Our Directory of Fellows lists each member by state and offers a short biography with photo, when available. Contact information is provided only for those Fellows who have given permission for this to appear on the website. A printable PDF version of the complete directory can be provided, subject to Board approval. Please send your request to this email along with a short explanation.
Fish is a past Chair of the ABA TIPS Workers’ Compensation and Employers’ Liability Committee and the immediate past President of the National Workers’ Compensation Defense Network. He was selected by his peers as Birmingham Business Journal’s “Best of the Bar for Workers’ Compensation” in 2005 and 2006, “Best of the Bar” in 2021 and “Top 40 under 40” in 2009. He was selected as one of LexisNexis’ “Workers’ Compensation Notable People for 2010” and was only one of two defense attorneys selected in the nation. In 2012, 2013, and 2016, Fish was selected by his peers as one of Birmingham Magazine’s “Top Attorneys” in the field of workers’ compensation. Fish was the fourth Alabama lawyer to ever be inducted into the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers.
Judge Claude E. Hundley, III graduated from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1984. He represented plaintiffs in Workers’ Compensation claims through his own practice in Guntersville, Alabama, and later companies and businesses at a defense firm in Huntsville, Alabama. He has been handling Workers’ Compensation claims through his appointment to the District Court bench in 2011, and in 2018, his appointment to the Circuit Court bench.
Mr. Nomberg has been a member of the Alabama State Bar since 2002. David primarily represents injured workers throughout Alabama in on the job accidents and workers’ compensation cases. David has earned an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell’s peer-review rating in civil practice, personal injury, and workers’ compensation. He has been selected as a Super Lawyer (2013-2022) for workers’ compensation. David serves as Secretary for the Workers’ Injury Law and Advocacy Group.
WILLIAM E. PIPKIN, JR.
Bill is a partner in the Mobile, Alabama office of Austill, Lewis, Pipkin & Maddox, P.C. He has a general civil practice, focusing on the defense of workers’ compensation, personal injury, and general liability matters. Admitted to practice in Alabama and Florida, he is an experienced trial attorney in both state and federal courts throughout Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. He is a member of the Alabama State Bar and served as Chairman of the Workers’ Compensation Section from 2006-2007. He is AV Rated by Martindale-Hubbell and has been regularly selected for inclusion in “Best Lawyers” and “Super Lawyers”. His other memberships include, the Alabama Defense Lawyers Association, the Defense Research Institute (Construction Law, Trucking Law and Workers’ Compensation Committees), National Retail & Restaurant Defense Association (NRRDA), and the Claims & Litigation Management Alliance (CLM) (Instructor, Claims College; Workers’ Compensation Advisory Board). He earned the Certified Litigation Management Professional certification through CLM. He served as Chair for the Workers’ Compensation Section of the Defense Research Institute from 2009 – 2011 and is a frequent speaker at professional education seminars on workers’ compensation, medical, and ethics topics. He is Co-Chair of the National Workers’ Compensation Review Program for the WCI Conference. Bill is an Eagle Scout and member of the Executive Committee for his local Council. He is a founding member of the Faith Based Claims Association and is instrumental in organizing prayer breakfasts at claims events. He is a Fellow to the American College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers.
I am an Administrative Law Judge for the State of Arizona and have worked in this capacity in Tucson Arizona since 1999. Prior to moving to Arizona, I worked as a defense lawyer in workers’ compensation in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.
R. TODD LUNDMARK has been a member of the State Bar of Arizona since 1981. He received his B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of Arizona in 1978, and his J.D. in 1981 from Arizona State University College of Law. Certified by the Arizona Bar as a workers’ compensation specialist since 1991, he is a co-editor and co-author of the Arizona Workers’ Compensation Handbook (State Bar of Arizona, 1992). He is also a Fellow of the American College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers.
Since graduating Law School, Jason has represented the residents of Northwest Arkansas in hundreds of depositions and bench trials. He has tried numerous cases to jury in Arkansas Circuit Courts and Federal Courts and have successfully reversed trial court rulings at the Arkansas Supreme Court and the Arkansas Court of Appeals.
