Bailey Glasser Lawyers Named to 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Civil Rights & Plaintiff Employment Lawyers List

Eight Bailey Glasser lawyers were included in the 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Civil Rights & Plaintiff Employment Lawyers List. This year’s honorees include partners Brian A. Glasser, Mark Boyko, Sharon F. Iskra, Cary Joshi, D. Todd Mathews, Gregory Y.  Porter, and David L. Selby II, and Of Counsel Aliya Khalidi.  

As set forth by Lawdragon in announcing the awards:

These lawyers are champions who stand tall and deliver justice to individuals who have lost their means to make a living, their freedom, their dignity. To have a job, a chance. To have one’s freedom and be able to speak one’s mind. To be able to proceed in life free of sexual abuse, harassment, discrimination and other boulders unfairly forced onto the paths of individuals trying to live their lives – that is the calling of these heroes . . . .

They’re a little busy just now. This is our 8th edition of this guide to the champions you need when you’ve been fired, harassed or otherwise deprived of your rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These lawyers are the toughest lawyers around for victims of law enforcement and other authorities who’ve engaged in violence and other abuses of power, as well as those who’ve suffered the horror of sexual abuse, assault and other violence.

Brian A. Glasser is a founding partner of the firm and was recognized by Lawdragon in 2025 (and 2024) as a "Top 500 Litigator in America," and recognized by Forbes Media as one of the “Top 200 Lawyers in America” and “Best-in-State” in its first-ever top lawyers lists. His work helps people all over the country, including those injured by talc baby powder, harmful chemicals like weed killers, and veterans injured by defective combat earplugs.  In 2025, Brian successfully co-led the trial team on behalf of the Coalition of Counsel for Justice in Talc Claimants in the third “Texas Two-Step” attempt by Johnson & Johnson to discharge liabilities arising from people alleging injury by the company’s talc products. Brian has been Chambers-ranked (Band 1) for 22 years and has tried cases in 18 different states, including two mass actions and six class actions.

Mark Boyko represents clients in actions brought under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). He has secured judgments and settlements in this area exceeding $500 million and handled successful appeals in federal circuit courts as well as the Supreme Court of the United States. Mark is a pioneer in ERISA class action litigation, representing workers and retirees in many of the earliest cases in his field. 

Sharon F. Iskra is a partner and the leader of our compassionate Institutional Abuse and Neglect team. A nationally recognized advocate and voice for the vulnerable, she litigates cases for children, individuals with special needs, and others who have been abused, neglected, or exploited in institutions such as juvenile detention centers, group homes, rehabilitation centers, universities, hotels, foster care facilities, and other settings. She won millions for two disabled and non-verbal minors abused by staff at a care facility, among many other successes for the vulnerable, and is a member of the team fighting for justice for thousands of survivors of childhood sexual abuse in Maryland’s juvenile detention centers.

Cary Joshi is the firm's Commercial & Environmental Litigation Practice Group Leader who leads national litigation teams in high-profile lawsuits across the country. Cary fights to protect the rights of student-athletes across the country whose Title IX rights have been violated, including being part of teams that have won major, ground-breaking settlements at Brown University, the College of William & Mary, the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, East Carolina University, Dartmouth College, the University of St. Thomas, La Salle University, Dickinson College, Florida State University, and the University of Central Oklahoma. 

Aliya Khalidi is a member of the firm’s nationally-recognized Mass Torts Practice Group, where she represents individuals harmed in institutional settings or through other wrongful injuries. Her work includes representing hundreds of childhood sexual abuse survivors across multiple states, including Maryland and Illinois. Aliya is a skillful trial lawyer who has handled complex investigations, trials, negotiations, and appeals as a prosecutor for over 13 years. In her work, she handled federal and state misdemeanor and felony criminal investigations, motions practice, and jury trials. She also has deep experience in appellate litigation, including appearing before three-judge panels.

D. Todd Mathews, a partner in our St. Louis-area office, leads the teams that have been fighting for justice on behalf of thousands of victims of sexual abuse in Maryland, Illinois, and beyond. During the past two decades, Todd Mathews has secured numerous multimillion-dollar trial verdicts and settlements on behalf of his clients, successfully representing plaintiffs nationwide across product liability, personal injury, employment, sexual abuse, class action, mass tort, and whistleblower cases. Notably, he was apart of the team representing the Coalition of Counsel for Justice for Talc Claimants in defeating Johnson & Johnson’s third “Texas Two-Step” bankruptcy, with the court dismissing the $10 billion plan over improper voting practices and overly broad non-debtor releases.

Gregory Y. Porter is the Practice Group Leader of our nationally award-winning ERISA practice group. Greg has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of employees who lost retirement savings in 401(k) plans and ESOPs and has fought from trial courts all the way up the Supreme Court of the United States to protect their financial interests. In the last year he's successfully led litigation teams to fight big companies who have sought to force plaintiffs into arbitration rather than litigate in federal courts.

David L. Selby II leads Bailey Glasser’s nationally recognized Mass Torts practice, representing individuals injured by dangerous and defective products such as talc, asbestos, hernia mesh, combat earplugs, and defective firearms. Earlier this year, he was part of the trial team that defeated Johnson & Johnson’s third “Texas Two-Step” bankruptcy—a proposed $10 billion plan to shift liability for more than 90,000 cancer claims—when the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas dismissed the case over improper voting practices and overly broad non-debtor releases. David also secured what the International Business Times called a “landmark legal concession” from Taurus International Manufacturing in a $239 million class action settlement over defective pistols, and is part of the team fighting for survivors of childhood sexual abuse in juvenile detention centers across multiple states.

Congratulations to all the lawyers receiving this recognition. To see the full list, please visit this link.