BOARD CERTIFIED IN PERSONAL INJURY LAW
Very few lawyers practicing in the Lone Star State are certified by the State Bar of Texas, but at Wigington Rumley Dunn & Blair LLP our belief is that Board Certification is important. Three of our partners have achieved board certification.
What is Board Certification in Texas?
Based on testing and experience, the Texas Board of Legal Specialization grants certification to attorneys within 24 areas of practice, ranging from administrative law to workers’ compensation. While over 100,000 lawyers are licensed to practice only in the State of Texas, only 7,400 have achieved certification by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in these 24 areas.
Within those two dozen practice areas is the area of Board Certification in Personal Injury Trial, described as “litigation based on an individual's injury from automobile accidents, professional malpractice, defective products or negligence by another.”
Jeff Wigington (1999), David Rumley (2002), and Joe Dunn (2005) are Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. They are among only 1559 lawyers to have achieved this distinction.
These three Wigington Rumley Dunn & Blair LLP partners are part of an exceptional and highly select group which comprises only 1.5% of those licensed to practice law in the state.
AMERICAN BOARD OF TRIAL ADVOCATES (ABOTA)
Only an exclusive number of trial lawyers are invited to join the American Board of Trial Advocates, an invitation-only organization of the country’s top litigators.
Jeff Wigington, David Rumley, and Joe Dunn have been invited into ABOTA membership.
To be eligible to join ABOTA, as a minimum, the trial attorney must have tried ten (10) cases before a full jury to verdict (or hung jury) as lead counsel in the matter. These must be civil jury trials.
Additionally, members must demonstrate high personal character as well as an honorable reputation. The lawyer himself cannot join this elite group. In order to join ABOTA, qualified trial lawyers must be nominated by ABOTA members in good standing. A majority of the membership then must agree to invite the applicant to join their ranks.
Additional requirements are contained within the ABOTA National Constitution, including the above-referenced approval by 75% of the membership as well as the chapter’s Executive Committee before any attorney-applicant will receive an invitation to join the exclusive membership.
MARTINDALE AV-PREEMINENT RATED LAWYERS
Jeff Wigington and David Rumley have been honored with the highest possible Martindale-Hubbell rank — the “AV® Preeminent” rating for excellence and integrity in the practice of law.
This prestigious national rating is based on peer review of an attorney’s legal knowledge, analytical capabilities, judgment, communication ability and legal experience.
Considered “the gold standard” in attorney ratings, Martindale-Hubbell has “recognized lawyers for their strong legal ability and high ethical standards for more than a century.”
TEXAS SUPER LAWYERS
What is a Super Lawyer?
Super Lawyers is an annual rating service of outstanding lawyers using a patented selection process includes independent research, peer nominations, and peer evaluations. Selection is based upon 12 indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement. Ratings appear in the Super Lawyers Magazine publication.
Jeff Wigington and David Rumley were each named "Texas Super Lawyer" in 2003-2004 and 2007-2019. Joe Dunn was named "Texas Super Lawyer" in 2011-2019, and Trace Blair was name "Texas Super Lawyer" in 2015-2019 after being a “Rising Star” from 2006-2009.
TOP 50 U.S. LAW FIRMS
WIGINGTON RUMLEY DUNN & BLAIR LLP AS 2016 ELITE TRIAL LAW FIRM BY NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL (TOP 50 U.S. LAW FIRMS)
In 2016, Wigington Rumley Dunn & Blair, L.L.P. was honored to be included as one of the fifty law firms across the country to be listed as “America's 2016 Elite Trial Lawyers” by The National Law Journal and Law.com.
From the National Law Journal, this accolade "… recognizes law firms that achieved high-dollar recoveries for clients and that did some of the most creative and significant work on the plaintiff’s side."
The top 50 firms selected had to meet two qualifications:
- Have a total of more than $40 million in awards during the selection period; or
- Have 4+ cases totaling more than $15 million in awards during the selection period.
BEND MAGAZINE TOP ATTORNEYS
The Bend determines our region’s top lawyers through the use of an independent research company and verified peer nominations. The result is an annual list of honorees published each March by the magazine. Recognized attorneys have nothing to do with receiving this accolade.
Wigington, Rumley, Dunn & Blair is understandably honored to have been included in The Bend’s list of Top Attorneys in the practice of product liability law for several years. From its March 2023 issue:
TOP 10 JURY VERDICTS
WIGINGTON RUMLEY DUNN & BLAIR LLP: NO. 4 UNITED STATES VERDICT OF THE YEAR IN 2002
In 2002, Wigington Rumley Dunn & Blair, L.L.P. was recognized as winning one of the largest automotive product liability judgments on record by Lawyers Weekly USA. In its ranking of the top 10 jury verdicts across the United States in 2002, Wigington Rumley Dunn & Blair LLP’s victory against Ford Motor Company for a deadly rollover crash involving a Ford F-150 super cab pickup was listed by Lawyers Weekly as the fourth largest verdict awarded by a jury that year in an injury case.
For more information, please read our individual biographies and review our verdict and settlement history as well as summaries of some of our past cases.