Jason has a passion fighting for justice and fairness for Arkansans who have been injured at no fault of their own. Additionally, he has worked long hours attempting to educate legislators on the negative effect proposed workers’ compensation bills would have on injured workers and have testified multiple times to legislative committees in an attempt to keep a level playing field.
Mr. Zuerker’s practice is focused primarily on advising and defending insurance carriers and self-insured employers in workers’ compensation cases.
Ericka Dunn is a current partner in the San Francisco office of Hanna Brophy California, one of the original workers comp defense firms in California. Ericka received her undergraduate degree from UCLA and JD from Santa Clara University. She is certified for appearances before the California Supreme Court, 9th District Court of Appeals and US Supreme Court. She is currently serving as Vice President for the NWCDN.
Admitted to practice in 1974, Barry Harris Hinden has been protecting the rights and dignity and helping restore the self esteem of Injured Workers for 46 years. Currently he is Vice President of WILG (Workers’ Injury Law & Advocacy Group), Past President of CAAA
(California Applicants’ Attorneys Association). He has authored over 75 books or publications and has conducted more than 100 seminars & podcasts teaching the principles of practicing Workers Compensation. He has been a Super Lawyer and Top Attorney for the last 12 years and a Fellow in The College since 2015. He was an Adjunct Professor at Southwestern University, an Arbitrator and a Certified Judge Pro-Tem. As the founding and managing partner of Hinden & Breslavsky, his passion is helping restore the dignity and self esteem to those who’s occupations and lives have been altered due to an industrial injury.
Mr. Marcus’ practice has been exclusively devoted to the injured workers in Sacramento and surrounding areas since 1976. He is known for his aggressive approach and his tireless fight for the rights of injured workers. He is a certified specialist in workers’ compensation per the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. He is the past president of the California Applicants’ Attorneys Association (CAAA) and continues to actively serve on a number of committees, including CAAA’s Board of Directors and Legislative Committee. Mr. Marcus was named as the 2010 Applicant’s Attorney of the Year by the State Bar of California. In 2013, he was presented with the Eugene Marias Lifetime Achievement Award by the California Applicants’ Attorneys Association, the highest honor given by the organization. He is proud to practice alongside his son, Jason Marcus, who joined the firm in 2008.
John Parente is currently “Of Counsel” in the San Francisco office of Laughlin, Falbo, Levy and Moresi. Previously John was the founding partner of Parente & Christopher, a defense practice in San Rafael, California. He is a Certified Specialist in Workers’ Compensation having practiced workers’ compensation law for 43 years. He is a Judge Pro Temp at the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board since 1983 and serves as an Arbitrator and Mediator. John has extensive experience in representing self-insured employers, carriers and uninsured employers on regular workers’ compensation claims as well as 132a and Serious and Willful defense. John has served as a lecturer to the California Self-Insurers Association, California Continuing Education of the Bar, the California Lawyers Association Workers’ Compensation Section and the American Bar Association Tort and Workers’ Compensation Section.
Barry Pearlman, who founded Pearlman, Brown & Wax, LLP with a loan from his parents, started the firm as a sole practitioner on June 1st, 1984, specializing in employment litigation and workers’ compensation.
In addition to maintaining a full case load, he is the managing partner of the firm. Barry specializes in the litigation of complicated employment law and workers’ compensation defense matters, representing employers, insurance carriers and third party administrators. Barry also manages the firm’s “sport teams” unit, defending NFL, NHL and other teams for claims made in California. He is also recognized as an expert on coverage issues involving employment litigation and workers’ compensation coverage. He is exclusive counsel on LC132a discrimination claims and Serious and Willful Misconduct claims for a multinational employer. He is an experienced litigator with numerous successes before the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board and the Appellate and Superior Courts of the State of California.
As a respected member of the Employment Law and Workers’ Compensation communities, Barry is a frequent lecturer, speaker and instructor on current trends in procedure, law and strategy. His comprehensive approach in preventing claims has made him a popular speaker nationally to employers and insurance carriers. In recognition of his contributions and achievements in the field, Barry has been the recipient of the Warren H. Hanna Life Time Achievement Award and the Most Influential People in California Workers’ Compensation Award. He is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell and has been selected as a Super Lawyer by Los Angeles Magazine for multiple years.
