Honors & Awards
Putting an emphasis on client service, and keeping our clients' objectives at the forefront of everything we do has earned Stites & Harbison numerous honors and awards:
Stites & Harbison has 88 Metropolitan rankings. In addition, three of the firm’s practices are rated National Tier 1: Litigation — Construction, Litigation — Real Estate and Trademark Law. The survey was conducted by Best Lawyers.
101 Stites & Harbison lawyers are listed in The Best Lawyers in America® 2024; 28 named "Lawyer of the Year" and 19 named "Ones to Watch."
Corporate Counsel has honored Stites & Harbison, PLLC Chair Marjorie A. Farris as a “Managing Partner of the Year” in its 2023 Women, Influence & Power in Law (WIPL) Awards. She is one of six women honored in this category across the country.
BTI Consulting Group recently selected Stites & Harbison, PLLC as a standout in two key areas: investing in client relationships and client-facing communication, in the prestigious BTI Client Service A-Team 2020: The Survey of Law Firm Client Service Performance. In-depth interviews with more than 350 corporate counsel at Global 500 and Fortune 1000 companies were conducted by BTI for the 2020 results. BTI’s Client Service A-Team is regarded as “the gold standard to assess how law firms honestly stack up in client service and delivery.” Stites & Harbison was named to the list for the third time in six years after having placed in the top 20% of all law firms serving larger clients in BTI Consulting Group's Client Service A-Team 2015 and named a client service leader in BTI Consulting Group's Client Service A-Team 2019.
BTI Consulting Group named Stites & Harbison, PLLC as a best-branded law firm in its BTI Brand Elite 2019: Client Perceptions of the Best-Branded Law Firms. The BTI Brand Elite list reveals the 408 law firms with the best brand standing based solely on in-depth telephone interviews with general counsels and leading legal decision makers.
BTI Consulting Group named Stites & Harbison, PLLC as a brand leader in its BTI Brand Elite 2016: Client Perceptions of the Best-Branded Law Firms. The firm stands out for its innovation and is listed on BTI's Honor Roll of Value-Driven Firms. BTI's annual list ranks the top law firms based solely on in-depth telephone interviews with general counsels and leading legal decision makers.
The BTI Consulting Group recently released its report, BTI Litigation Outlook 2015, listing Stites & Harbison, PLLC in the top 10% of all law firms for Commercial Litigation and Complex Commercial Litigation.
Sixty-two Stites & Harbison lawyers are listed in the current Super Lawyers magazine, representing the top five percent of lawyers in their state. Sixteen lawyers are listed as Rising Stars.
More than 50% of Members and Counsel are listed in Martindale-Hubbell as AV®-rated.
The 2024 edition of Benchmark Litigation names 11 Stites & Harbison, PLLC attorneys as “Litigation Stars” and three as “Future Stars” in Kentucky. The firm has also been named Litigation Firm of the Year for Kentucky in 2020, 2021, 2023, and 2024. The guide honors the firms and attorneys who have demonstrated the ability to consistently handle complex, high-stakes cases in multiple jurisdictions.
Twenty-five Stites & Harbison lawyers are listed in the current edition of Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business. Stites & Harbison is ranked Band 1 in Kentucky for Litigation: General Commercial. The firm is also ranked Band 2 in Kentucky for Corporate/M&A; Environment, Natural Resources & Utilities: Environment; Intellectual Property; and, Real Estate. In Tennessee, the firm is ranked Band 2 for Intellectual Property and Band 3 for both Banking & Finance and Real Estate.
Southern Economic Development named the firm to the top 24 law firms in the South providing economic development services for 2023.
IFLR1000 has announced that Stites & Harbison, PLLC and attorney James C. Seiffert have been honored in IFLR1000 United States for 2023. Stites & Harbison has been ranked Tier 1 in Kentucky for financial and corporate services, ranked Tier 3 in Georgia (US) for restructuring and insolvency and recommended in Tennessee for financial and corporate and real estate services. Seiffert is ranked as “highly regarded” in the practice areas of banking & finance as well as corporate and mergers & acquisitions.
Chambers High Net Worth selected Stites & Harbison, PLLC attorney Gregory D. Smith for inclusion in its 2023 guide in the category of Family/Matrimonial for USA: Tennessee. He is one of only four attorneys honored for Tennessee. Chambers High Net Worth ranks top lawyers and law firms in the international private wealth market. This is Smith’s third time earning the honor.
The Patent Lawyer Magazine has named Stites & Harbison, PLLC to the 2023 Top 10 Patent Firms and IP Practices in North America – South list. This is the firm’s second year being honored.
Managing Intellectual Property magazine named nine attorneys "IP Stars" for 2023; one attorney named to “Top 250 Women in IP.” Two attorneys were named to the "Rising Star" list for 2023.
Two Stites & Harbison lawyers were listed in Nashville Business Journal's Best of the Bar for 2023.
The American Bar Association (ABA) Health Law Section has ranked Stites & Harbison, PLLC in 4th place in its Annual Regional Law Firm Recognition List for the South region for 2022. The firm improved its ranking by one spot over the previous year’s listing, now having been honored eight consecutive times to the Top 10 list.
Emerging 100 of Atlanta (E100 Atlanta) inducted attorney Brandon Sartin as one of 27 new members in 2022.
Virginia Lawyers Weekly named Mari-Elise Paul to the 2022 list of Virginia's Go To Lawyers for Intellectual Property.
Corporate Counsel names Stites & Harbison on its "Who Represents America's Biggest Companies" list, formerly known as Go-To Law Firms, 2007-17. The list features law firms who represented Fortune 50 companies.
Corporate INTL Magazine Global Awards selected Stites & Harbison for Asset Restructuring Law Firm of the Year in Georgia (2013-17).
Since the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce launched the “Best Places to Work in Kentucky” award in 2005, Stites & Harbison has been regularly recognized as one of the Top Places to Work in Kentucky. These awards exemplify the firm's long-standing commitment to providing quality service to its clients as well as providing a superior work environment for its attorneys and staff. Stites & Harbison, PLLC ranks in the Top 10 “Best Places to Work in Kentucky” for 2023 in the medium company category.
Stites & Harbison was once again named the best law firm in Franklin County, Tennessee by FranklinIs for 2021.
Lawyer Monthly recently selected Mike Risley and Stites & Harbison as recipients of the "Legal Awards 2018" in the category of Benefits and Pensions, Law Firm of the Year-USA; and David Owsley and Stites & Harbison as recipients of the award in the category of Technology, Data Privacy, Law Firm of the Year-USA.
Stites & Harbison is excited to announce that for the third year in a row its Trademarkology law blog was honored as one of the American Bar Association’s best blogs. With over 4,000 blogs under consideration, we are honored to be one of the selected 100!
In 2014, Stites & Harbison received Corporate LiveWire's Global Awards for Intellectual Property Law Firm of the Year–Kentucky and Litigation Law Firm of the Year–Kentucky.
Named Corporate Law Firm of the Year-Georgia by Acquisition International in 2013.
Stites & Harbison was one of only 115 law firms selected and profiled in America's Greatest Places to Work with a Law Degree (Harcourt Brace, 1999). Over 170 law school administrators, alumni directors and career counselors from throughout the nation were interviewed for the book and asked where happy graduates work. In addition, the firm was named a family-friendly workplace in July 2000 by Greater Louisville Inc.