Best Lawyers, the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession, has named Stephen A. Shatz  of Shatz, Schwartz and Fentin, P.C. as the “Springfield, MA, Best Lawyers Real Estate Lawyer of the Year” for 2011. After more than a quarter of a century in publication, Best Lawyers is known for its careful selection of lawyers in high-profile specialties to be named “Lawyers of the Year” in large legal communities. Only a single lawyer in each specialty, in each community, receives the honor of being named the “Lawyer of the Year.”

Attorney Shatz, a resident of Stockbridge, MA, concentrates his practice in the areas of real estate development, real estate finance and commercial leasing.  He has a Juris Doctor from Boston College and a Bachelor of Arts from Brandeis University.  After being admitted to the bar in Massachusetts in 1967, he helped found Shatz, Schwartz and Fentin, P.C.  Shatz is a member of the Hampden County, Massachusetts, and American Bar Associations.  He has also been listed as a Massachusetts and as a New England Super Lawyer in the field of real estate.

Best Lawyers compiles its lists of outstanding attorneys by conducting exhaustive peer-review surveys in which thousands of leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers.  The current, 17th edition of The Best Lawyers in America (2011) is based on more than 3.1 million detailed evaluations of lawyers by other lawyers.  The lawyers being honored as “Lawyers of the Year” have received particularly high ratings by earning a high level of respect among their peers for their abilities, professionalism, and integrity.

Steven Naifeh, President of Best Lawyers, says, “We continue to believe―as we have believed for more than 25 years―that recognition by one’s peers is the most meaningful form of praise in the legal profession.  We would like to congratulate Stephen A. Shatz on being selected as the ‘Springfield, MA, Best LawyersReal Estate Lawyer of the Year’ for 2011.”