{"id":5615,"date":"2025-05-03T06:42:40","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T06:42:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/the-winners-roster-in-daily-reports-2025-southeastern-legal-awards\/"},"modified":"2025-05-03T06:42:40","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T06:42:40","slug":"the-winners-roster-in-daily-reports-2025-southeastern-legal-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/the-winners-roster-in-daily-reports-2025-southeastern-legal-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"The Winners’ Roster in Daily Report’s 2025 Southeastern Legal Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Daily Report presented its awards Thursday at its annual dinner, which was held on May 1 at The Whitley in Atlanta. Following are the winners who were announced in March, as well as the winners in nine categories who were announced at the event. Each link below leads to Q&As and additional information about each winner and honoree. For photos of the event visit our, gallery<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Law Firm of the Year: Akerman<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n

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On the heels of expanding its nationally recognized litigation practice, Akerman was named the 2025 Law Firm of the Year. The Law Firm of the Year award recognizes the firm that has demonstrated a broad spectrum of achievements in the past year and talent depth while receiving the greatest level of support for awards in total categories.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Following are Q&As with the winner and the finalists: <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Attorney of the Year: Angie Zimmern of McGuireWoods<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n

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Angie Zimmern<\/a>, McGuireWoods\u2019 pro bono director, has helped make 2023 and 2024 the most successful years of public service and access to justice in McGuireWoods’ 190-year history, her nominators said. Zimmern oversees innovative collaborations with health organizations and financial institutions to expand the reach of services and ease the burden on local aid organizations. She helped organize 48 pro bono events across the country in 2024 with lawyers donating thousands of hours and helping McGuireWoods rise 46 spots in The American Lawyer\u2019s Pro Bono Scorecard.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Daily Report presents this award each year to recognize the attorney who’s had the biggest impact on the law or legal community or done the most “to advance the cause of justice” during the previous year. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Following are links to Q&As with the winner and finalists:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Best Legal Innovation: Polsinelli<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n

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Polsinelli was selected as the winner in this category because of their new Innovation Department. Launched last year, the department embeds cutting-edge technologies and processes, systems and workflows and a culture of creativity across its 1,000-plus attorneys nationwide under the leadership of an Innovation Department chair and a director of practice innovation, their nominators said. The department and its leadership prioritize attorney and client needs by fostering collaboration, creativity and efficiency under the guiding principle that attorneys, paralegals and staff are the key to innovation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Daily Report presents this award to recognize firms that have helped advance the industry through technological insight and forward thinking.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Following are Q&As with the winner and each finalist:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Best Mentor: Jodi Westbrook Flowers of Motley Rice<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n

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Jodi Westbrook Flowers<\/a> was named Best Mentor. According to her nominators, Flowers takes great pride in serving as a mentor to dozens of female attorneys, paralegals and others around the world, bringing 30 years of complex mass tort litigation to the table while valuing the human aspect of legal work. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Best Mentors Award recognizes the best in caring leadership to countless attorneys who have grown and prospered under the winner and nominees’ guidance. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Below are Q&As with the winner and finalists:<\/p>\n