Eleven lawyers in DLA Piper have been ranked as leaders in their fields in the Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business.
Chambers also honored DLA Piper's national Real Estate Team with the 2008 Award for Excellence, which recognizes the top real estate team in the country.
"We are pleased that Chambers has once again recognized our Real Estate practice in Mass., and that more than one third of our lawyers are recognized as leading attorneys in their respective areas," said DLA Piper's Boston managing partner Elliot Surkin.

"It highlights the breadth of the team's capabilities, as well as the hard work and dedication our lawyers put forth both on a regional and national level. I congratulate everyone on this much-deserved honor."

DLA Piper's leading Boston lawyers include:

* Joseph J. Christian, Real Estate
* Geoffrey A. Howell, Real Estate
* Joseph A. Hugg, Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation
* Cara J. Nelson, Real Estate - Associate to Watch
* Stephen Nolan, Real Estate
* John Rattigan, Real Estate
* Richard Rudman, Real Estate
* John L. Sullivan, Real Estate
* Elliot Surkin, Real Estate
* Barbara A. Trachtenberg, Real Estate
* Lawrence E. Uchill, Real Estate

The Chambers rankings are based on extensive research conducted by Chambers and Partners Legal Publishers, a highly respected English publisher of renowned directories assessing and ranking the world's leading lawyers. Unlike other publishers that allow firms to purchase a mention or ranking, Chambers' listings are based solely on outside evaluations of merit. Its researchers investigate law firms and lawyers in each U.S. state through an exhaustive process of interviewing clients and competitors in major areas of business law.

Nationwide, 120 DLA Piper attorneys were ranked as leaders in their fields in the new edition of Chambers USA, and the firm itself was ranked in several practice areas.

In 2008, DLA Piper ranked in the first tier in 13 regional and national areas of practice, including:

* Construction in Illinois
* Franchising, nationally
* Retail, nationally
* Litigation in Maryland
* Labor & Employment in Maryland
* Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation in Maryland
* Real Estate in California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C. (5)
* Corporate/M&A in Maryland
* Technology: Corporate & Commercial in Texas

DLA Piper ranked in the second tier in:

* Government: Government Contracts, nationally
* Government: Government Relations, nationally
* Leisure & Hospitality, nationally
* Privacy & Data Security, nationally
* IT & IT Outsourcing in California
* Insurance: Transactional & Regulatory in Illinois
* Labor & Employment in Nevada
* Corporate/Commercial in Washington

 The firm ranked in the third tier in:

* Investment Funds: REITs, nationally
* Outsourcing, nationally
* Corporate/M&A in Southern California and Northern Virginia (2)
* Intellectual Property in California
* Corporate/M&A and Private Equity in Washington, D.C. and Illinois (2)
* Bankruptcy/Restructuring in Illinois
* Energy & Natural Resources in Illinois
* Technology & IT Outsourcing in Illinois
* Real Estate: Mainly Dirt in New York
* Real Estate in Texas

DLA Piper ranked in the fourth tier in:

* Investment Funds: Private Equity: Buyouts, nationally
* Products Liability, nationally
* Banking & Finance, in California
* Corporate/M&A in Northern California
* Environment in Washington, D.C.
* Real Estate in Florida
* Real Estate: Mainly Corporate & Finance in New York

And DLA Piper ranked in the fifth tier in:

* Labor & Employment in Illinois
* Projects in New York
* Tax in Washington, D.C.

About DLA Piper (www.dlapiper.com)
DLA Piper has 3,700 lawyers in 25 countries and 64 offices throughout the U.S., U.K., Continental Europe, Middle East and Asia. It has leading practices in corporate, finance, human resources, litigation, real estate, regulatory and legislative, tax, technology, life sciences, and media and communications.  Former Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell is chairman of DLA Piper.  In certain jurisdictions, this information may be considered attorney advertising.