About Beth Taylor
Beth Taylor has been a senior editor for Super Lawyers since 2003, 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
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 …
Bellwether Trial Ends in Award for Youngsters Exposed to Mold
Karen Koehler, Andrew Ackley and John Layman are taking on Seattle Children’s HospitalA jury in King County, Washington, has awarded $215,000 to be divided among the families of three children exposed to Aspergillus mold while undergoing surgery at Seattle Children’s Hospital. The bellwether trial was handled last month by Karen Koehler and Andrew Ackley, plaintiff’s personal injury attorneys at Stritmatter Kessler Koehler Moore in Seattle. For the past four years, the pediatric hospital has been defending suits filed by the Stritmatter team, along with John R. Layman and …
They Were Here
John Hays is helping an arts org bring attention to the often-unseen history of slaveryIn 2016, John Hays took on the task of handling legal work for a public art history project designed to illustrate an often unseen chapter in American history. It started with a conversation with client Marjorie Guyon, artist and founder of the I Was Here project. “One day, Marjorie stopped me on the street to tell me about her concept for the project,” recalls the construction litigator at Jackson Kelly. “I told her I loved it and would help any way I could.” The result was a series …
Best Director, Bar None
Martha Hofmeister is the guiding hand behind the Dallas Bar’s comedic variety showMartha Hofmeister may have done her job too well when she directed her law school’s annual satirical musical comedy in 1984; she ended up getting typecast. A year later, she was drafted to direct what would come to be known as Bar None. “As a new lawyer, I’d signed up to participate with the Dallas Bar Association’s Entertainment Committee,” Hofmeister recalls. “I missed an early meeting, but someone who knew I had directed the 1984 production of Assault & Flattery at the …
Cattle Call
Greg Howison raises grass-fed beef—but it’s not on his dinner plateNot many intellectual property lawyers own cattle ranches. Not many cattle ranchers follow a vegan diet. Greg Howison, who practices patent law as a partner at Munck Wilson Mandala in Dallas, does both. “Raised by a farm girl, I guess I acquired an agrarian gene early on,” says Howison, who spends about half his time at Lacy Fork Ranch, about an hour north of Dallas, and half at the office. “My wife and I, being equestrians, acquired East Texas horse property during the 2008 …
Paddling Passion
How Matt Menzer found his ‘ohana’Matt Menzer was first drawn to outrigger canoe paddling while living—where else? In Honolulu. He was serving there as a federal judicial law clerk starting in 1989, after graduating from Berkeley Law. There were a few important things holding him back. “Participating in a sport that embodies Hawaiian culture was very appealing to me, but with a new career and a newborn, my personal time was really limited,” he says. During his clerkship, he met his legal mentor, Philip Lowenthal, a …
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