The Best Lawyers in America® has selected 11 Kutak Rock attorneys as “Lawyer of the Year” for 2027. This designation goes above and beyond traditional inclusion and is based upon the highest overall peer feedback in a specific practice area and metropolitan region. The “Lawyer of the Year” distinction reflects an extraordinary level of respect that an attorney has earned among his or her peers. Only a single lawyer in each practice area and designated metropolitan area is honored with a "Lawyer of the Year" award.
The firm’s “Lawyer of the Year” designations for 2027 are:
Arizona
Scottsdale
Arik J. Michelson: Real Estate Law
Mr. Michelson's practice consists primarily of commercial real estate transactions, including land acquisition and development, financing, leasing and sales. He represents a variety of developers, real estate investors, retailers, institutional lenders and other local and national clients in all aspects of real estate transactions. The types of properties involved in these deals include shopping centers, office, industrial, residential, and resort/hotel properties.
Arkansas
Fayetteville
Max R. Deitchler: Construction Law
Mr. Deitchler represents clients in construction disputes, breach of contract matters, tort actions, premises and product liability cases, and other complex commercial litigation in Arkansas state and federal courts, and nationwide. He also advises clients in matters involving local, state, and federal governmental entities, helping businesses and individuals navigate regulatory and governmental processes to advance their goals.
Mark W. Dossett: Litigation – Insurance
Mr. Dossett focuses his practice on healthcare, construction, commercial and employment litigation. He represents individual healthcare providers and institutions in matters ranging from medical malpractice defense to nursing home and long-term care defense. He represents clients in all aspects of construction, employment and commercial litigation. Mark has first-chair jury trial experience in both state and federal courts and appellate oral argument experience in the Arkansas Court of Appeals, Arkansas Supreme Court, and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Rogers
Nick Arnold: Banking and Finance Law
Mr. Arnold provides a wide range of representation for his banking clients including: the perfecting and enforcing of real estate and personal property security interests, loan transactions, compliance with laws and regulations concerning emerging privacy issues as well as operational matters. In real estate, Nick’s practice includes acquisitions, sales, leases and project development of hotels, retail shopping centers, office buildings, mixed-use centers, horizontal property regimes/condominiums, apartments, representation of condominium owners' associations, and representing both lenders and borrowers in real estate loan transactions.
Colorado
Denver
Matthias M. Edrich: Public Finance Law
Mr. Edrich advises clients on tax structuring of municipal and corporate debt transactions and financing-related section 501(c)(3) exemption matters. He has represented bank lenders and capital markets underwriters, government and corporate issuers, student loan lenders, large hospital systems, housing developers, energy and solid waste recycling companies, manufacturers and various types of section 501(c)(3) nonprofits.
Florida
Tallahassee
Jere L. Earlywine: Public Finance Law
Mr. Earlywine's practice focuses primarily on special taxing districts and related foreclosure and bankruptcy litigation. In this arena, he represents a variety of clients, including both developer and resident controlled districts, as well as bondholders who have interests in such districts.
Missouri
Kansas City
M. Courtney Koger: Appellate Practice
Ms. Koger uses her trial experience to advise clients on how to stay out of litigation when entering into contracts or dealing with employees. She works extensively with coverage issues relating to both liability and property coverages. She also focuses on appellate practice, handling civil appeals in a variety of areas.
Nebraska
Omaha
Victoria H. Buter: Litigation – Securities
Ms. Buter advises clients in securities litigation matters, shareholder disputes and derivative litigation, and other complex commercial litigation cases. She has represented clients in cases involving securities fraud, directors and officer liability and fiduciary duties, shareholder litigation, breach of contract, unfair competition and trade secret theft. She also defends securities class action litigation and has significant appellate experience.
Todd C. Kinney: Litigation – Intellectual Property
Mr. Kinney focuses his practice on data security and privacy issues for clients across a range of industries, including healthcare, financial services and technology. He heads up the firm’s data breach response team and regularly handles breach analysis and response matters for clients of all sizes involving state notification statutes and federal regulations. He advises clients on creating and implementing privacy and data security policies as well as steps they can take to best prepare themselves for when a data breach hits.
John E. Schembari: Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law; Litigation – ERISA
Mr. Schembari leads the firm's national employee benefits and executive compensation group and focuses his practice primarily on minimizing his client’s legal risks while ensuring that their employee benefits and executive compensation programs align with their goals. He works with private, public and governmental employers on qualified and nonqualified retirement plans, employee stock ownership plans, insured and self-funded health plans, executive and incentive compensation programs. He advises compensation committees, ERISA fiduciaries, in-house counsel, and finance and human resources executives from companies of all sizes, including several of the largest employers in the U.S.
Virginia
Richmond
Peter J. Barrett: Bet-the-Company Litigation; Litigation – Bankruptcy
Mr. Barrett represents unsecured and secured creditors, trustees, lessors, equity holders and corporate debtors in insolvency matters, including Chapter 11 reorganizations, business liquidations and loan workouts. He also represents clients in connection with acquisition of distressed assets and insolvency-related litigation.
About Best Lawyers®
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