Shareholders Russell Budd and Scott Summy Named to the 2026 Lawdragon Hall of Fame

Russell Budd and Scott Summy were honored by Lawdragon for their distinguished and impactful careers in the legal profession.

DALLAS – The nationally recognized law firm Baron & Budd is pleased to announce that shareholders Russell Budd and Scott Summy have been selected to the 2026 Lawdragon Hall of Fame guide.

Baron & Budd President and Managing Shareholder Russell Budd, along with Shareholder and leader of the Environmental Litigation Group (ELG) Scott Summy, have been recognized by Lawdragon for dedicating their careers to the law and helping to change the face of the legal profession itself.

Lawdragon lists are compiled through nominations, independent research, and vetting with other lawyers. The Hall of Fame list, however, goes one step further and tracks hundreds of lawyers over decades to take their entire career into account when ranking them based on their contributions, leadership, and relationships with colleagues, clients, and others.

“I am honored to receive this prestigious recognition from Lawdragon,” said Budd. “I am especially proud to be included alongside Scott Summy, whose unwavering commitment to securing justice for our clients has not only delivered meaningful results, but has helped shape the environmental legal landscape as a whole.”

Russell W. Budd has served as a Baron & Budd shareholder since 1985 and president and managing shareholder since 2002. Since the 1980s, Budd has successfully protected the interests of asbestos victims across the country. Budd was instrumental in reaching settlements to fund and establish asbestos trust funds to protect current and future asbestos victims. More recently, Budd was appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Settlement Negotiation Team for the National Prescription Opiate Litigation. Budd and the Settlement Negotiation Team have been responsible for negotiating more than $50 billion in settlements with the nation’s largest and most prominent drug distributors, manufacturers, and dispensers. Budd was also recently appointed by the Court to serve as Co-Lead Counsel for the Attorney General litigation track in the recently formed Insulin Pricing MDL pending in the District of New Jersey.

Scott Summy started the firm’s Environmental Litigation Group (ELG) in 2002. He has served in court-appointed leadership roles and directly represented clients in some of the nation’s most significant environmental cases. Summy was one of the architects of a record $12.5 billion nationwide class settlement with 3M, the largest drinking water contamination settlement in U.S. history. He was also instrumental in negotiating the following historic class settlements for public water providers: $1.185 billion against DuPont, $750 million against Tyco Fire Products; and $312 million against BASF Corporation.

About Baron & Budd, P.C.

With more than 40 years of experience, Baron & Budd has the expertise and resources to handle complex litigation throughout the United States. As a law firm that takes pride in remaining at the forefront of litigation, Baron & Budd has spearheaded many significant cases for hundreds of public entities and tens of thousands of individuals. Since the firm was founded in 1977, Baron & Budd has achieved substantial national acclaim for its work on cutting-edge litigation, trying cases to verdict and settling cases in areas of litigation as diverse and significant as dangerous and highly addictive pharmaceuticals, defective medical devices, asbestos and mesothelioma, wildfires, environmental contamination, fraudulent banking practices, e-cigarettes, motor vehicles, federal whistleblower cases, and other consumer fraud issues.