News & Insights

Four Lightfoot, Franklin & White Partners Recognized as 2018 ‘Top Flight Attorneys’ by B-Metro Magazine

March 26, 2018

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (March 27, 2018) – Birmingham-based B-Metro magazine has named four Lightfoot, Franklin & White LLC partners as 2018 “Top Flight Attorneys.” Sara Ford, Sam Franklin, Harlan Prater and Jack Sharman received the honor and are featured in the Top Flight Attorney list published in the magazine’s March 2018 edition.

B-Metro compiles the list based on outside research and a survey of local attorneys. Criteria include education, contribution to professional organizations, community involvement and outstanding client service.

“We are pleased to see these deserving, hard-working attorneys recognized for their incredible talent and dedication,” said Lightfoot managing partner Melody Eagan. “Our attorneys are committed to the Birmingham community and to our clients across the state and country — and this recognition reinforces that.”

Sara Ford has handled a wide variety of cases in more than three decades of practice, including shareholder derivative suits, medical device litigation and insurance disputes. She serves an adjunct professor of Class Actions and Litigation Strategy at the University of Alabama School of Law. She is also active in the International Association of Defense Counsel, the DuPont Women’s Legal Network and DRI’s Women in the Law Committee.

Sam Franklin is a founding partner of the firm and has practiced law for 45 years. He has argued before the Alabama Supreme Court on several occasions and has handled jury trials in many different areas, ranging from personal injury/wrongful death to complex business disputes. He is the current president of the American College of Trial Lawyers and has been active in fundraising efforts to assist various legal organizations as part of his commitment to improving access to civil justice for Alabama’s most needy citizens.

Harlan Prater has devoted his career to all types of high-stakes civil trial work, with a focus on product liability and pharmaceutical and medical device litigation. He has obtained jury verdicts for defendant product manufacturers in multimillion dollar cases across Alabama. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the American Board of Trial Advocates, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, the American Bar Foundation and the Alabama Law Foundation.

Jack Sharman leads the firm’s White Collar Criminal Defense and Corporate Investigations practice. His experience includes work in government-contract fraud, kickback cases, public-corruption enforcement and election contests. He has been an Adjunct Professor of Law at Washington & Lee University and the University of Alabama, and served as Special Counsel to the Alabama House Judiciary Committee for the impeachment investigation of former Governor Robert Bentley.