommending them to others. The nominations are then counted by an independent research firm, and a panel of previous Legal Elite winners, representing different practice areas in cities across the state, reviewed the selection process and the list of finalists.

For more information, please visit Florida Trend's Legal Elite.

Minority Law Journal
In the Minority Law Journal's 2009 survey of the nation's leading firms, Phelps Dunbar tied for second regarding percentage of African American lawyers among the 252 largest and highest-grossing law firms in the United States. Since 2002, the publication ranked Phelps Dunbar as having the highest percentage of African American lawyers four times and one of the top three firms in this category eight times. Recent surveys are based on data collected by The National Law Journal as part of its census of the country's 250 largest firms (NLJ 250), as well as two firms that are included in The American Lawyer's Am Law 200 but are not in the NLJ 250.

For more information, please visit the Minority Law Journal.

MultiCultural Law Magazine
The 2009 edition of MultiCultural Law Magazine recognized Phelps Dunbar as a top firm for diversity, ranking as the second-highest firm in the "Top 25 Law Firms for African Americans" category. The firm has also been recognized in the following diversity categories: Top 100 Law Firms for Diversity, Top 100 Law Firms for Women and Top 50 Law Firms for Partners. Since 2005, Phelps Dunbar has been recognized five times for its diversity by this publication. Annually, MultiCultural Law Magazine distributes surveys to law firms across the nation and derives their diversity statistics to later create the highly competitive rankings.

Super Lawyers
More than 50 Phelps Dunbar attorneys in seven of the firm's offices are recognized as outstanding lawyers by Super Lawyers magazine for attaining a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The publication lists attorneys in private practice, prosecutors, in-house counsel and public service. Super Lawyers names attorneys in each state who received the highest point totals, as chosen by their peers and through the independent research of Law & Politics, who performs a complex and thorough polling, research and selection process from which the top five percent are identified.  The publication recognizes outstanding lawyers for attaining a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement.

For more information, please visit Super Lawyers Magazine.

Who’s Who Legal
Who's Who Legal has identified Phelps Dunbar attorneys among the foremost legal practitioners in various areas of law by conducting research with clients and peers.  Who’s Who features over 10,000 of the world’s leading private practice lawyers in over 100 countries and pride themselves on the integrity and authority of their findings.

For more information, please visit Who's Who Legal.