“We are also the smallest firm to make the cut in St. Louis,” noted Geoff Gerber, one of the firm’s three principals, pointing out that BrickHouse is ranked at the same level in I.P. Litigation as the 250-lawyer firm of Armstrong Teasdale and at the same level in Copyright Law as the international law firm of SNR Denton.

“Although the three of us started our careers in Big Law,” Geoff explained, “we believe that our clients are best served by the innovative approach to legal problems made possible in our uniquely collaborative practice.”

U.S. News & World Report explains that its Best Law Firm “rankings are based on a rigorous evaluation process that includes the collection of client and lawyer evaluations, peer review from leading attorneys in their field, and review of additional information provided by law firms as part of the formal submission process. An unprecedented amount of data was collected in the project’s second year, and this combined data resulted in the 2011-2012 ‘Best Law Firms’ rankings.”

St. Louis Magazine published the announcement of these honors for the St. Louis region in its February 2012 issue. The Best Lawyers in America®, issued annually by Woodward/White, is, according to St. Louis Magazine, “the preeminent referral guide to the legal profession in the United States.”

Woodward/White explains that it compiles its lists of outstanding attorneys by “conducting exhaustive peer-review surveys” in which “leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers.” As a result, Woodward/White states, “A listing in Best Lawyers is widely regarded by both clients and legal professionals as a significant honor, conferred on a lawyer by his or her peers.”

And by the time Alan Craig caught the final out in the 9th inning of Game 7, the first application to register RALLY SQUIRREL was on file with the U.S. Trademark Office, to be followed ten days later with an application to register RALLY SQUIRRELS. Both were filed by businesses unaffiliated with Major League Baseball. And both raise the same question: should a company be able to claim trademark rights in a name that originated in the public domain?

Read more at the AnchorPlate