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
Weekday Litigator, Weekend Race Car Driver
Five weekends a year, look for Ed Hugo on the racetrackAbout five weekends a year, Ed Hugo heads to the races in one of his beloved, mostly vintage cars. In between, he practices civil defense law at Hugo Parker in San Francisco. Hugo has been racing for about 17 years. Hugo’s most recent first-place finish (video above) was at CSRG’s Season Opening event at Sears Point in April 2019 in his 1958 Corvette. We recently caught up with Hugo while he was in the midst of a seven-day, nearly 2,000-mile course through Mexico, La Carrera …
Gentleman Driver
Five weekends a year, look for Ed Hugo on the racetrackOn a typical day, you’ll find Ed Hugo at his desk—or the courthouse—defending products liability, toxic tort, and a variety of other mostly civil-side cases. But for 10 days in October, the San Francisco litigator made other plans: He headed to Mexico to race his cherry-red LT Special at La Carrera Panamericana, which takes a meandering route of nearly 2,000 miles from Oaxaca to Durango. Winning the Bahamas Speed Week Revival Hugo calls it a “racing adventure,” similar to the 2011 …
Austin Mourns Passing of Phil Durst
‘Texas Treasure’ Dies at Age 63Philip Durst, who passed away Tuesday at age 63, was a “brilliant” plaintiff’s-side employment and civil rights attorney; accomplished artist; mentor to young attorneys; devoted husband, father and grandfather; and an award-winning CLE speaker on topics including legal ethics. “He was a source of encouragement for young lawyers and routinely went out of his way to show his appreciation for others,” says Jerry D. Bullard, with Adams, Lynch & Loftin in Grapevine, who knew Durst for …
Seattle Police Officer Claims Camp Cleanup Ruined His Health
Attorney Lincoln Beauregard says the city should have known about the risk of contamination at a homeless encampmentSeattle Police Officer Timothy Gifford was part of a large team of city workers who cleaned up a homeless camp south of downtown earlier this year. In September, Gifford sued the city for $10 million, alleging he was exposed to harmful toxins while working at the site. His attorney, Lincoln C. Beauregard with Connelly Law Offices in Seattle, says his client was not issued proper testing or safety equipment to deal with toxic materials. The suit says nearly 60 workers may have been exposed to …
Trial Superstitions
Four trial lawyers find that a little luck never hurtDebra Bogaards What: I always wear my same blue suit for both opening statement and closing argument, because I want to subliminally send a message to the jury that the road map I gave them in opening, I proved with the evidence during trial. By mirroring my clothing, I want to remind them that what I promised them came true; I am standing before them again, this last time, having made good on my promises. When/how did it start: This superstition started in my very first trial. I just believe …
First Amendment Fray in San Francisco
Two SF attorneys champion a freelance journalist whose home was raided after he refused to name a confidential sourceWhen the San Francisco Police Department raided freelance journalist Bryan Carmody’s home in May and seized his reporting equipment and materials, press advocates were outraged. San Francisco attorneys Ben Berkowitz and Thomas R. Burke are representing Carmody in his battle with the police department. Before the raid, SFPD Chief William Scott had suggested Carmody was involved in a conspiracy to obtain a leaked police report about the death of the late Jeff Adachi, San Francisco’s former …
Court: Stepfather still a dad after divorce
Seattle attorney Matthew Bergman argued that the parent-child relationship—not the parents’ split-up—is what countsTo Jo LeFebvre, Marvin Leren was simply her dad. Leren, who became her stepfather when she was 3 years old, would later walk her down the aisle and, throughout his life, would travel and share holiday dinners with her. But Leren, who contracted mesothelioma after decades of working around asbestos, died in 2015 in the midst of a lawsuit involving his illness, and the company he was suing said it shouldn’t have to pay LeFebvre the $975,000 awarded to his estate by the jury. Why? Because …
The Survivor
How Aurora McCreary’s life and career prepared her for the CBS reality showFamily law attorney Aurora McCreary of Maitland, Florida, recently took on another role: island castaway. McCreary, with Weiss, Grunor, Barclay & Barnett, was a cast member in Season 38 of the CBS reality show Survivor. She joined 17 other Edge of Extinction challengers on Mamanuca Islands in Fiji, filmed from the end of May to beginning of July 2018. Courtesy CBS/Rick Devens and McCreary “I am used to being in the middle of drama daily,” notes the 32-year-old attorney, who specializes …
Legal Community Mourns the Passing of Talbot “Sandy” D’Alemberte
The Tallahassee lawyer’s legacy includes service as president of the ABA and of FSU, and as dean of FSU College of LawFlorida lost a true legal icon with the May 20 passing of Talbot “Sandy” D’Alemberte, 85, who served as president of the ABA in 1991-1992. D’Alemberte was also president of Florida State University from 1994 to 2003, and dean of FSU College of Law from 1984 to 1989. “I’ve known Sandy for the last 50 years of his life,” Sen. Bob Graham says. “He was a man who brought excellence to whatever undertaking was his day’s work. When we were both young legislators and the state was …
The Public Defender Bug
Why 19 years in the PD’s office didn’t burn out Lauri BrennerAs a kid, Lauri Brenner loved hanging out with her father, Bob, a prominent personal injury attorney, as he worked cases. She even liked visiting clients with him in the hospital. “I would wait in the shadows,” she recalls. “I basically planned on becoming a lawyer since fifth grade. Not that I knew what it meant to be a lawyer other than, you know, I liked my dad’s office building. He’d drive me in the summer to a site inspection and we would have hard hats on. ... I just thought the …
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