Stanford graduates sweep Super Lawyers recognitions

Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters business, is a rating service of outstanding lawyers who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. Super Lawyers offers various lists for overall achievement in the field of law as well as more specific lists released at sporadic times of year, with all such lists of Super Lawyers 2022 officially culminating by this summer.

Samuel M. Hurwitz J.D., a SLS graduate in the Class of 1983, was designated as a Super Lawyer for 2022. As a recurring Super Lawyer since 2010, Hurwitz shared how his experience at SLS shaped his character and the way he practices tax, estate planning and probate and business/corporate law through his mindfulness of impacting those around him. 

“At Stanford, my only activity was intramural soccer. We had our first child while I was a law student, so much of my time was devoted to our family,” Hurwitz said. 

His experience juggling his academic, personal, and family lives at Stanford contributed to his dedication to “responsiveness and accessibility to clients to provide competent advice and legal assistance.”

Hurwitz said he was certainly pleased with the recognition, and he believes that it has helped him generate new clients. 

Douglas Park M.B.A. ’97 who makes legal decisions with a “mindset thinking of business implications” commented that Super Lawyers has positively impacted his career. The head of two regulation-litigation firms, Park said the designation has a noticeable impact when he is introduced as a Super Lawyer to potential entrepreneurial clients.

“The Super Lawyer recognition has a small effect in terms of lawyers who want to connect with me,” Park said. “In terms of entrepreneurs, business people, investors, that sought to connect with me, there was a bigger effect because it’s very difficult if you’re looking for an attorney to figure out who’s good.”

Contrarily, Attorney Lin Chan J.D. ’07 stated that she cannot measure if Super Lawyers has influenced her career, but that she is “very grateful” for recognition. Particularly since she does not know who nominated her.

In a departure from discussion of the official Super Lawyer label, Park said a lawyer he considers a “super lawyer” is his cousin, Sallie Kim J.D. ’89, a San Francisco federal magistrate judge and former SLS Associate Dean for Student Affairs.

“She continued to practice law while raising two sons,” Park said. “She’s not only a terrific lawyer, but she’s also been involved in community and public service, which I believe every lawyer should be involved in.”