TL;DR: The firm I co-founded in Jacksonville was just recognized in the 2027 edition of Best Law Firms® by Best Lawyers. I’ve since started my own firm, Libra Law, and I handle car crash cases. Both of those sentences matter.
This is general information, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
The email came on a Monday
It was from Best Lawyers. Plata Schott Law, the firm I co-founded with Belkis Plata, has been recognized in the 2027 edition of Best Law Firms® [in PRACTICE AREA, TIER, for JURISDICTION]. Seventeenth edition, 127 practice areas, 188 jurisdictions, more than 110,000 client references submitted this year. It’s a real list, with real methodology, and firms don’t buy their way onto it.
I read it twice, put my phone face down on the counter, and drank a La Croix in silence like a normal person.
What it actually took
Two women started a personal injury and juvenile law firm in Jacksonville with no billboards, no bus benches, and no legacy name on the door. We built it the unglamorous way: returning calls, showing up to every hearing prepared, and treating the client who got rear-ended on Beach Boulevard like she was the only file in the building.
Rankings like this one weigh client feedback and peer evaluations. That means the people who put us on this list were former clients and other lawyers, including the ones across the table. I’m prouder of that than I would be of any number.
So why did I leave?
Because I’m a Libra and I wanted my name on the scales. Libra Law is my own firm now, still in Jacksonville, still trial work, and the core of what I do is car crash cases. Rear-end on JTB, T-bone at Beach and Hodges, the roundabout that nobody understands: that’s my day.
I say this on every platform and I’ll keep saying it, because for ten years my friends have called me for everything except the one thing I actually do. Building a Best Law Firms-recognized practice doesn’t help you if you don’t know to call me when you get hit.
What the recognition means for you
Honestly? Not much, and I’d rather be clear than clever. A ranking is a signal about how a firm treats people. It isn’t a promise about your case. Nobody can promise you an outcome, and the Bar rightly forbids me from trying.
What I can promise is the same thing I promised at Plata Schott: I’ll answer, I’ll tell you within five minutes whether you have something, and I will not let a friendly adjuster close your file for $1,900 before your neck starts hurting.
If you get hit
Get seen by a doctor within 14 days (Fla. Stat. § 627.736). Don’t give the other driver’s insurer a recorded statement. Say “my attorney will reach out.” Then text the Libra first. Start here.
And if you’d like the occasional note about the law, the city, and what I’m drinking, The Forecast is here. It’s short and it’s free.
Shannon B. Schott, Esq. · Libra Law LLC · Jacksonville, Florida · Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Juvenile Law. Attorney advertising.