Benchmark Litigation Cites Bass, Berry & Sims as Highly Recommended Among Tennessee Firms
Nashville, Tenn., December 3, 2008 – Bass, Berry & Sims has been ranked among Tennessee’s “Highly Recommended Firms” in the 2009 edition of Benchmark Litigation, a guide to America's leading business litigation firms and attorneys. Additionally, Benchmark Litigation cites seven Bass, Berry & Sims attorneys either as “Local Litigation Stars” or as “Future Stars.” Bass, Berry & Sims has more attorneys cited on these combined lists than any law firm in Tennessee.
Litigation partners Michael Dagley, Wallace Dietz, Samuel Felker, Dale Grimes and Overton Thompson are listed as “Local Litigation Stars.” Litigation partners Britt Latham and Brant Phillips are listed as “Future Stars.”
Latham, Phillips and Thompson served as lead counsel to Nashville-based Genesco Inc. in its high-profile breach of contract lawsuit against The Finish Line, Inc. in 2007, in which the Chancery Court in Nashville issued a landmark ruling that prohibited Finish Line from backing out of the parties’ $1.3 billion merger agreement. The case ultimately settled, with Genesco receiving $175 million. Dagley, Latham and Phillips currently represent Memphis-based Morgan Keegan & Company in 19 class-action, derivative and ERISA cases relating to investments in mortgage-backed securities. This litigation is among the largest group of “subprime crisis” cases in the country. Dietz serves as lead counsel for Dollar General’s former Board of Directors of Dollar General in a shareholder class action challenging the company’s $7.3 billion going private transaction with KKR. Grimes represents a major automobile manufacturer in a multidistrict consumer class action litigation, and in the past year has represented clients in the copper, chemical, glass, labelstock, natural gas, packaged ice and automotive filter industries in antitrust class actions. Sam Felker represents numerous Fortune 500 manufacturers of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, construction supplies and food products and is currently defending a manufacturer of infant formula regarding alleged contamination.
Firms and individuals cannot pay to be recommended in Benchmark Litigation. Recommendations come only as a result of evidence of outstanding case successes in the last year and consistently positive feedback from peers and clients.
Here is what Benchmark Litigation has to say about Bass, Berry & Sims -
Highly recommended firms
More than 80 attorneys at Bass Berry & Sims focus on litigation, half of which have firstchair trial experience. Office locations for the firm include Memphis, Knoxville and Nashville. Major practice areas for the firm include securities, commercial and healthcare litigation, with a growing base of intellectual property experience. The firm continues to grow its practice in the region with the recent acquisition of six lawyers from the firm Tate Lazarini Brady & Davis. The move helps to bolster the firm’s commercial litigation and dispute resolution services. Representative clients include BellSouth Telecommunications, Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores, GlaxoSmithKline, Red Bull North America and Ticketmaster. Nashville attorney Michael Dagley receives praise for his securities and intellectual property practice. Dagley’s expertise in securities and class actions also deserve mentioning. Litigation experience includes the “successful defense of bank clients in numerous ‘lender liability’ and breach of fiduciary duty lawsuits.” Wallace Dietz serves as co-chair of the internal investigations and special projects practice. Dietz covers several aspects of business and commercial litigation including shareholder class actions, torts, trade secrets, breach of contract and internal investigations. Representative clients include Dollar General and Intergraph. Peers praise the work of Samuel Felker for his products liability and intellectual property practice. Felker frequently handles cases for pharmaceutical clients including medical device litigation. Representation experience includes serving as lead counsel for Novartis and defending Wyeth in several matters. With more than 25 years of experience, R. Dale Grimes handles cases in state, federal and appellate courts. Chair of the litigation group, Overton Thompson handles securities, class actions, contracts and insurance cases. Britt Latham, formerly of Jones Day, focuses on “business and commercial litigation, including cases involving business torts, healthcare, insurance coverage, corporate law, securities and intellectual property.” Brant Phillips handles securities and shareholder class action defense, and also serves as part of the government relations practice. Past clients include Bright Horizons Family Solutions and Wyeth.
For more information on Benchmark Litigation, click here.
About Bass, Berry & Sims
With more than 230 attorneys representing numerous publicly-traded companies and Fortune 500 businesses, Bass, Berry & Sims has been involved in some of the largest and most significant business transactions and litigation matters in the country. For more information, visit www.bassberry.com.
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CONTACT: Edward Bowen
615-259-6447
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