Three RJO Shareholders Named to 2026 Thomson Reuters Stand-Out Lawyers List

RJO shareholders Gayle Athanacio, Alecia Cotton and James Robert Maxwell have been named to the 2026 Thomson Reuters Stand-Out Lawyers list.

Each honoree was independently nominated as one of the three most outstanding lawyers their clients have worked with in the last three years. They will be included in the Stand-Out database, which legal departments worldwide use to search for peer-recommended lawyers.

Gayle Athanacio co-chairs the firm’s Labor & Employment and Complex Commercial Litigation Practice Groups, and is a member of the firm’s Government Contracts and Construction Practice Groups. She represents individuals, national retailers, service providers, contractors and subcontractors in litigation involving individual, class, collective and representative actions, misappropriation of trade secrets cases, public and private works controversies, and claims under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act.

Alecia Cotton is co-chair of the firm’s Retail Industry Trade Regulation Practice Group, and a member of the Environmental Law and Cybersecurity and Privacy Practice Groups. She represents retailers, suppliers, and manufacturers of both consumer and commercial products in a wide array of civil litigation, including consumer products litigation and class actions, environmental matters such as CERCLA, CEQA, Hazardous Waste, and Proposition 65, unfair competition and false and misleading advertising law, CLRA matters, Pricing claims, white-collar defense, and contract disputes. She also handles ADA and Unruh Act violation claims, including web access matters.

James Robert Maxwell is co-chair of the firm’s Retail Industry Trade Regulation Practice Group, and a member of the Complex Commercial Litigation, Cybersecurity and Privacy, and Environmental Law Practice Groups. He has over 30 years of experience representing international and U.S. based manufacturers, distributors, and retailers of consumer products in a wide variety of litigation and regulatory compliance matters under federal, California, and other state law. He also advises on EU and international compliance issues. Deep experience in providing compliance advice and defending claims on food, dietary supplement, and durable consumer goods.