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
Sign Here, Mr. President
Gary M. Cohen’s impressive autograph collectionEven as a child, Gary M. Cohen devoured books on U.S. history, especially the ones focusing on presidents. About 25 years ago, he saw a document written by his favorite president, Abraham Lincoln, at an exhibit of historical papers. That gave him an idea: to start his own collection of presidential autographs. “My first signature was a document signed by President Gerald Ford, when I met him at a library opening in Vail, Colorado,” recalls Cohen, who practices plaintiff’s medical …
Active Problem-Solving
What keeps Debby Cochran on the runDebby Cochran started running every day while in law school, and she hasn’t stopped. To date, the founder of Cochran Law Group has completed more than 25 full marathons, including several appearances at the Boston Marathon—her favorite race—as well as several half-marathons. The Tysons-based estate planning and probate attorney’s four kids—Jeffrey, Alex, Allison and Mitchell, now all adults—join her for some of the half-marathons; and the whole family, including her husband, …
Powering Up
Strength is Melanie Costantino’s strengthWhen Melanie Costantino gave CrossFit a try in 2016, it soon became clear that she was one of the strongest people in the gym. “I went on to powerlifting, but it wasn’t until I discovered strongman that I felt I found the perfect combination of strength, agility, technique, speed and challenge,” says the Hackensack attorney. She competes at local, national and international levels, including a win at the United States Strongman Nationals in 2018. “Training provides me with the …
Parting Gift
How a client philanthropically thanked Barbara Barnstable EdelmanWhen Barbara Barnstable Edelman first met client Bill Gatton in 2019, she felt an instant bond with the businessman. “Our shared love for the University of Kentucky sparked a strong connection, beginning an attorney-client relationship that turned into a friendship,” says the business litigator at Dinsmore & Shohl in Lexington, Kentucky. She advised Gatton on various matters until his passing in 2022, and still advises The Bill Gatton Foundation, which continues his philanthropic …
A Fine Brew
How Austin Vowels took a basement hobby to a brick-and-mortar operationShortly after finishing law school in 2011 and settling back into his hometown of Henderson, Kentucky, Austin Vowels began brewing beer in his basement. “Before I knew it,” says Vowels, a plaintiff’s personal injury attorney at Vowels Law, “I loved more than just drinking the beer. I loved the process of making beer.” It took some time, he says, but at the end, “I had a decent pale ale that was relatively cheap and a labor of love.” After several more years of home brewing, Vowels …
Landowners Cleared to Sue Texas For Taking Their Trees
Barron, Adler, Clough & Oddo lawyers land a win at state’s high courtSix years ago, the Texas Department of Transportation hired a contractor to clear trees and brush along Farm to Market Road 677 in Montague County, northwest of Dallas, as general maintenance to the state’s right-of-way. But Birgit and Mark Self, who live along that road, say more than 20 trees were removed from their private property. “The Selfs’ fence was located a few feet inside their property line,” says Blaire Knox, who handled the case along with colleagues Nicholas Laurent and …
Music Man
When not practicing IP law, Tim Billick is jamming with the bandTim Billick could have gone into either music or law. He opted for both. Intellectual practice law is the day job, but Billick cannot not make music—“dancy aggression with luscious harmonies and funky rhythms,” as his band’s Facebook page describes it. That band, Thief Motif, was formed in 2021, and its latest release, “Sea Legs,” can be heard on Spotify. Billick plays bass and sings, though he can pitch in on guitar and piano when needed. “We don’t tour,” notes Billick, with …
Taking on Fossil Fuel
Jeffrey B. Simon is suing more than a dozen industry players over a deadly heat dome in OregonFor nearly a week in June 2021, Oregon’s Multnomah County, where Portland lies, broiled under a heat dome that brought the hottest temperatures ever experienced in the area. The thermometer reached 108, 112 and 116 degrees Fahrenheit on three consecutive days. More than 60 people in Multnomah County died, and streetcar power cables melted. Jeffrey B. Simon believes the blame lies with the fossil fuel industry. His firm, Simon Greenstone Panatier in Dallas, and their co-counsel are suing more …
Ace Attorney
The secret to Scott Bemberis’ golfing success: Keep chipping awayScott Bemberis didn’t really pick up golf until law school at University of Richmond. He actually had a partial tennis scholarship, but a shoulder injury put the kibosh on competing in that sport, so he switched to golf. He was a quick study. Since then, Bemberis, a family law attorney at Clifford, Bemberis & Duke in Richmond, has won two Richmond Golf Association regular four-ball tournaments and two RGA senior four-ball championships (2022 and 2023). He also scored two Nelson Broach …
Still Slaying Goliaths
Alan Milstein was New Jersey Super Lawyers’ first cover subjectTwenty years later, Alan Milstein is just as passionate about advocating for ethical conduct in clinical trials—and other issues—as he was in 2005 when he graced the cover of the debut issue of New Jersey Super Lawyers. “But the funny thing is,” he says, “the biggest case of my career, which happened since the cover, was a venture company commercial case, fairly routine as far as the issue is concerned, but ended up with an equivalent [value] of about $100 million.” His client …
Find top lawyers with confidence
The Super Lawyers patented selection process is peer influenced and research driven, selecting the top 5% of attorneys to the Super Lawyers lists each year. We know lawyers and make it easy to connect with them.
Find a lawyer near you