The Daily Business Review is sponsoring its annual Florida Legal Awards recognizing professional excellence in the legal community in assorted areas of the law.

Please note that these descriptions are only a guideline. You must log into the awardsforce portal to view the full questionnaire for each category. Some categories also include Q&A sections that are viewable in the portal.

Categories & Criteria

Law Firm of the Year

This prestigious award is selected by law.com editors and goes to the law firm that accumulates the most honors across Florida Legal Awards categories. To be considered, firms must submit to at least these categories: Litigation Departments of the Year, or Dealmakers or Real Estate Transactions; On the Rise; Distinguished Leaders or Lifetime Achievement; ESG Impact or Diversity and Inclusion.

On the Rise

This program recognizes the region’s most promising lawyers under the age of 40 as of the nomination deadline. To qualify, the lawyers must work in Florida. We’re looking for lawyers who have wielded influence in their practice areas in Florida and beyond. They should be innovators, developing unique practice niches, amassing robust books of business, demonstrating strong leadership qualities, showing expertise in litigation or transactional work, and committing themselves to pro bono, charitable and professional volunteer work. For this contest, we are asking you to provide:

1.  An essay describing why the nominee should be selected.
2.  A biography of the nominee, including the following information:
  • Employer, Title, City, Birthdate (confidential), Education
  • Legal work experience including notable cases, transactions and clients, dates and employer names
  • Other relevant information such as awards, affiliations and significant publications

3.  A high-resolution photo of the nominee.
4.  Contact information for two references who can be contacted for an on-the- record conversation about the nominee’s legal work and accomplishments.
5.  Short Profile info section with a quote from nominee to be published if selected

We do not accept nominations by email. Please register and log into the Florida Legal Awards nominations site to submit your nomination.

Distinguished Leaders

This award recognizes lawyers who achieved impressive results in 2024 and, in doing so, demonstrated clear leadership skills. That could be a litigation team leader winning a notable case against unfavorable odds, a managing partner who helped the firm negotiate a key acquisition, a judge who oversaw a large mass tort program, a public interest attorney who helped pass legislation or in-house counsel who revamped the legal department. Strong leaders are hard to come by, and this award is about highlighting Florida lawyers who demonstrated both strong performance and valuable leadership skills. We’ll require an essay describing the leader’s role in achieving noteworthy results, some background info on the nominee. We’ll also request a Q&A from the nominee that will be published if they are selected.

Best Mentors

Best Mentor awards honors Florida attorneys who take it upon themselves to prepare the next generation of legal talent. We are looking for someone who passed along valuable knowledge to younger attorneys, paving the way for advancement and stellar contributions to the profession. Please submit a nomination explaining why you believe special recognition is deserved. We'll also request a Q&A from the nominee that will be published if they are selected.

Lifetime Achievement

Nominees for the Lifetime Achievement award will be recognized for having a significant impact on the practice of law in Florida over a notable legal career. Please submit a nomination explaining why you believe special recognition is deserved. We’ll also request a Q&A from the nominee that will be published if they are selected.

Attorney of the Year Award

To qualify, a nominee’s work in 2024 produced a distinct impact in the field of law or the legal profession in Florida. Our criteria for Attorney of the Year is intentionally broad. Nominees accomplished something notable in the law or legal community in the past year or did the most to advance the cause of justice. Please submit a nomination explaining why you believe special recognition is deserved. The DBR will recognize three finalists and name one Attorney of the Year at an April 2025 event in Miami.

Unsung Heroes

Choose an attorney who has gone unnoticed for, or worked behind the scenes on, particularly important work. To nominate yourself, a friend or colleague, please submit a nomination. We’ll also request a Q&A from the nominee that will be published if they are selected.

Litigation Departments of the Year


Open to Law Firms With Offices in Florida

This award is aimed at recognizing law firms in Florida for general litigation and top specialty practice groups. We want to identify and reward powerhouse practices in our area, and we understand many lawyers and law firms have regional or national practices. We would like you to submit matters led by Florida attorneys, but their cases could be litigated anywhere.

Please compose separate submissions by category, and multiple submissions are encouraged.

Categories:
  • General Litigation
  • Products liability/mass torts
  • Bankruptcy
  • Intellectual property
  • Insurance
  • Labor and employment
  • Real estate
  • Construction

For each entry, we are asking you to submit a Word document or PDF with the following:

  • A list of at least four or five litigation results obtained pretrial, in trial or on appeal in 2024 with brief descriptions of their significance and ranked in order or importance based on the significance of the result for your client and contributions made by your Florida lawyers. *The description of results should include specific dollar awards or amounts in controversy where relevant but should focus on why the result demonstrates the excellence of your department. Please include the names of clients, lead partners, opposing counsel and contact information for them. If your client was represented by more than one firm, please specify your firm’s role. (Do not include results achieved by lateral hires when they were working for a different firm.)
  • An essay of up to 500 words explaining why your firm should win. Factors we’re looking at are the importance and difficulty of the matters handled, the quality of opposing counsel, ingenuity and diligence. This is no place for false modesty!


