Honors and Awards
Honor

Blank Rome Attorneys Designated 2018 "Lawyer of the Year" by Best Lawyers®

Woodward/White, Inc.

Blank Rome is pleased to announce that Susan L. BickleyKevin J. BrunoJohn E. Heintz, and Keith A. Rutherford have been selected as 2018 "Lawyers of the Year" by Best Lawyers® in the following areas:

  • Ms. Bickley is recognized in Litigation - Municipal (Houston)
  • Mr. Bruno is recognized in Insurance Law (Princeton)
  • Mr. Heintz is recognized in Insurance Law (Washington, D.C.)
  • Mr. Rutherford is recognized in Trademark Law (Houston)

According to the publication, only a single lawyer in each practice area and designated metropolitan area is honored as the "Lawyer of the Year." Attorneys are selected based on exhaustive peer reviews and the recognition "reflects the high level of respect a lawyer has earned among other leading lawyers in the same communities and the same practice areas for their abilities, their professionalism, and their integrity." To view the complete methodology used by Best Lawyers® to compile the 2018 "Lawyer of the Year" rankings, please click here.

For more information, visit www.bestlawyers.com.

Ms. Bickley has 30 years of civil trial and appellate experience in employment litigation for private and public employers, in litigation involving commercial and business disputes, and the defense of claims against law firms and lawyers. She represents a diverse range of clients including publicly held corporations, smaller companies, and start-ups, as well as public entities and their officials. Ms. Bickley is a member of numerous Blank Rome groups and committees, including the Partner Board, Distribution Committee, Strategic Plan Committee and Strategic Plan Implementation Committee, and Trade Secret and Non-Compete Litigation group. She is the immediate past chair of the Blank Rome Women’s Forum.

Mr. Bruno serves as co-chair of Blank Rome’s Energy, Environmental, and Mass Torts group, and previously served as co-chair of the policyholder-only Insurance Recovery group. His practice includes environmental and mass tort litigation and compliance counseling to a broad spectrum of industries. He has also spent his career representing policyholder clients in their pursuit of claims in multiple lines of insurance recovery, and provides counseling to clients in their placement of a broad array of first party and liability insurance products. Mr. Bruno has been appointed to multiple leadership positions within the American Bar Association, and currently serves as one of the Section of Litigation division directors.

Mr. Heintz is a veteran in the fields of corporate insurance recovery and complex litigation. With more than 35 years of experience, he has recovered billions of dollars in coverage for his clients, and has handled major cases in every area of insurance recovery, including several that rank among the largest in coverage litigation history. Mr. Heintz is a member of the American Bar Association Section on Litigation as well as a charter member of the section’s Insurance Coverage Committee. He also sits on the board of directors for the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, and is on the board of trustees for The Legal Aid Society of Washington.

Mr. Rutherford serves as chair of Blank Rome’s Intellectual Property and Technology group. He concentrates his practice on patent litigation, IP strategy, pre-litigation conflict resolution, licensing and deal negotiations, analysis of patent portfolios both for offensive and defensive purposes, opinion work, and prosecution management. He has negotiated numerous patent licenses and other IP-related agreements, as well as managed analyses of patent portfolios ranging from small to those containing thousands of patents. He works in a number of technology areas, including electronics, computing, software, Internet, telecommunications, high technology, VoIP, and oilfield industries.