Enjuris Premier Partner Thomas L. Holder of Gerber & Holder Law (now Gerber & Elkins) has won the prestigious 2020 Comp Laude® Award for his outstanding contributions to the workers’ compensation industry as a claimants’ attorney.
“It is a tremendous honor to win this award,” said Tom. “I want to thank my longtime partners, Jim Long, and Ben Gerber, for creating an environment in which I could do the work that has been recognized by this award”.
What are the Comp Laude Awards?
The Comp Laude Awards were started by David J. DePaolo, the late founder and CEO of WorkCompCentral, to shine a spotlight on what’s good and right in the workers’ compensation industry.
Since its inception, the Comp Laude Awards have become a coveted national honor. Professionals across the country are nominated by their peers for their excellence and for their embodiment of the Comp Laude mission, which is “to change the narrative of the workers’ compensation industry to a more positive dialogue” and “to place the injured worker at the center of the conversation.”
This year, hundreds of professionals were nominated in 10 categories. Tom Holder was the only attorney to win the award in the applicant/claimant attorney category.
“We never do our work for recognition, but it is nice for an organization like WorkCompCentral to say that it thinks you are doing a good job,” said Tom.
The ceremony to honor the recipients draws workers’ compensation professionals from all over the country, including claimant attorneys, defense attorneys, insurance professionals, employers, risk managers, safety industry thought leaders, and medical professionals. The event this year was held virtually due to the pandemic.
Tom is thrilled to be honored, saying:
“It has been a privilege to represent Georgia claimants attorneys on the national stage. We have a great group that can stand with the lawyers in any other state in the nation.”
Should accident victims pay attention to attorney awards?
There are several criteria that accident victims and workers’ compensation claimants should use to evaluate an attorney, and awards such as these are certainly a valid measure to consider. But it’s important to keep in mind that not all awards are created equal.
Some awards have extremely misleading names and others are simply scams that give an award to any attorney who is willing to pay a large fee. Of course, there are many well-respected industry awards such as the Comp Laude Awards.
- Is the company or organization issuing the award reputable?
- What is the nomination process (can an attorney self-nominate)?
- Is there an award fee?
- Are there meaningful selection criteria?
- Is the company or organization transparent about the selection criteria?