Legal Experts to Watch in 2026

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes · Last updated: 9 September 2026

Five legal experts — Craig Ashton, Andy Citrin, Robert Curtis, Maxx E. Sharp and Vicki Lafer Abrahamson — are shaping how law is practised in 2026 by combining courtroom work, business litigation and technology-focused representation. Their records include more than $350 million recovered by Ashton & Price, more than $600 million recovered by Andy Citrin, and a recent $6 million federal trucking verdict that illustrates the stakes at trial. This piece profiles those five names and explains the practical ways their experience — from Ashton & Price’s founding in 1996 to Abrahamson’s practice started in 1985 — gives clients strategies for complex disputes and evolving regulation. The primary keyword legal experts 2026 appears here.

Why these five matter in 2026

Each lawyer profiled brings a career-long mix of trial experience and specialised practice that matters to clients facing high-stakes disputes or rapidly changing regulation. The group spans plaintiff-side personal injury and mass tort work, business and intellectual property litigation, employment law, and counsel for companies working with new technologies such as artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency and blockchain. Those practice areas are where litigation norms and regulatory guidance are most in flux, and where practical courtroom readiness often determines whether a case settles or goes to verdict.

The biographies include anchored figures that signal scale and outcomes: Ashton & Price’s cumulative recoveries exceed $350 million, Andy Citrin reports more than $600 million recovered and a $6 million trucking verdict, and Vicki Lafer Abrahamson’s career stretches from her firm start in 1985 to four decades of employment work. Those numbers show both client impact and the resources needed to handle complex matters today.

Trial work and catastrophe litigation

Trial readiness is a throughline for several of the lawyers here. Robert A. Curtis built a reputation handling large catastrophe matters and mass plaintiff actions, and his record earned recognition such as an Elite Trial Lawyer Finalist mention in 2021 and listings in The Best Lawyers in America for 2024 and 2025. Long-term trial experience matters when events produce broad property loss or serious personal injury; these cases require coordinating experts, multi-jurisdictional filings and management of tens or hundreds of plaintiffs.

That combination of scale and courtroom focus is visible in other profiles too: Andy Citrin’s nearly 40-year career has included more than 10,000 clients and methods for training litigators in his firm, while Ashton & Price’s practice, founded in 1996, emphasises preparation that the firm says has led to the $350 million-plus recovery total cited above. In large-scale or catastrophe litigation, those institutional routines — trial playbooks, experienced teams and early case development — change the practical options available to clients.

Business, technology and next‑generation firms

Commercial disputes and technology-driven claims are central to the practices of Maxx E. Sharp and the firms he leads. Sharp Law APC focuses on business litigation, intellectual property, and matters touching artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, blockchain and e-commerce — areas where contract terms, evidence sources and regulatory obligations are still developing. For companies in fast-moving sectors, counsel that blends litigation craft with an operational understanding of platforms and payment processors can limit exposure and shape strategy early.

Sharp’s profile also illustrates a generational change: he is noted as one of the early Gen Z lawyers to own a firm, and that matters because younger firm leadership often brings different approaches to courtroom technology, cross-border discovery involving exchanges and processors, and rapid-response dispute containment. These capabilities alter how clients choose counsel when a technology failure or regulatory investigation appears imminent.

Experience, mentorship and institutional impact

Long careers produce institutional practices that survive individual matters. Vicki Lafer Abrahamson, who opened her own practice in 1985 and helped found The College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, demonstrates how decades in one field create both precedent knowledge and a mentoring role for younger lawyers. Abrahamson’s shift from employer-side representation to employee-side advocacy also reflects how practice areas evolve over time and how individual careers can shift legal norms.

Similarly, Andy Citrin’s development of the Andy Wins Trial Process is a documented attempt to codify trial readiness for the next generation of litigators. When firms formalise training or establish repeatable litigation methods, clients benefit from institutional memory — not just from one lawyer’s instincts but from documented, practised processes that the firm can deploy across dozens or hundreds of matters.

Cases for and against continued change

The bottom line

These five practitioners illustrate how modern legal work combines long-established trial craft with emerging technical and business issues. Numbers such as the $350 million-plus recoveries attributed to Ashton & Price, Andy Citrin’s more than $600 million in recoveries and a $6 million verdict underline the tangible client impact of disciplined preparation. At the same time, practices that focus on AI, cryptocurrency and cross-border discovery show how litigation strategy now requires both courtroom skill and technical fluency. For clients and in-house counsel, the practical lesson is simple: choose teams that can meet both the evidentiary demands of trial and the technical realities of today’s disputes.

What to watch

• Watch whether Robert A. Curtis completes the 12 additional country visits he planned during 2026; no specific dates were provided.
• Watch for Sharp Law APC’s next publicly reported technology or cryptocurrency case; no date has been set in the profiles.
• Watch for announcements from Vicki Lafer Abrahamson about any new initiatives from The College of Labor and Employment Lawyers; no date has been set.