Out of his commitment to the legal profession, Barry has served as an Arbitrator for the State Bar of California for over 10 years. He has served on the Governor’s Workers’ Compensation Community Task Force and the Administrative Director’s Committees on Permanent Disability and Medical Provider Networks. Barry is a certified provider for continuing education by the Division of Workers’ Compensation Medical Unit and the California Department of Insurance.
In 2020, Barry received the highest possible rating in both legal and ethical standards from Martindale Hubbell (AV Preeminent).
Leslie Tuxhorn has been as Workers’ Compensation attorney since 1991. She has appeared before most of the boards throughout California representing public entities, self-insured employers and insurers. Her experience includes managing a statewide law firm with 14 offices. She now is devoting all of her time to a caseload and enjoying working with her clients.
Alexander Wong is a partner at Jones Clifford and is a certified specialist in workers’ compensation. He has worked as both a defense and applicant’s attorney. He primarily represents public safety officers and firefighters. He has served as the Chair of the California State Bar Executive Committee on Workers’ Compensation and has been recognized as Applicant’s Attorney of the Year by both the State Bar and California Applicant’s Attorney’s Association.
Richard L. Aiken, Jr. is a partner at Strunk Dodge Aiken Zovas. He is a certified Workers’ Compensation Specialist. Attorney Aiken is the recipient of the Connecticut Bar Association 2022 Pomeranz-O’Brien Award. He is a past Chair of the Connecticut Bar Association Workers’ Compensation Section and serves on the Legal Advisory Committee. Attorney Aiken is included in Best Lawyers in America and is designated as a New England/Connecticut Super Lawyer.
Donna Civitello is a partner at Carter and Civitello in Woodbridge, Connecticut. She concentrates her practice on workers’ compensation. She graduated from Yale University in 1978 and from the University of Connecticut School of Law in1986.
She is an author of Westlaw’s Connecticut Workers’ Compensation Law, and authored Injured on the Job, a handbook for injured workers and union representatives.
She is a Fellow of the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers and serves on the Chairman’s Legal Advisory Committee to the Connecticut Workers’ Compensation Commission. She has been Editor-in-Chief of the Compensation Quarterly, a magazine for Connecticut workers’ compensation practitioners, and is currently a member of its Editorial Board. She is appointed to the Connecticut Legislature’s task force on undue delay in Workers’ Compensation.
She is a former member of the Connecticut Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Workers’ Compensation Certification and now serves on its Examining Committee. She has been an adjunct professor of law at the University of Connecticut School of Law , where she taught a workers’ compensation course.
Donna has been listed annually in Best Lawyers in America, Woodward/White, since 1995 to the present, has been named a member of The Outstanding Lawyers of America, is named in The Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers, and is a New England Super Lawyer. She has been AV rated by Martindale Hubbell for many years. She is a recipient of the 2006 ConnectiCOSH Irving Selikoff award. In 2016, Donna was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Connecticut Law Tribune.
Donna is married to her law partner Bob Carter.
Retired Chair of Connecticut Workers’ Compensation Commission.
Presently a Partner in firm engaged primarily in mediating Worker compensation cases.
Joseph J. Passaretti Jr. is a graduate of Rutgers University and Quinnipiac University School of Law. He is admitted to Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Attorney Passaretti is a Partner at the Montstream Law Group and has specialized in workers’ compensation defense since 1995. He has chaired the workers’ compensation section of the Connecticut Bar Association, and has been Editor-in-Chief of Compensation Quarterly. Attorney Passaretti has lectured for Lorman Education Services, NBI, Sterling and the State of Connecticut in the area of Workers’ Compensation practice and procedure and has been a Board Certified Workers’ Compensation Specialist since 2001.
Attorney Passaretti was named Best Lawyers® Best Lawyer of the Year in 2014 – Workers’ Compensation. In 2019, Attorney Passaretti was inducted into the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers®.
Attorney Passaretti is the Editor of Connecticut Workers’ Compensation After Reforms, Sixth Edition (2015), Centennial Edition (2012), and Fourth Edition (2010).
