Awards & Recognition
Wooden McLaughlin attorneys are frequently recognized as leaders in their respective fields of law by various organizations. Our attorneys are also honored by community organizations. The following are representative of the awards and recognition received by Wooden McLaughlin LLP.
Best Lawyers®
Twenty Wooden McLaughlin partners were selected by their peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2019. Those partners include:
- Banking and Finance Law: Tom Dinwiddie and Tom Hanahan
- Closely Held Businesses: Kent Broach and Ron Salatich
- Commercial Litigation: Dan Trachtman
- Insurance: Dale Eickenberry
- Land Use and Zoning: Misha Rabinowitch
- Legal Malpractice Law – Defendants: Dale Eikenberry and Dan Trachtman
- Litigation – Environmental: Dale Eikenberry
- Litigation – Labor & Employment: Misha Rabinowitch
- Litigation – Real Estate: Misha Rabinowitch
- Litigation – Land Use & Zoning: Misha Rabinowitch
- Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Defendants: Doug King and James Boyers
- Mediation: Ross Rudolph
- Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants: Michele Bryant
- Mortgage Banking and Foreclosure Law: John Waller
- Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants: Chris Lee
- Product Liability Litigation – Defendants: Doug King, Ross E. Rudolph, James Boyers and Dan Trachtman
- Real Estate Law: Mark Boos, Tom Dinwiddie, John Hamilton, Tom Hanahan, Tim Hightower, Rob Inselberg, and Joe Kremp
- Trusts and Estates: Kent Broach and Ron Salatich
Partner Emeritus John D. Nell was also selected in the Product Liability Litigation – Defendants category.
Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive 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 singular honor. Corporate Counsel magazine has called Best Lawyers “the most respected referral list of attorneys in practice.”
Indiana Super Lawyers ®
Wooden McLaughlin attorneys were selected for inclusion on the 2019 Indiana Super Lawyers® and Rising Stars List and two of our attorneys — Chris Lee and Ross Rudolph — were selected as Top 50 attorneys in the State of Indiana. The selected attorneys and their practice areas include:
- Kent M. Broach
- Michele S. Bryant
- Lauren E. Dimmitt*
- Thomas W. Dinwiddie
- Chris Lee
- Ross Rudolph
- Crystal S. Wildeman*
- E. Joseph Kremp
- Matthew B. Millis*
- Thomas M. Hanahan
- Robert F. Inselberg*
- Douglas B. King
- Michael Rabinowitch
- Daniel D. Trachtman
- John D. Waller
- James M. Boyers
- Gregory J. Freyberger
- Gregory P. Kult
- Elizabeth Steele Schmitt*
- Samantha R. Hargitt*
2019 Indiana Super Lawyers. Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters business, is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The annual selections are made using a rigorous multi‐phased process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers, an independent research evaluation of candidates, and peer reviews by practice area.
Rising Stars list the top up-and-coming attorneys in Indiana for 2019. Each year, no more than 2.5 percent of the lawyers in the state receive this honor. The selection for this respected list is made by the research team at Super Lawyers. No more than 5 percent of the lawyers in the state are selected by Super Lawyers.
Chambers USA
For twenty years, Chambers has published the leading directories of the legal profession. “They have 100 full-time researchers who interview thousands of lawyers and their clients around the world. This intensive, continuous research identifies the world’s leading lawyers and law firms – those which perform best according to the criteria most valued by clients. No lawyer can buy his way into our rankings.” The firm’s real estate practice is ranked in the highest band in Indiana. In addition, Tom Dinwiddie, John Hamilton, and Joe Kremp are ranked in the real estate area and Doug King and Dan Trachtman in Commercial Litigation.
American College of Trial Lawyers
American College of Trial Lawyers – both John D. Nell and Douglas B. King are fellows of this organization which extends Fellowship “only by invitation, after careful investigation, to those experienced trial lawyers who have mastered the art of advocacy and whose professional careers have been marked by the highest standards of ethical conduct, professionalism, civility and collegiality. Although there are currently more than 5,700 Fellows across the U.S. and Canada, membership can never be more than 1% of the total lawyer population of any state or province.”
The Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers™
“For over 90 years, the Bar Register has been a unique guide to the legal community’s most eminent professionals. It includes only those select law practices that have earned the highest rating in the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory and have been designated by their colleagues as preeminent in their field.”
Trust and Estate Specialty Board
Kent Broach received his certification as a Board Certified Indiana Trust and Estate Lawyer.
Indiana Mortgage Bankers Association
Indiana Mortgage Bankers Association presented a lifetime achievement award to Thomas W. Dinwiddie.
Association of Certified Electronic Discovery Specialists (ACEDS)
James M. Boyers, John C. Babione, and Robert J. Simmons passed the ACEDS examination in 2017 to earn the Certified E-Discovery Specialist designation.
Firm Honors