FordHarrison LLP, one of the country’s largest management-side labor and employment law firms, is proud to announce that three of the firm’s attorneys were selected as 2018 Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers, the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession. Allen J. McKenna, Partner in the firm’s Orlando office, was named Lawyer of the Year for Employment Law – Management for the Orlando area. Louis P. Britt, III, Partner in the firm’s Memphis office, was named Lawyer of the Year for Litigation – Labor and Employment for the Memphis area. Wade E. Ballard, Partner in the firm’s Spartanburg office, was named Lawyer of the Year for Employment Law – Management for the Greenville/Spartanburg area. Their honors will be published in a special edition of Best Lawyers.
Only a single lawyer in each specialty in each community is being honored as the “Lawyer of the Year,” making this accolade particularly significant. Best Lawyers compiles its list of outstanding attorneys by conducting exhaustive peer-review surveys in which thousands of leading lawyers confidentially evaluated their professional peers. The lawyers being honored as “Lawyer of the Year" have received particularly high ratings in the surveys by earning a high level of respect among their peers for the abilities, professionalism, and integrity.
Al McKenna, Board Certified as a Specialist in Labor and Employment Law by the Florida Bar, has represented management in all aspects of employment and labor law since 1983. Al is a traditional labor lawyer with extensive experience advising clients on the legal issues related to union campaigns, collective bargaining, arbitrations, and hearings and trials before the National Labor Relations Board. Al is also an experienced trial lawyer, having tried employment related cases in state and federal courts. Al represents a broad array of employers in a variety of industries all across America, but focuses his practice on the healthcare industry and government contractors.
Louis Britt is the Regional Managing Partner for FordHarrison's Memphis, Nashville, and Dallas offices. He concentrates his practice on employment litigation and advice, representing private and public employers in a broad range of employment matters. Louis handles employment discrimination and harassment cases (Title VII, ADA, ADEA and FMLA), wage/hour matters, enforcement and defense of restrictive covenants contained in employment agreements, and employment-related torts. He is experienced in complex and class action litigation, and has tried cases in state and federal courts across the country. Louis has extensive experience in public sector representation in both litigation and collective bargaining.
Wade Ballard counsels businesses on the entire range of workplace issues and provides advice and representation to employers on employment law, including wage and hour disputes, wrongful termination, retaliation discrimination, harassment, and other issues of concern to employers. He represents management in labor and employment matters in the courts, in arbitration, and before government agencies, including the EEOC, the U.S. Department of Labor, the North and South Carolina Departments of Labor, the South Carolina Human Affairs Commission, and other agencies at the federal, state and local level. He has worked extensively with employers in many industries, including the healthcare, automotive, telecommunications, hospitality, and aerospace industries. Wade is certified by the Supreme Court of South Carolina as a Specialist in the area of Employment and Labor Law.
About Best Lawyers
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 52,000 leading attorneys cast over 5.5 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 called Best Lawyers “the most respected referral list of attorneys in practice.”