Peterson Law Trial Lawyers Justin Peterson and Kellie Collins, and Whiteford's Masten Childers III, Named to 2027 Kentucky Super Lawyers List

Three of the alliance's trial lawyers were selected through a peer-nominated, research-driven process that limits the list to no more than 5 percent of Kentucky attorneys.

LEXINGTON, Ky., Oct. 1, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Peterson Law Office is pleased to announce that Founding Partner Justin Peterson, Managing Partner Kellie M. Collins, and Masten Childers III, Office Managing Partner for Lexington and Louisville at Whiteford, Taylor & Preston LLP, have been selected to the 2027 Kentucky Super Lawyers list.

Super Lawyers, part of Thomson Reuters, is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. Selection follows a patented multiphase process that includes peer nominations, independent research across 12 indicators of professional achievement, and peer evaluations by practice area. No more than 5 percent of attorneys in a state are named to the Super Lawyers list each year, and attorneys cannot pay to be included.

Justin Peterson has been a trial attorney since graduating from the University of Kentucky College of Law. He founded Peterson Law Office after nearly a decade practicing on both sides of personal injury litigation. Before opening his own firm, he served as a partner at a Lexington plaintiffs' firm and, before that, as a partner and shareholder at a large insurance-defense firm, where he handled high-stakes civil litigation on behalf of insurance companies and their insureds.

That background is uncommon and strategically valuable: Peterson knows how insurance companies evaluate claims, what documentation drives settlements upward, and what weaknesses defense teams look for at trial. He brings that insider knowledge to every case he takes on behalf of injured Kentuckians. His results include some of the largest personal-injury settlements recorded in Kentucky and multiple plaintiff verdicts across a range of case types. He has been awarded Super Lawyers status (2022-Present).

Kellie M. Collins is a native of Eastern Kentucky who grew up in Salyersville and Morehead. The daughter of a plaintiffs' attorney, she began her career on the other side, spending eight years advising and representing insurance carriers in complex litigation, bad-faith suits, and coverage disputes, and becoming a partner and shareholder at a regional defense firm in Lexington. As Managing Partner at Peterson Law, she applies that knowledge of insurer policies and procedures to cases involving auto and truck crashes, medical malpractice, premises liability, wrongful death, insurance bad faith, and product liability. Collins earned her Bachelor of Arts in Communications, magna cum laude and with honors, from the University of Kentucky and her Juris Doctor from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 2008, where she and Justin Peterson were classmates. She is admitted to practice in Kentucky, the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Kentucky, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and is a member of the Kentucky Justice Association and the Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys. She was previously named a Super Lawyers Rising Star (2016, 2017) and named to the Kentucky Super Lawyers list (2021–2023).

Masten Childers III is the Office Managing Partner for Lexington and Louisville at Whiteford, Taylor & Preston LLP and chairs its Kentucky catastrophic and personal injury practice. Through the alliance Peterson Law and Whiteford formed in 2023, Childers and Justin Peterson co-lead the firms' catastrophic-injury, medical-malpractice, and wrongful-death litigation, working as a single trial team. His experience spans state, federal, and appellate courts and complex arbitrations, on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants. Childers earned his Juris Doctor from Northern Kentucky University's Salmon P. Chase College of Law in 2011 and his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Kentucky in 2002. He is admitted in Kentucky and the District of Columbia and before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and the D.C. Circuit. He was also named to The Best Lawyers in America® 2027, including Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs.

"Super Lawyers starts with nominations from other lawyers — the people who see how you prepare and how you try a case," said Justin Peterson, Founding Partner, Peterson Law. "That is the recognition that means something. Kellie, Masten, and I prepare every case as if it is going to a jury, because that is what makes an insurance company take it seriously."

"No client comes to us because of a list," said Kellie Collins, Managing Partner, Peterson Law. "They come because something happened that wasn't their fault and they need someone to tell them the truth about what comes next. This belongs to the whole team that does that work every day."

Childers added, "Justin and I built this alliance so injured Kentuckians would have trial lawyers on their side with the depth to see a hard case all the way through. Being recognized alongside him and Kellie is an honor."

Peterson Law Office is a personal-injury trial firm based in Lexington, Kentucky, representing people injured in car and truck crashes, medical malpractice, nursing-home abuse and neglect, workplace injuries, and wrongful death across Kentucky. Since 2023, the firm has worked in alliance with Whiteford, Taylor & Preston LLP, bringing the two firms' trial lawyers together on the Commonwealth's most serious injury cases. The firm is known for its client-centered approach — Personal Care, Powerful Results.

Peterson Law Office is located at 2424 Harrodsburg Road, Suite 205, Lexington, KY 40503. For more information or to schedule a free consultation, call (859) 469-6390 or visit www.justinpetersonlaw.com.

SOURCE Peterson Law