Category: News

Gilbert Russell McWherter was recently named in the 2014 Best Law Firms listing, for the area of Insurance Law.

Firms included in the 2014 “Best Law Firms” list are recognized for professional excellence with persistently impressive ratings from clients and peers. Achieving a tiered ranking signals a unique combination of quality law practice and breadth of legal expertise.

The 2014 rankings are based on the highest number of participating firms and highest number of client ballots on record. To be eligible for a ranking, a firm must have a lawyer listed in The Best Lawyers in America ©, which recognizes the top 4 percent of practicing attorneys in the US. Over 12,000 attorneys provided over 330,000 law firm assessments, and almost 7,000 clients provided close to 20,000 evaluations. In addition, to provide personal insight, a new Law Firm Leaders Survey was implemented in the decision-making process.

Gilbert Russell McWherter practice Insurance and Employee Rights law in the state of Tennessee, and have offices in Jackson, Nashville, Chattanooga and Memphis.

Attorney Brandon McWherter was selected by his peers to be included in the 2014 edition of The Best Lawyers in America in the practices areas of Insurance Law and Commercial Litigation. Inclusion in Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive and rigorous peer-review survey comprising more than five million confidential evaluations by top attorneys.

Tennessee labor attorney Justin Gilbert was recently named among the 2013 Top Rated Labor & Employment Lawyers in the nation. Honorees will be recognized in upcoming special sections of The American Lawyer, The National Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel magazines.

Only attorneys with AV Preeminent® Rating with Martindale-Hubbell® are named to the Top Rated Lawyers.

Gilbert Russell McWherter PLC will be featured in the September issue of FORTUNE Magazine, in a section dedicated to the 2013 Top Rated Lawyers. The attorneys recognized as Top Rated Lawyers have been rated AV Preeminent®, a significant accomplishment and a testament to the fact that a lawyer’s peers rank him or her at the highest level of professional excellence.

Gilbert Russell McWherter is one of only 10 firms named in Top Rated Lawyers’ Labor & Employment division.

Clint Scott, partner with Gilbert Russell McWherter PLC, has been named a 2013 Rising Star of Super Lawyers, a periodical featuring outstanding and noteworthy attorneys nationwide. Receiving the Rising Star award is very prestigious and has a rigorous process of nomination and elimination. Rising Star nominations must be attorneys that are under 40 and have been practicing law for under a decade. Once nominated by a peer that has directly worked with the nominee, the nominee is evaluated based on a set of defined criteria. Less than 2.5% of all lawyers are ever awarded a Rising Star by Super Lawyers.

Mr. Scott is the firm’s managing partner.  His key practice areas are prosecution of overtime claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act.  The remainder of his practice focuses on complex litigation, including representation of insureds in disputes with their insurance companies, contractual disputes, and will contests.  Mr. Scott also has extensive experience litigating personal injury and worker’s compensation claims for injured parties.

Super Lawyers is rating service of attorneys who have received a high-degree of professional achievement and peer recognition. Covering over 70 practice areas, the selection of a Super Lawyer is a multi-phased process which includes research, peer nominations, and of course peer review. Super Lawyers Magazine features the profiles of Super Lawyers and is distributed to attorneys in the state or region and to ABA-accredited law school libraries. Super Lawyers Magazine is published nationwide including all fifty states and Washington, D.C. and is read by over 13 million subscribers.

With four Tennessee offices in Jackson, Nashville, Memphis & Chattanooga, the employment and insurance claim lawyers of Gilbert Russell McWherter can serve clients across West, Middle and East Tennessee, including Knoxville, Clarksville, Murfreesboro, Johnson City, Kingsport, Franklin, Bartlett, Germantown and Collierville.

In April 2013, after a four day arbitration trial, the Firm obtained one of its clients an award of more than $3,000,000 in an insurance dispute.  The Firm’s client, an owner and property manager of two apartment complexes, had unsuccessfully made a claim with Commonwealth Insurance Company after its properties were damaged during the May 2010 storms that impacted the Middle Tennessee area. The insurance company denied payment, asserting that the claim was not compensable under the insurance policy.  After the claim was denied, the Firm was hired to pursue the claim, and ultimately was able to obtain a resounding victory for the client.  In addition to the $3+ million award, the insurance company also paid $600,000 in interest.

Gilbert Russell McWherter recently donated $10,200 to Camo Angels, a charity fund of the West Tennessee Healthcare Foundation. The donation resulted from unclaimed funds from a national class action lawsuit in which the firm served as class counsel.

See also West Tennessee Healthcare Foundation March 2012 E-newsletter linked here.

Written by: Christopher Merchant

A former Cracker Barrel employee is suing the company for sexual harassment and refusing to allow breaks to pump breast milk for her son.

According to a court document, Elizabeth Bruce of Gallatin said she was sexually harassed earlier this year by her manager William Thomas, who no longer works at that location. Specifically, the document said that Thomas described what he would like to do sexually to Bruce and that he touched her arms and shoulders.

Bruce also has accused Thomas of refusing to provide her sufficient hours at work, adding that he told her that she was being denied hours because she had taken “prolonged leave” from April 17 to Aug. 7 to care for her baby in 2010.

Read the full story at Tennesseean.com

Jackson attorney Clint Scott of Gilbert Russell McWherter has been selected to participate in the Tennessee Bar Association’s 2013 Leadership Law program. Mr. Scott is the firm’s managing partner and an expert in employee rights law and consumer protection. This year’s class of attorneys was chosen from across the state.Programming begins with an opening retreat in January and concludes with graduation ceremonies during the 2013 Annual Convention in Nashville.The class will spend the next six months learning about leadership in the legal profession, issues in the courts, policymaking in state government and the importance of community service.

Super Lawyers has recently named attorney Justin Gilbert to Tennessee’s Best of the Best List. The attorneys named to this list, have risen to the peak of an already competitive group of accomplished professionals, above and beyond the prestigious honor of selection to a Super Lawyers list.

Top List selectees receive the honor by ranking at the very top of their Super Lawyers list after the completion of the state or region’s peer nomination, independent research and Blue Ribbon Panel review process.

“Super Lawyers has always been devoted to the mission of finding and recognizing excellence in legal practice,” said Julie Gleason, director of research, Super Lawyers. “Our Top Lists take that mission one step further by highlighting those attorneys who exhibit a truly extraordinary level of achievement.We’re proud to herald the accomplishments of these exceptional legal professionals.”

Justin Gilbert obtained his law school degrees from Southern Methodist University and the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. His primary practice area is in employment law. He has been named a Super Lawyer every year since 2007. This is his first recognition on the Best of the Best list. Mr. Gilbert consults and assists area churches, universities, and non-profit disability organizations. He was recognized for the pro bono award for West Tennessee in 2002.