Congratulations to Our Attorneys Named to the 2023 Best Lawyers® List!

Taylor & Ring is proud to have nine lawyers listed in the 2023 editions of The Best Lawyers in America^® and the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America^™. This is an exciting achievement for our entire team.

Every year, the Best Lawyers list recognizes leading attorneys in particular regions and practices, based on peer reviews. Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. Best Lawyers lists are compiled based on an exhaustive peer-review evaluation. More than 116,000 industry leading lawyers are eligible to vote (from around the world), and have received more than 17 million evaluations on the legal abilities of other lawyers based on their specific practice areas around the world.

For the 2023 edition of The Best Lawyers in America, more than 12.2 million votes were analyzed, which resulted in more than 71,000 leading lawyers honored. Lawyers are not required nor allowed to pay a fee to be listed; therefore, inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor.

Introducing our award-winning attorneys

Following is more about our lawyers, the work they do, and the recognition they’ve received from Best Lawyers:

The Best Lawyers in America^®

John C. Taylor: partner and co-founder. John has been recognized by Best Lawyers for 29 years for his work in personal injury litigation for plaintiffs. His practice is focused on representing victims of serious personal injury, wrongful death, products liability, civil rights, employees’ rights, insurance bad faith, faulty road design and general negligence.

Dave M. Ring: partner and co-founder. David has been recognized by Best Lawyers for 19 years for his work in personal injury litigation for plaintiffs. He was named a Lawyer of the Year in 2015 by Best Lawyers. His practice is focused on sexual abuse, sexual harassment, assault, molestation, and sexual misconduct, as well as wrongful death, serious motor vehicle and motorcycle accidents, construction site accidents, product liability, premises liability, and employment actions involving discrimination, harassment, and wrongful termination.

Robert R. Clayton: partner. Robert has been recognized by Best Lawyers for six years for his work in personal injury litigation and product liability litigation, both for representing plaintiffs. His practice is focused on wrongful death, premises liability, dangerous conditions on public and private property, mass transit accidents, products liability, serious motor vehicle and motorcycle accidents, burn injury claims, assault and battery cases, sexual assault, and sexual abuse cases.

Natalie Weatherford: partner. Natalie has been recognized by Best Lawyers for the third year for her work in personal injury litigation for plaintiffs. Her practice is focused on representing both children and adults in sexual harassment, assault, abuse and misconduct cases, as well as civil rights litigation

Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America^™

Neil Gehlawat. Also recognized in 2021 and 2022, Neil is listed in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch for his work in civil rights law and personal injury litigation on behalf of plaintiffs.  Over the course of his career, he has obtained verdicts and settlements on behalf of his clients in excess of $100 million.

Brendan P. Gilbert. Brendan has been recognized three years running in Best Lawyers: One to Watch for his work in personal injury litigation for plaintiffs. In 2022, he secured a $10.25 million settlement on behalf of a plaintiff who was sexually abused by her bus driver. This is believed to be the largest individual settlement in a sexual abuse case in California. He specializes in cases involving the sexual abuse of minors, sexual assault and harassment, products liability, and complex personal injury actions with catastrophic injuries.

Sonya Ostovar. This is Sonya’s second year listed in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch for her work in personal injury litigation on behalf of plaintiffs, focusing her practice on childhood sexual abuse and assault. In 2019, she secured an $8 million settlement from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in a case involving a 15-year-old who had been sexually abused by her coach, the largest individual sex abuse settlement to which the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has ever agreed.

Peter Reagan. Another congratulations goes out to Peter for his first recognition in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America for his work in personal injury litigation on behalf of plaintiffs. Peter focuses his practice on victims of catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death, as well as survivors of sexual assault, abuse, and misconduct.

The entire team here at Taylor & Ring extends a round of applause to this year’s honorees. Join us in congratulating John, Dave, Robert, Natalie, Neil, Brendan, Sonya, and Peter!