Of Counsel to Morrissey Morrissey & Rydzik
Ms. Zovas is a founding partner at Strunk Dodge Aiken Zovas LLC, a firm specializing in workers’ compensation defense. She represents municipalities, self-insurers, and insured employers before the Workers’ Compensation Commission. She has an “AV” preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell and has been named in New England Super Lawyers magazine. She holds leadership roles in the Hartford County Bar Association and is a J. Cooper Fellow of the Connecticut Bar Foundation.
Anthony Frabizzio, is a partner with the law firm of Heckler & Frabizzio and concentrates his practice on the defense of workers’ compensation matters for carriers and self-insured employers. He graduated from Salesianum High School, obtained his B.A. degree from the University of Delaware and his J.D. degree from Dickinson School of Law. Mr. Frabizzio is a past Chair of the Delaware State Bar Association’s Section on Workers’ Compensation and is presently serving on the Workers’ Compensation Oversight Panel, Data Collection Sub-Committee, and Fee Schedule Sub-Committee. He previously served on the Governor’s Workers’ Compensation Task Force and is a member of the Defense Counsel of Delaware, Delaware State, and American Bar Associations. He has received the Community Service Award from the Delaware Bar Association. Anthony is a past Deputy Attorney General and has lectured on workers’ compensation for seminars sponsored by the Delaware State Bar Association, the Industrial Accident Board.
Maria Paris Newill is one of two Managing Directors for the Firm of Heckler & Frabizzio where she has worked since 1990 representing Employers and Insurance Companies in Workers’ Compensation matters before the Delaware’s Industrial Accident Board, Superior Court and/or Supreme Court.
Ms. Newill has held many positions within the Workers Compensation Section and Women and the Law Section of the Delaware State Bar Association including Chairpersons of each of these Sections. Ms. Newill also served on The Delaware State Bar Association Nomination Committee (3 year term). Ms. Newill has been a voluntary judge for the Delaware’s High School Moot Court Competitions and has worked pro bono as a Guardian ad Litem in Delaware’s Family Court representing children in foster care.
Stephen (Steve) Barbas graduated in 1979, in the top 10% of his class, and was a published member of the Loyola Law Review from Loyola University College of Law in New Orleans Louisiana. He has been licensed to practice Law in his home state of Florida since 1979. He is a Fellow in the College of Workers Compensation Lawyers since 2011, and has been Board Certified in Workers Compensation since 1994 to the present date. His practice initially consisted of representing Employer/Carriers , but evolved into doing both claimant and defense work, primarily because of him being bilingual in Spanish and English. He was the Senior Partner of the law firm which was started in 1982, until January 1, 2019 when he semi-retired and sold his ownership interest in the firm to his partners.
Geoff Bichler is founder and managing partner of Bichler & Longo and has represented First Responders in Florida for over thirty years. His firm played a prominent role in significant cases involving cardiac, PTSD, cancer, and repetitive trauma injuries for First Responders. Geoff spends much of his time in Tallahassee supporting legislation specific to First Responders and was instrumental in passing the PTSD bill in Florida.
Terrence D. Delehanty is General Counsel of NCCI Holdings, Inc. His expertise is workers’ compensation, corporate, antitrust, and intellectual property. He’s a member of the Florida Bar and Michigan Bar. B.A. from Michigan State University, J.D. from Thomas M. Cooley Law School, and L.L.M. from Boston University School of Law.
Robert Grace is an equity partner in the Florida based law firm of Bleakley Bavol Denman & Grace. His defense practice includes workers’ compensation, personal injury and other casualty litigation. He is a graduate of the University of Mississippi School of Law and subsequently received his LL.M from Boston University School of Law. His firm is the Florida member of the National Workers’ Compensation Defense Network (NWCDN).
Judge Grindal graduated from Wake Forest University in 1991. He graduated cum laude from St. Thomas University School of Law in 1998, where he was placed on the Dean’s list for six semesters, received the Book Award in Workers’ Compensation Law, and graduated in the top 10% of his class. Judge Grindal is Board Certified in Workers’ Compensation and was appointed as a Judge of Compensation Claims in 2020.
