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COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA –Sowell Gray attorneys Grady Beard, Becky Laffitte and Bobby Stepp, have all earned “Lawyer of the Year” honors in the 2017 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.

Grady Beard was named Workers’ Compensation Law “Lawyer of the “Year,” Becky Laffitte was recognized as Personal Injury Litigation “Lawyer of the Year” and Bobby Stepp was named Bet-the-Company Litigation “Lawyer of the Year.” These designations are presented to a single attorney within each practice area and city.

The guide, which was recently released in print and is also available online at bestlawyers.com, is one of the oldest peer-reviewed publications in the legal profession. The selection process is stringent and includes a review process with evaluations by other lawyers in their practice areas and in their communities.

Lawyers of the Year are selected because of impressively high scores during peer evaluations for the Best Lawyers publication. Only a single attorney in each city is so designated in each practice area.

Honored for the first time as Lawyer of the Year, Grady Beard has been listed in Best Lawyers continuously since 2008. It is the fourth Lawyer of the Year award for Becky Laffitte. She was honored in 2013 and 2016 in Insurance Law and in 2014 for Product Liability Litigation. Bobby Stepp has been listed in Best Lawyers every year since 2005 and is receiving his first Lawyer of the Year recognition.

Grady Beard focuses his practice on workers’ compensation, workers’ compensation mediation and appellate advocacy. He is a past recipient of the South Carolina Pro Bono Award and 1990 nominee for the South Carolina Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year award.

Becky Laffitte’s diverse litigation practice focuses on disputes involving alternative dispute resolution; construction; dram shop; healthcare; insurance coverage; premises liability; product liability; and commercial transportation and trucking.

Bobby Stepp is an experienced litigator focusing on complex cases in the practice areas of professional liability defense, corporate governance disputes, contract matters, product liability defense, voting rights, and constitutional issues.

Sowell Gray attorneys have earned Best Lawyers Lawyer of the Year recognition a total of ten times in the firm’s twenty-year history.