DALLAS –Four partners in the boutique litigation firm of Burns Charest LLP have been selected among the nation’s top legal practitioners in the 2020 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. This year’s selection marks the largest number of firm attorneys ever selected to the prestigious list.

Launched in 1983, The Best Lawyers in America recognizes the top 4 percent of practicing attorneys in the nation and is based on confidential evaluations submitted by clients and other attorneys from across the nation, as well as extensive editorial research.  

Named for the third year in a row, Daniel Charest handles a wide array of complex, high-dollar commercial disputes involving a variety of oil and gas matters, commercial paper, estates and probate, and commercial contracts. His current oil and gas cases range from international arbitration over rights to drilling blocks off the coast of Africa, to lease challenges over production in paying quantities. He also serves as co-lead counsel for high-profile claims by landowners relating to government-induced flooding after Hurricane Harvey. 

Honored as a leading antitrust and commercial litigation attorney, Warren Burns tries nationwide class actions involving price-fixing and other competition-related claims. He has served as lead or co-lead counsel in numerous multi-district litigation cases involving antitrust and consumer claims.  His representative cases involve price fixing claims against Germany’s largest automobile manufacturers, RICO and monopolization claims against the manufacturer and distributor of the EpiPen, and product liability claims against 3m.  In addition to his class action work, Burns also represents hundreds of women who developed ovarian cancer after using Johnson and Johnson’s baby powder products.  He also represents hundreds of men and women who have been affected by exposure to asbestos.  Burns is also one of Dallas’s go-to commercial litigators.  He previously tried the first mortgage-meltdown case to go to trial, securing a nine-figure verdict for his client. 

Firm partner Darren Nicholson is named for the third consecutive year in the area of intellectual property litigation. For almost 20 years, Darren has represented plaintiffs and defendants in complex commercial litigation, intellectual property disputes and white-collar criminal cases in courts across the nation. Among his most notable cases are the successful representation of plaintiffs in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit involving business fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and commercial bribery and a jury verdict awarding 100 percent of requested damages and related claims in a breach of a patent licensing agreement.

Making the list for the first time in the field of antitrust litigation, partner Christopher Cormier leads the firm’s Denver office. He is an accomplished plaintiffs’ lawyer who has substantial experience litigating high-stakes antitrust and commercial cases. Appointed as lead counsel in multiple nationwide antitrust class actions in the past 15 years, Mr. Cormier served on the trial team that secured the largest price-fixing verdict ever issued and has secured additional favorable verdicts and settlements in federal courts across the country. 

Best Lawyers profiles of the attorneys can be found at https://www.bestlawyers.com.

Burns Charest represents clients in large, complex class actions; antitrust cases; oil and gas royalty disputes; environmental pollution cases; mass torts; and asbestos exposure claims. The firm has offices in Dallas, New Orleans and Denver. To learn more, visit http://www.burnscharest.com.