The 2013 Florida Super Lawyers publication listed Bryan Gowdy in the Top 100 Florida Super Lawyers and Top Appellate Practice section; Rebecca Creed, Top Appellate Practice; and Jessie Harrell, Rising Star in Appellate Practice. Each year, Super Lawyers recognizes the top lawyers in Florida. Attorneys are selected by peer nominations and evaluations, as well as third-party research. For more information on Florida Super Lawyers, click here.
Jessie Harrell has been named as a Florida Bar Board Certified Appellate Specialist. Board certification is the highest level of evaluation by The Florida Bar of competency and experience within an area of law, and also requires that the lawyer display the highest levels of professionalism and ethics in practice. Only six percent of eligible Florida Bar members are board certified. Jessie is now the fourth member of the firm to achieve board certification in appellate practice, joining Rebecca Creed, Bryan Gowdy and D. Gray Thomas.
Jennifer Shoaf Richardson received the 2013 Leader in the Law Award from the Florida Association for Women Lawyers.
Martindale-Hubbell's Peer Review Ratings attest to a lawyer's legal ability and professional ethics. The AV rating is the highest rating awarded and is a testament to the fact that a lawyer's peers rank him or her at the highest level of professional excellence. In her first time being rated by her peers, Jessie Harrell earned an AV Preeminent rating.
Creed & Gowdy successfully represented a plaintiff in an appeal of order granting a new trial. In a commercial dispute concerning the development of a hotel, the jury had found the defendant was liable to the plaintiff, but a successor judge who had not conducted the trial granted the defendant a new trial on liability. The Fifth District Court of Appeal reversed in a decision that can be found here. Bryan Gowdy and Jennifer Shoaf Richardson handled the appeal.