HeplerBroom has been ranked nationally as a 2017 Tier 1 “Best Law Firm” by U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers.
The firm has also been recognized in Tier 1 for the St. Louis metropolitan area rankings.
U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers recognizes firms as a “Best Law Firm” based on client and peer evaluations of law practices and legal expertise.
HeplerBroom has Illinois offices in Edwardsville, two locations in Springfield, downtown Chicago, and Crystal Lake. The firm also has an office in downtown St. Louis.
“We are very proud to be recognized by U.S. News and World Report and Best Lawyers,” Troy Bozarth, partner at HeplerBroom, told the Record. “It is a wonderful honor. Over the past year we have received attention for a variety of accomplishments, but it is a group effort, and hard to single out one thing.”
Receiving a tier designation reflects the level of respect a firm has earned from leading lawyers and clients for abilities, professionalism, and integrity.
HeplerBroom handles civil law suits in many practice areas including class action, pharmaceutical and medical, product liability, and personal injury. The firm also handles labor and employment liability, medical and professional liability, nursing home law, white collar criminal defense, and commercial and antitrust litigation.
“I think we were recognized for a combination of things,” said Bozarth, who is the immediate past president of the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel. “One reason is because of trail results. Obviously success gets attention. What you tend to see is if the good work is public, it will get noticed.”
Bozarth says that adding new partners through strategic growth this past year has kept the firm in the spotlight.
“There was opportunity for expansion this year,” Bozarth said. “Much of the expansion is client-service driven, We brought in new groups of lawyers, and they hit the ground running and worked hard.”
HeplerBroom added 16 new attorneys from three practice groups this year, which included Crystal Lake-based construction law group Aleen R. Tiffany, P.C., an insurance litigation group from former Johnson & Bell Ltd, and law firm Hay & Oldenburg LLC.
“We merge them not only with what we have here at the firm but with each other, as well,” Bozarth said. “It took a lot of effort, but they fit well and was a great success.”
The growth is part of long-term growth at the firm, which has expanded from 80 attorneys in 2007 to 136 across its six offices. Last month, HeplerBroom added four associate attorneys who had previously served as summer associates with the firm.
The firm was also awarded the Tier 1 St. Louis metropolitan area ranking for its practice work in commercial litigation, white collar criminal defense, antitrust litigation, mass tort litigation class actions, personal injury litigation, product liability litigation, and malpractice.
“The year flies by when you are moving and shaking,” Bozarth said.