Please submit additional information:

  • A brief description of three upcoming matters for your firm.
  • A brief description of your firm’s biggest litigation loss in the past two years with names of opposing counsel.
  • The size of your firm’s litigation department in Florida and firmwide as of submission date. (Please specify the number of partners, associates and other).
  • The revenue percentage of the litigation department compared to overall firm revenue.
  • Three client references, including phone numbers and email addresses.
  • A contact person at your firm who can respond to questions.
    Unless otherwise marked, all information submitted will be considered on the record.
  • A short Q&A from an attorney in the practice, please log into the portal to view the questions.
    The responses in this Q&A section will be published if the firm is selected.

Innovators

We're looking for examples of innovation, whether it's a new practice groups or programs, upgrade to internal operations, or technology for use by the firm or clients. To qualify, the bulk of the nominee’s work should have been completed in 2024. Please submit a nomination explaining why you believe special recognition is deserved based on unique ways of differentiating a practice group in a crowded market. We’ll also request a Q&A from the nominee that will be published if they are selected.

Real Estate Transactions

This award highlights major real estate transactions. To qualify, the bulk of the nominee's work should be completed in 2024. Please submit a nomination explaining why you believe special recognition is deserved. We'll also request a Q&A from the nominee that will be published if they are selected.

Diversity (Individual)

Do you know a lawyer or law firm that has made a significant contribution to diversity and inclusion efforts in Florida’s legal community? Awards will be presented for both individual attorneys and law firms that have made substantial progress in improving their firm’s diversity and inclusion efforts. We’ll also request a Q&A from the nominee that will be published if they are selected.

Diversity (Firm)

Do you know a lawyer or law firm that has made a significant contribution to diversity and inclusion efforts in Florida’s legal community? Awards will be presented for both individual attorneys and law firms that have made substantial progress in improving their firm’s diversity and inclusion efforts. We’ll also request a Q&A from the nominee that will be published if they are selected.

Dealmakers of the Year

This award highlights major transactions in Florida in areas other than real estate. Areas can include, but aren’t limited to, corporate, M&A, venture capital, bankruptcy, and tax. To qualify, the bulk of the nominee’s work should be completed in 2024. Please submit a 400-word nomination explaining why you believe special recognition is deserved.

ESG Impact

This category honors law firms that demonstrate social responsibility through client-focused efforts, pro bono work, charitable drives, special projects or other avenues. Please submit a nomination explaining why you believe special recognition is deserved. We’ll also request a Q&A from the nominee that will be published if they are selected.

Cross-Border Disputes

This is open to Florida law firms that handle cross-border litigation. These disputes could involve any country in the world. As cross-border disputes present a range of unique and complex problems, we aim to honor teams that have used creative problem-solving techniques and bold strategies to deliver for their clients in a high-stakes case or collection of cases.

Please submit a 500-word nomination explaining why you believe special recognition is deserved. Include a description of the results obtained in 2024 with brief descriptions of their significance and ranked in order of importance. Include specific dollar awards or amounts in controversy where relevant, but focus on why the result demonstrates the excellence of your team. Please include the names of clients, lead partners, opposing counsel and contact information for them. If your client was represented by more than one firm, please specify your firm’s role. (Do not include results achieved by lateral hires when they were working for a different firm.) We’ll also request a Q&A from the nominee that will be published if they are selected.

In-House Impact

This recognizes an in-house lawyer who had a significant accomplishment in 2024. Aspects to consider include budgeting, corporate compliance, outside counsel management, technology, diversity, quality of life, community service and special performance by solo general counsel. To nominate yourself, a colleague or friend, please submit a nomination. We’ll also request a Q&A from the nominee that will be published if they are selected.

Managing Partner of the Year

These are the leaders of the Florida offices who seem to do it all—they balance their caseloads with management of their firm’s day-to-day affairs while keeping an eye on the firm’s long-term strategic vision. To be considered for the honor, these outstanding leaders must be Florida based. Nomination will include an essay about why the nominee should be selected, a high-resolution portrait photo, and a short Q&A profile.

Maritime Attorney of the Year

This award recognizes lawyers who are leaders in the field of maritime law. Please submit an essay no longer than 400 words, explaining why this person has demonstrated that they are an expert in this practice area.

Please contact Recognition Events Manager Pearl Wu at pwu@alm.com if you have any questions.