Five Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs, LLC Attorneys Earn Best Lawyers in America® 2013 “Lawyer of the Year” Distinction
December 26, 2012 • 3 min read
AKRON, Ohio (December 26, 2012) – Best Lawyers, the country’s oldest legal peer-review publisher, recently recognized Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs, LLC partners Peter T. Cahoon, Cathy C. Godshall, Patrick J. Keating, Mark J. Skakun III and John P. Slagter as Best Lawyers in America® 2013 “Lawyers of the Year” in their respective practice areas.
Only a single lawyer in each practice area within a designated metropolitan area is awarded the “Lawyer of the Year” honor. The five were chosen from the hundreds of Northeast Ohio attorneys who are listed in the Best Lawyers’ annual referral guide, The Best Lawyers in America® 2013.
The “Lawyer of the Year” honor is based off the voting averages received during the Best Lawyers peer-review assessment completed by thousands of esteemed attorneys each year. This designation demonstrates the high regard a lawyer has warranted from his or her peers.
“It is an honor for the Firm to have these attorneys recognized by their peers as the best at what they do in a given practice area,” said Slagter, Buckingham’s Managing Partner. “This is yet another shining example of what makes Buckingham one of the top law firms in Northeast Ohio.”
Buckingham’s honorees are as follows:
Peter T. Cahoon – Akron, Criminal Defense: White Collar
Cahoon represents clients in criminal cases and government investigations, as well as in the areas of family law and professional disciplinary proceedings. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America® (2003-2013) and Ohio’s Super Lawyers® (2004-2012), and maintains a Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Rating of AV® Preeminent™. A past President of the Akron Bar Association (2004-2005), he is the 2013-2014 elected Chair of the Bar’s Family Law section. He has been recognized by Inside Business Magazine as a Leading Lawyer in Criminal Defense in Northeast Ohio since 2001. Cahoon is an elected Fellow of the Akron Board of Criminal Lawyers. He also has served as an Adjunct Professor of Trial Advocacy at The University of Akron School of Law for the past 19 years. In 2000, he received the School of Law’s John R. Quine Award as an outstanding adjunct professor. He and his wife, Heidi, reside in Hudson, Ohio.
Cathy C. Godshall – Akron, Employee Benefits Law
Godshall is a specialist in the area of executive compensation and the representation of tax-exempt entities. She is listed in The Best Lawyers in America® (2007-2012) and Ohio’s Super Lawyers® (2004-2005), and maintains a Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Rating of AV® Preeminent™. She serves as a trustee to the Akron-Canton Regional Airport Authority, Old Trail School, Leadership Akron and the Akron Art Museum. She is also a graduate of the 1992-93 Leadership Akron Class.
Patrick J. Keating – Akron, Litigation – Bankruptcy
Keating concentrates his practice in commercial litigation and creditor rights & bankruptcy. He is the Litigation Practice Group Chair. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America® (1997-2012) and Ohio’s Super Lawyers® (2004-2006, 2009-2012), and maintains a Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Rating of AV® Preeminent™. Keating chairs the board of the American Red Cross Summit and Portage County Chapter. He also is President of the board of True North Ministries, serves as a deacon in his church, and he is a member of the Advisory Board of the College of Arts and Sciences for Kent State University.
Mark J. Skakun III – Canton, Litigation – Patent
Best Lawyers has recognized Skakun for his work in Patent, Intellectual Property, Bet-the-Company, Commercial, and Product Liability Litigation, as well as White Collar Criminal Defense. He recently worked as trial counsel and obtained a $12,600,000 jury verdict for his client. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America® (1995-2013) and Ohio’s Super Lawyers® (2004-2012), and maintains a Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Rating of AV® Preeminent™. Furthermore, he is listed as a 2012 Super Lawyers “Top 100 Ohio Super Lawyer;” this is his fourth appearance on a Super Lawyers “Top List.”
John P. Slagter – Cleveland, Litigation – Real Estate
Slagter currently serves as Managing Partner of the Firm and Chairman of the Executive Committee. He has over 21 years of experience in handling complex real estate matters including construction, eminent domain, property tax and land use and zoning matters. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America® (2007-2013) and Ohio’s Super Lawyers® (2004-2012), and maintains a Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Rating of AV® Preeminent™. He was recently recognized by Super Lawyers® as a “Top 100 Ohio Super Lawyer” and a “Top 50 Cleveland-Area Super Lawyer” for the year 2012.
The nineteenth edition of The Best Lawyers In America (2013) includes over 50,000 attorneys in more than 100 practice areas, based off of over 4 million peer evaluations, across the entire United States. Information on Best Lawyers can be found at www.bestlawyers.com.
Buckingham is a leading full-service law firm with offices in Akron, Canton and Cleveland, Ohio. Buckingham’s attorneys represent business clients ranging from sole proprietors to multi-national corporations, tax-exempt organizations, governmental bodies, charities and foundations. Further information on Buckingham is available at www.bdblaw.com.
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