LWDN Attorneys Recognized as Best Lawyers Award Recipients and Lawyers of the Year Recipients

Aug 21, 2025

Leitner, Williams, Dooley & Napolitan PLLC is pleased to announce that 14 lawyers have been included in the 2026 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®, one attorney in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch and two attorneys have been named “Lawyers of the Year”. Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence.

"For more than 40 years, the rigorous methodology of Best Lawyers has ensured the integrity and esteem of our legal recognitions," said Best Lawyers CEO Phillip Greer. “It is with great pleasure that we continue to provide potential clients with the pinnacle measurement of credibility through our Best Lawyers awards as they search for counsel.”

Best Lawyers has earned the respect of the profession, the media and the public as the most reliable, unbiased source of legal referrals. Its first international list was published in 2006 and since then has grown to provide lists in more than 75 countries.

Lawyers on The Best Lawyers in America list are divided by geographic region and practice areas. They are reviewed by their peers based on professional expertise and undergo an authentication process to make sure they are in current practice and in good standing.

Leitner, Williams, Dooley & Napolitan PLLC would like to congratulate the following lawyers named to 2026 The Best Lawyers in America list:

• C. Christopher Brown - Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants and Workers' Compensation Law - Employers
• Thomas J. Dement II - Commercial Litigation, Insurance Law, Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants, and Product Liability Litigation - Defendants
• C. Douglas Dooley - Construction Law, Insurance Law, Litigation - Construction, Litigation - Health Care, Litigation - Insurance, Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants, and Workers' Compensation Law - Employers
• Alan B. Easterly - Insurance Law, Litigation - Construction, Litigation - Insurance, Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants, Product Liability Litigation - Defendants, and Transportation Law
• Brad A. Fraser - Construction Law and Product Liability Litigation - Defendants
• Bruce Gill - Construction Law, Litigation - Construction, and Litigation - Insurance
• Andrew J. Godbold - Insurance Law
• William E. Godbold III - Insurance Law, Medical Malpractice Law - Defendants, and Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants
• Gary S. Napolitan - Insurance Law, Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants, and Workers' Compensation Law - Employers
• Jeffrey E. Nicoson - Insurance Law, Litigation - Health Care, Litigation - Insurance, Medical Malpractice Law - Defendants, Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants, Product Liability Litigation - Defendants, and Transportation Law
• David W. Noblit - Insurance Law, Mediation, and Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants
• Anthony M. Noel - Employment Law - Management, Litigation - Insurance, and Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants
• Tracy A. Overstreet - Litigation - Construction, Litigation - Insurance, and Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants
• Kenneth D. Veit - Employment Law - Management and Workers' Compensation Law – Employers

Leitner, Williams, Dooley & Napolitan PLLC would like to congratulate the following lawyer recognized in the 2026 edition of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America. This category recognizes associates and other lawyers who are earlier in their careers for their outstanding professional excellence in private practice in the United States.

• Laura Bassett - Civil Rights Law, Labor and Employment Law - Management, and Litigation - Labor and Employment

In addition, two Leitner, Williams, Dooley & Napolitan PLLC attorneys have been recognized by Best Lawyers as “Lawyers of the Year”. Only a single lawyer in each practice area and designated metropolitan area is honored as a “Lawyer of the Year”, making this a single coveted accolade. These lawyers are selected based on particularly impressive voting averages received during the peer review assessments.

Attorney C. Douglas Dooley was recently recognized as the 2026 "Lawyer of the Year" for Insurance Law in Chattanooga. C. Douglas Dooley is an Equity Member and litigation attorney with over 25 years of experience handling workers’ compensation, trucking accidents, personal injury law, insurance coverage disputes, premises liability, food borne illness cases, dram shop liability and complex litigation. Doug is regularly invited to lecture on workers’ compensation, premises liability and tort liability to risk managers, human resource administrators and insurance claims professionals across the country.

Attorney Alan B. Easterly was recently recognized as the 2026 "Lawyer of the Year" for Litigation - Insurance in Chattanooga. Alan Easterly is an Equity Member and practices out of the firm's Chattanooga, Tennessee office. His practice concentrates on transportation, product liability (including food liability), complex/ mass torts, insurance, premises liability, auto liability, construction, and general negligence matters. He has managed, tried, or otherwise successfully defended numerous significant product liability, transportation, toxic tort, and complex tort cases, among others.