PHILADELPHIA, August 17, 2023 — Eight Duane Morris LLP attorneys have been named by Best Lawyers as “Lawyers of the Year” for 2024.

Benton T. Wheatley: Construction Law, Austin

Gilbert A. Greene: Litigation – Patent, Austin

Gilbert L. Brooks: Gaming Law, Cherry Hill

Jocelyn Margolin Borowsky: Trusts and Estates, Wilmington DE

Louis Norwood Jameson: Litigation - Intellectual Property, Atlanta

Philip H. Lebowitz: Litigation - Health Care, Philadelphia

Robert L. Byer: Appellate Practice, Pittsburgh

Thomas M. Berliner: Water Law, San Francisco

Each was the only lawyer selected for this honor from his respective practice area and city. Lawyers are selected based on peer-review assessments conducted annually by Best Lawyers.

Benton T. Wheatley practices in the area of construction law with a focus on construction, design and engineering disputes and transactions, fiduciary responsibilities in relation to private equity investment in the real estate development construction process, and on counseling REITs and private equity firms on rights and options as purchaser of recently completed construction projects with construction or design defects. Mr. Wheatley has practiced in a wide range of construction areas, including complex delay; impact; defective design; defective construction, differing site conditions claims, or fiduciary duties involving mediation, litigation or arbitration; and problem project workouts, including negotiating with sureties and owners. He also has experience with the drafting and negotiation of complex construction, design, counseling private equity firms on managing risk present in their passive limited partner investments, counseling developers and construction managers on policies and processes necessary to comply with fiduciary duties arising from passive limited partner investment in construction projects and engineering contracts and environmental issues concerning construction projects. In addition, while serving as assistant general counsel for a large international architectural/engineering firm, Mr. Wheatley worked on issues regarding project delivery in all fifty states, Mexico, Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil, and Argentina.

Gilbert A. Greene is managing partner of the firm’s Austin office. His practice is focused on the enforcement and procurement of intellectual property rights, with a primary emphasis on patent litigation. Greene’s patent litigation clients have included large and small technology companies, energy and chemical companies and retailers in cases involving a diverse array of technologies. He also has experience with handling patent validity trials (IPRs/CBMs) before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Greene also has experience with patent prosecution, opinion work and portfolio management, primarily in the chemical engineering, chemistry and mechanical fields. He has experience with handling all phases of patent litigation, including written discovery and document production, fact and expert witness depositions, Markman briefings and hearings, dispositive motion briefing and hearings, trials, appeals and mediation/settlement. Greene has represented both patent holders and accused infringers in numerous federal jurisdictions across the country, including the Western District of Texas, the Eastern District of Texas, the District of Delaware, the Eastern District of Virginia, the Western District of Wisconsin, the Southern District of California and the Central District of California. In addition to patent litigation, he also has experience with handling all phases of copyright, trademark and trade secret litigation.

Gilbert L. Brooks practices in the areas of litigation, gaming law, criminal law, regulatory law and employment law.

Mr. Brooks is a 1985 graduate of Widener Law School, Delaware and a graduate of Swarthmore College.

Jocelyn Margolin Borowsky a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel ("ACTEC"), practices in the areas of estate planning, estate and trust administration and fiduciary litigation in Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. 

Sophisticated Estate Planning. A large part of her practice involves the review of clients' overall estate plans, preparation of wills and revocable trusts, and where appropriate, implementation of sophisticated trusts, such as lifetime spousal lifetime access trusts, asset protection trusts, life insurance trusts, dynasty trusts, BOLI trusts, DINGs, BDITs, GRATs and IDITs. Ms. Borowsky also works with closely-held family businesses and professionals on issues involving strategic tax and business planning, the use of captive insurance and the creation of private family foundations and represents executives of publicly traded companies and shareholders of privately held companies going public.  

Modification and Other Advice on Delaware Trusts. Ms. Borowsky routinely advises clients with respect to resolving trust administration matters, modifying trusts, structuring new Delaware trusts and transferring existing trusts to Delaware through decanting or other means.  As the Chair of the state bar statutory drafting committees, she is well versed in the preparation of Delaware directed trusts and in the creation of confidential silent trusts. Ms. Borowsky also has served as an expert witness in matters involving a Delaware directed trusts, spendthrift protection, and an executor’s breach of fiduciary duty.

Litigation and Audits.  Ms. Borowsky represents fiduciaries and beneficiaries in trust and estate litigation. She also handles tax controversy matters, including estate and gift tax audits by the Internal Revenue Service and state taxing authorities. She is AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell and listed in The Chambers Guide to the Leading High Net Worth Lawyers.

Louis Norwood Jameson is chair of Duane Morris' Intellectual Property Practice Group. Mr. Jameson practices in the area of intellectual property law and litigation with particular emphasis on patent litigation. Mr. Jameson also litigates a broad range of intellectual property disputes, including trademark and trade dress litigation, copyright litigation and false advertising disputes. In 2014, Mr. Jameson was named Outstanding IP Litigator for Georgia, by Managing Intellectual Property. The team he leads also received the Managing Intellectual Property Award for the top patent litigation practice in the southern United States. In 2009 through 2023, Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business included Mr. Jameson in its listing of leading IP lawyers in Georgia.

Philip H. Lebowitz practices primarily in the area of healthcare law and litigation. Mr. Lebowitz provides regulatory and general counseling to healthcare providers, including hospitals, pharmaceutical and medical device companies, health care consultants, and physicians. His healthcare experience includes litigation and legal counseling regarding antitrust, fraud and abuse, HIPAA and privacy, reimbursement, managed care contracting, specialty hospital development, pharmaceutical and medical device marketing and pricing, False Claims Act, credentialing and privileges disputes, and clinical trial research contracting, compliance and ethical issues. Mr. Lebowitz also represents medical device manufacturers in state administrative proceedings regarding regulations, including workers compensation, affecting the use and reimbursement of device products, and startup healthcare businesses regarding issues posed by physician ownership.

Robert L. Byer concentrates his practice in appellate and legal issues litigation. Mr. Byer is a former judge of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court and Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline.

As an appellate lawyer, Mr. Byer has argued or briefed over 300 appeals in the United States Courts of Appeals for the Third, Fifth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Eleventh, District of Columbia and Federal Circuits, the Pennsylvania appellate courts and the appellate courts of California, Maryland and Washington. He also has briefed and worked on appeals in the United States Supreme Court. His appellate work and legal-issues litigation experience covers a wide range of legal areas, including corporate governance, intellectual property, administrative agency law, tax cases, Constitutional law, real estate and land use regulation, insurance coverage, contracts, professional liability, products liability and toxic torts.

Thomas M. Berliner focuses his practice on water, energy, environmental and governmental/municipal law and previously chaired the firm's Water Resources and Renewable Energy and Sustainability Groups. He is one of the original founders of Duane Morris’ San Francisco office and was its first managing partner.

Mr. Berliner's practice includes advising public entities and private clients on all aspects of water supply, hydropower, energy development, renewable and sustainable energy practices, natural resources and environmental compliance and litigation. Mr. Berliner serves as general and special counsel to both agricultural and urban water supply agencies. He also advises municipalities, special districts, private individuals and companies on municipal affairs and government procurement. Mr. Berliner represents clients before local, state and federal agencies on administrative, regulatory and legislative matters.

About Duane Morris

Duane Morris LLP provides innovative solutions to today’s multifaceted legal and business challenges through the collegial and collaborative culture of its more than 800 attorneys in offices across the United States and internationally. The firm represents a broad array of clients, spanning all major practices and industries. Duane Morris has been recognized by BTI Consulting as both a client service leader and a highly recommended law firm.