About Beth Taylor
Beth Taylor was a senior editor for Super Lawyers for more than 20 years, and has won dozens of awards for headline-writing and editing throughout her career. Previously, she was an editor and covered courts for The Orlando Sentinel. She also worked for go2net and KIRO-TV in Seattle, where she wrote for and edited their websites. In addition, Beth edited The Kitsap Business Journal and Media Inc. Beth has written travel books, including Around Seattle With Kids for Fodor’s and Seattle Day By Day for Frommer’s, and online travel guides for Google. Her travel writing has appeared in publications including the Chicago Tribune and the San Francisco Chronicle. Beth has a B.A. in communications/journalism and a master’s degree in political science.
Articles written by Beth Taylor
How Taj Clayton Got Book-Smart and Street-Smart
The Fish & Richardson partner reflects on humble pie, hard work and comparisons to President ObamaQ: Were you born in Dallas? A: I’m from a small town outside of Philadelphia called Pottstown, Pennsylvania. It’s an industrial blue-collar town where my parents grew up, and I was there from birth until after my sophomore year in high school. It’s a small town, but it experiences some big-city problems: drug dealing and violence and crime. At the same time, it does still harbor some small-town values. There’s a great sense of community. But growing up in Pottstown, it can be a tough …
Larry R. Rogers Sr. on Personal (and Corporate) Responsibility
The Chicago attorney says everyone makes mistakes—but there’s a time for accountabilityQ: So why law? A: I’m the type of person who likes to see things done the right way, and I believe very much in our judicial system. I had taken a leave of absence [from law school] for health reasons. One of my current law partners [had] just finished law school. I met him at a gas station, we became friends and he encouraged me to go back. He [later] contacted me and said they had a position for a law clerk in the firm where he worked, so he suggested that I take the job. We’ve been …
The People-Pleaser
When everyone gets up from the table smiling, it’s a good day for Nashville transactional attorney Darlene MarshQ: Bankruptcy and environmental law—Is that an unusual combination? A: I only know a very few other lawyers who cross over into both of those areas. It came about sort of naturally, organically. I started out my practice in real estate, primarily commercial finance. That was in the late ‘80s and the early ‘90s, and we went through an economic downturn then as well—not as severe as the one we’re still pulling out of, but a fairly significant economic downturn. As a result of that, many …
Saving Mao’s Last Dancer
Charles C. Foster marshaled the force of the entire U.S. government to help a Chinese ballet artist who wanted to stay in HoustonQ: Tell me about a case you’ll never forget. A: I represented a banker from Libya, part of an economic class that Gadhafi wanted to get rid of or put in their place. The trial took place in a soccer stadium where he and a whole bevy of bankers and businessmen were let out, all chained together. They began to hang them, one by one, from a platform in the stadium. They were going to hang the rest of them the next day. My man somehow, that evening, through bribery and through hook and crook, …
Pioneer Spirit
Q: Why do so many judges end up becoming mediators? A: With the explosion of mediation, there was a large need for mediators in courts around the country, because almost every civil case today gets mediated. The natural people to be mediators were people who have been working in the judicial system all their lives; who, as part of their work, were trying to settle cases. I think it’s just a natural fi t. And it’s better than the [retired] judges sitting around all day watching Oprah and …
Stew Cogan Takes Sides
The Seattle mediator and arbitrator is a natural at helping people work things outQ: What’s so appealing about ADR? A: I see lots and lots of different kinds of disputes, literally thousands of them. As a mediator, when you begin a case, you receive materials from the lawyers, and you read those materials. It may be about an area of law you know something about or nothing about. Typically the mediations are over in a matter of weeks. Arbitrations can last a lot longer. But you’re in it, and then you’re done with it. As a lawyer, you spend a lot of time working a deal, …
The Right Medicine
Why Tampa’s Bennie Lazzara Jr. put aside criminal defense work to champion injured nursing-home patientsQ: What drew you to law? A: It was important in my family that we all go into some professional practice. My brothers and cousins, most of them went to medical school or dental school, but I didn’t really have the aptitude for the sciences, or the interest in them. My uncle who was a circuit judge, he was an inspiration to me to pursue the law. I respected him a lot. I liked the way he held himself with a lot of dignity. I thought he was a stern man of a lot of courage. Education was a …
The Organizational Genius of Dara Hegar
The young Houston lawyer’s trial-prep proficiency landed her the role of managing attorney for the firm’s national asbestos practiceQ: I understand you had an interesting experience shortly after coming to work at The Lanier Law Firm. A: I had been working here for three weeks. My first year out of law school, I [had] clerked at the Court of Appeals. Literally, [this] was my second year of working, but my first real “lawyer job,” so to speak. I happened to be at the receptionist desk when Mark [Lanier] and another one of the lawyers at our firm were walking out. He said, “Hey, you”—because he didn’t know my name …
The 'Good Divorce' Lawyer
Miles N. Beermann, with Beermann Pritikin Mirabelli Swerdlove, teaches splitting spouses how to be in the same room togetherQ: What was it like growing up in Chicago? A: There’s no place like Chicago. I grew up in the shadow of Wrigley Field, and so I’m a lifelong Cubs fan. I lived in a neighborhood that’s called Lakeview, and it’s just a marvelous area. But now I’ve been living in the suburbs for many, many years. I work downtown. Q: Early influences? A: My mother and my father were big influences on me. My dad was a probate lawyer, and I grew up in a house where there was a lot of lawyer talk. My …
Joseph P. Thomas’ Patient Approach
The class action defender at Ulmer & Berne in Cincinnati changes perceptions about big pharmaceutical firmsQ: Is defending pharmaceutical companies an uphill battle? A: That’s always the case. They are significantly maligned; jurors have negative perceptions of them. In just about any jurisdiction in the United States, there is a very, very high level of skepticism. I like changing those perceptions and helping [jurors] to understand, if they’re sick or a family member is sick, they’re going to be grumbling about paying for pharmaceutical products, but they’re also going to be saving the …
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