Brown & James is proud to announce 33 lawyers are listed in the 2026 edition of The Best Lawyers in America, including five first listings in Best Lawyers and Ones to Watch and a Lawyer of the Year.
Best Lawyers named David Ellington the Lawyer of the Year for Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants in St. Louis.
The 2026 edition of Best Lawyers is the first listing for Rebecca Guntli, Justin Hardin, Rebecca Verble, Remington Harris, and Matt Nixon.
Lawyers on The Best Lawyers in America© list are organized by geographic region and practice areas. The methodology employed by Best Lawyers® is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area. Lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed, therefore inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor.
The following Brown & James lawyers are recognized by Best Lawyers® in the 2026 edition of The Best Lawyers in America:
Denise Baker-Seal, Insurance Law, Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants, Product Liability Litigation – Defendants
Tucker Blaser, Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Defendants, Product Liability Litigation – Defendants
A. J. Bronsky, Legal Malpractice Law – Defendants, Product Liability Litigation – Defendants, Professional Malpractice Law – Defendants
David Buchanan, Litigation – Insurance, Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants, Product Liability Litigation – Defendants
Kenneth Burke, Mass Tort Litigation/ Class Actions – Defendants
Joseph Callahan, Litigation – Insurance, Product Liability Litigation – Defendants
Kristie Crawford, Litigation – Insurance
John Cunningham, Insurance Law, Litigation – Insurance, Product Liability Litigation – Defendants
David Ellington, Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants, Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants
Rebecca Guntli, Litigation – Insurance (first listing)
Justin Hardin, Product Liability Litigation – Defendants (first listing)
Daniel Hasenstab, Insurance Law, Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants
Corey Kraushaar, Commercial Litigation, Insurance Law, Litigation – Insurance, Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants, Product Liability Litigation – Defendants
Agota Peterfy, Insurance Law, Mass Tort Litigation/ Class Actions – Defendants
Brian Plegge, Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants, Product Liability Litigation – Defendants
John Rahoy, Insurance Law, Litigation – Insurance, Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants, Professional Malpractice Law – Defendants
Robert Rosenthal, Legal Malpractice Law – Defendants, Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants
Steven Schwartz, Commercial Litigation, Litigation – Insurance, Legal Malpractice Law – Defendants, Litigation – Labor and Employment, Litigation – Intellectual Property, Professional Malpractice Law – Defendants
Christopher Seibold, Commercial Litigation, Construction Law, Insurance Law, Litigation – Construction, Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants, Product Liability Litigation – Defendants
Peter Spataro, Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants
Christine Vaporean, Litigation – Labor and Employment
Beth Kamp Veath, Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants, Transportation Law
Rebecca Verble, Litigation – Labor and Employment (first listing)
Michael Ward, Appellate Practice, Insurance Law
Philip Willman, Litigation – Health Care, Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants, Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants, Product Liability Litigation – Defendants
Richard Woolf, Insurance Law, Litigation – Insurance
Edward Zeidler, Insurance Law, Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants
A new category introduced in 2021, Best Lawyers Ones to Watch recognizes attorneys early in the careers for outstanding professional excellence. The following Brown & James attorneys were named to this list for 2026:
Emma Bean, Commercial Litigation, Construction Law, Insurance Law, Professional Malpractice Law
Kara Burke, Insurance Law, Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants, Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants
Remington Harris, Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants, Product Liability Litigation – Defendants (first listing)
Matt Nixon, Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants (first listing)
Bryce Pfalzgraf, Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants
Ashley Simeone, Product Liability Litigation – Defendants
Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers® has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. Best Lawyers lists are compiled based on an exhaustive peer-review evaluation in which more than 83,000 leading attorneys are eligible to vote. Corporate Counsel magazine has called Best Lawyers® “the most respected referral list of attorneys in practice.”