Three lawyers from Brody Wilkinson PC were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2013 (Copyright 2012 by Woodward/White, Inc., of Aiken, S.C.). Peter T. Mott and Ronald B. Noren were recognized in the area of Trusts and Estates law. James E. Rice was recognized in the area of Energy law. In addition, Mr. Mott was named the Best Lawyers’ 2013 Stamford Trusts and Estates “Lawyer of the Year.” Only a single lawyer in each practice area and designated metropolitan area is honored as “Lawyer of the Year,” making this accolade particularly significant.
Mr. Mott is a principal of Brody Wilkinson PC and a member of the firm’s Trusts & Estates Group. He practices in the areas of estate planning and trusts and estates administration. Mr. Mott assists individuals with tax and charitable gift planning; business owners with succession planning; and families with planning for aging or incapacitated family members. He is a member of the American and Connecticut Bar Associations and recently served a two-year term as chair of the Connecticut Bar Association’s Estates and Probate Section. Mr. Mott is a Fellow in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), the leading national organization of practitioners, and serves on the ACTEC Foundation Board of Directors. In addition, he was recently named to the 2011-2012 list of “Connecticut Super Lawyers” and “New England Super Lawyers” in the areas of Tax and Estate Planning and Probate. Mr. Mott is also a Martindale-Hubbell AV-rated attorney. He is admitted to practice in Connecticut.

Mr. Noren is a principal of Brody Wilkinson PC and a member of the firm’s Trusts & Estates Group. Mr. Noren practices in the area of trusts and estates, including estate planning, transmission of wealth, estate settlement, and trust administration. He represents individual clients and family groups, often on a multi-generational basis, to preserve and transmit earned and inherited wealth incorporating personal and family goals with efficient tax planning. Mr. Noren often works with clients in structuring and implementing living trusts, charitable and non-charitable gift planning, life insurance trusts, various tax advantaged irrevocable trusts, family limited partnerships and LLCs, and private foundations. He also has extensive experience working with individuals and corporate fiduciaries in the settlement of large estates and providing advice to trustees and beneficiaries on the administration of trusts. Mr. Noren is a member of the American and Connecticut Bar Associations and the Estates and Probate Section of the Connecticut Bar Association. He was recently named to the 2011-2012 list of “Connecticut Super Lawyers” and “New England Super Lawyers” in the areas of Estate Planning and Probate. Mr. Noren is also a Martindale-Hubbell AV-rated attorney. He is admitted to practice in Connecticut.

Mr. Rice is a principal of Brody Wilkinson PC and a member of the firm’s Business Group. He practices in the areas of utilities and energy, business and finance, and administrative law. Mr. Rice represents energy companies and other clients before the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority and the Connecticut Siting Council. He serves as outside general counsel to several small- and medium-sized businesses in the Fairfield County area. Mr. Rice has also acted as Connecticut counsel in connection with the acquisition of major power plants and of regulated public service companies. He is a member of the American, Connecticut and Greater Bridgeport Bar Associations. Mr. Rice served as a director of the Greater Bridgeport Bar Association and as a member of the Executive Committee of the Public Utility Law Section of the Connecticut Bar Association, for which he also served as chair. He was recently appointed to serve on the Standards of Title Committee of the Connecticut Bar Association. Mr. Rice is a Martindale-Hubbell AV-rated attorney. He is admitted to practice in Connecticut, Michigan, the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Lawyers being honored as “Lawyer of the Year” are selected based on particularly impressive voting averages received during the exhaustive peer-review assessments Best Lawyers conducts with thousands of leading lawyers each year. Receiving this designation reflects the high level of respect a lawyer has earned among other leading lawyers in the same communities and the same practice areas for their abilities, their professionalism, and their integrity.

Since its inception in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. Given that Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey in which more than 41,000 leading attorneys cast almost 3.9 million votes on the legal abilities of other lawyers in their practice areas, and that lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed, inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor. Corporate Counsel magazine has called Best Lawyers “the most respected referral list of attorneys in practice.” For more information about standards for inclusion, visit http://www.bestlawyers.com/aboutus/selectionprocess.aspx.