James McManis and William Faulkner, name partners of McManis Faulkner, are recognized among The Best Lawyers in America 2013© (Copyright 2012 by Woodward/White, Inc., of Aiken, S.C.). McManis was selected in the categories of Bet-the-Company Litigation; Commercial Litigation; Criminal Defense: White-Collar; Litigation – First Amendment; Litigation – Intellectual Property; and Litigation – Municipal. Faulkner was recognized in the areas of Commercial Litigation; Litigation – Intellectual Property; Litigation – Real Estate; and Litigation – Trusts & Estates.
McManis’ inclusion in the 2013 list marks his fifteenth consecutive year of recognition, placing him in select company. He represents Silicon Valley companies in commercial, trade secret and intellectual property issues, as well as individuals in a wide variety of matters, including civil rights actions, employment disputes, family law and criminal defense. A member of the trial bar for more than 40 years, McManis was recently appointed to the newly established Task Force on Admissions Regulation Reform by the California State Bar. He is an honorary bencher of the Honorable Society of King’s Inns and a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, Litigation Counsel of America, American Bar Foundation and International Academy of Trial Lawyers. He earned his J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law (1967) and his B.A. in history, with distinction, Phi Beta Kappa, from Stanford University (1964).
Included for the sixth year in a row, Faulkner leads McManis Faulkner’s business practice. He is a seasoned civil trial lawyer focused on trade secrets disputes, commercial real estate matters and probate litigation. Faulkner represents a wide range of businesses, including high technology companies, and advises on corporate and partnership matters. A Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, Faulkner earned his J.D. from the University of California Hastings College of the Law (1978) and his B.A. in sociology from Stanford University (1973).
Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. Because Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey in which more than 36,000 leading attorneys cast almost 4.4 million votes on the legal abilities of other lawyers in their practice areas, and because lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed, inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor. Corporate Counsel magazine has called Best Lawyers “the most respected referral list of attorneys in practice.”