Three Attorneys at Staubus, Blankenship, Legere and Walker Named to The Best Lawyers in America® 2027

Staubus, Blankenship, Legere and Walker PLLC is pleased to announce that three of its attorneys — P. Keith Staubus, Julie K. Blankenship, and Joseph E. Legere — have been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2027 edition, each recognized in the practice area of Litigation – Trusts and Estates.
Best Lawyers is one of the oldest and most respected peer-review publications in the legal profession. Rather than allowing attorneys to nominate themselves, Best Lawyers compiles its lists through an extensive peer-review survey, asking lawyers to evaluate the professional abilities of others in their same geographic region and practice area. Inclusion is considered a significant honor precisely because it reflects the judgment of fellow practitioners who have observed a lawyer’s work firsthand.

For a Dallas-based boutique firm to have three attorneys recognized in the same specialized practice area speaks directly to the depth of experience the firm brings to trust and estate disputes.

A Track Record Built Over Decades

Keith Staubus and Julie Blankenship are both long-recognized names on the Best Lawyers list. Staubus, a 1983 graduate of Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law, has been named to Best Lawyers since 2024 and was also recognized by D Magazine as one of the Best Lawyers in Dallas in 2025. Blankenship, a 1991 SMU Law graduate, has appeared on the Best Lawyers list since 2021, making 2027 her fifth consecutive year of recognition.

Joseph Legere, a 2001 graduate of Thomas M. Cooley Law School, has been named to Best Lawyers since 2024 and has also been recognized as a Texas Super Lawyer in the field since 2020. Together with name partner Kelly C. Walker, the four attorneys bring more than 100 combined years of legal experience to the firm’s estate, trust, and guardianship litigation practice.

The firm’s trust and estate litigation group was also named a Tier One Best Law Firm for 2025–2026, underscoring that this year’s individual honors are part of a broader, sustained pattern of recognition for the practice as a whole.

Why Litigation – Trusts and Estates Recognition Matters

Disputes over wills, trusts, and estates are rarely simple. They involve a mix of probate procedure, fiduciary duty law, and often deeply personal family conflict — all playing out at a time when clients are frequently grieving the loss of a loved one. Cases in this area can include:

• Will contests and challenges to testamentary capacity or undue influence
• Trust litigation and disputes over trustee conduct
• Fiduciary and guardianship litigation
• Power of attorney disputes
• Estate administration disagreements among heirs and beneficiaries

Attorneys who focus specifically on this niche, rather than treating it as one of many general litigation matters, develop a different level of fluency in both the legal standards and the practical realities of probate court. Being singled out by peers for this specific practice area — rather than for litigation generally — signals a level of specialization that clients evaluating counsel for a trust or estate dispute should weigh carefully.

What This Means for Clients

For families and fiduciaries facing a contested estate or trust matter, choosing counsel is rarely something they’ve had to do before, and it often happens under emotional and financial pressure. Third-party recognition like Best Lawyers doesn’t replace the work of vetting an attorney directly, but it does offer an outside, peer-driven data point: these are lawyers whose work other attorneys in the same specialty consider genuinely strong.

With three attorneys recognized in the same niche practice area, SBLW’s clients gain access to a team that can bring multiple perspectives to a single matter, rather than relying on the judgment of one lawyer working in relative isolation. That depth matters in trust and estate litigation, where cases can turn on nuanced fact patterns and where a second or third experienced set of eyes often changes strategy for the better.

Congratulations to the Team

SBLW extends its congratulations to Keith Staubus, Julie Blankenship, and Joseph Legere on this well-earned recognition. The honor reflects not just individual skill, but the strength of a firm built around a single, focused practice area over many years.
If you are facing a dispute involving a will, trust, estate, or guardianship matter in the Dallas area, the attorneys at Staubus, Blankenship, Legere and Walker PLLC are available to discuss your situation and outline your options. Contact the firm at (214) 833-0100 to schedule a consultation.