Jeffrey I. Jacobs, a Board-Certified Workers’ Compensation Lawyer, is a Florida Judge of Compensation Claims. He previously practiced workers’ compensation law. Judge Jacobs served as Chair of The Florida Bar Workers’ Compensation Section, President of the Richard A. Sicking Inn of Court, and as a chair and a member of numerous other state and local bar committees. He is a member of the Florida Workers’ Compensation Hall of Fame.
Wayne Johnson is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the University of Michigan Law School. He has practiced workers’ compensation law since 1992. He became board-certified in workers’ compensation by the State of Florida in 1998. He handles state claims, longshore/defense base act claims and claims under the Federal Employees Compensation Act. Since 2012, his practice has primarily consisted of representing injured federal workers.
Judge Kerr was appointed as a Judge of Compensation claims in 2013. Prior to her appointment, she practiced as a workers’ compensation attorney in Miami for twenty years. Judge Kerr is a regular speaker and presenter at educational panels on Workers’ Compensation law and has a particular interest in promoting and mentoring emerging leaders to help ensure the strength of the profession for the future.
David W. Langham is Florida Deputy Chief Judge of Compensation Claims, a position he has held since 2006. His legal experience includes workers’ compensation, employment litigation, and medical malpractice. He has delivered in excess of 1,300 professional lectures, published over 40 articles in professional publications, and has published over 1,200 substantive blog posts regarding the law, technology, and professionalism. David is a student, a teacher, a critic, a coach and a leader. He lives in Pensacola, Florida with his wife Pamela Langham, Esq.
HONORABLE JOHN J. LAZZARA was a Florida Judge of Compensation Claims (JCC) for 28 years until retirement in May 2018. He served as President of the Florida Conference of JCCs (1997-99); The Florida Bar’s Workers’ Compensation Rules Committee (Chair) (1994-95); Appellate Court Rules Committee (2001-07), and Standing Committee on Professionalism (2007-13).
He was nominated twice for appointment to the First District Court of Appeal and appointed Interim Deputy Chief Judge (2005-06). In 2008, he co-founded and was Inaugural President of the National Association of Workers’ Compensation Judiciary (NAWCJ) and on its Board of Directors until 2018. In 2009, he was inducted Fellow of ABA-founded College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, sat on its Board of Governors (2011-16), and inducted Charter Member of the Florida Workers’ Compensation Institute’s Hall of Fame in 2012.
Judge Lazzara teaches Workers’ Compensation Law at Florida State University College of Law as adjunct professor and is a frequent speaker on a variety of workers’ compensation topics. He received his B.A. (’65) and J.D. (’67) degrees from the University of Florida, and is a certified circuit civil mediator available for private mediation, consulting, and speaking engagements on workers’ compensation matters.
Judge Lewis has been privileged to serve the people of Florida for the past thirty-five years. He has lectured extensively in the area of workers’ compensation law for The Florida Bar, voluntary associations and other legal organizations. Judge Lewis has also served as a moot court judge for legal competitions. In 2015, Judge Lewis was awarded the inaugural Vance B. Moore Professionalism Award by the Broward County Bar Association.
Mr. Longo is a partner in the Orlando office. A native Floridian, Mr. Longo has spent his legal career representing Florida’s injured, specializing in the representation of law enforcement and fire fighters. Mr. Longo received his BA from the University of Alabama and JD from St. Thomas University School of Law.
William H. Rogner was born in Charlotte, North Carolina on January 14, 1965. “Bill” was a 1987 honors graduate of the Warrington School of Business Administration at the University of Florida. He went on to the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law where he graduated, again with honors, in 1990. While at the University of Florida, Mr. Rogner was a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha social fraternity, Florida Blue Key, and the Justice Campbell Thornal National Moot Court Board. After graduation Mr. Rogner practiced briefly with another firm before founding Hurley & Rogner, P.A. in 1992. The firm, now known as HR, Law, P.A., has grown to include six offices and nearly 100 employees. Mr. Rogner became a Florida Bar Board Certified Workers’ Compensation lawyer in 1996. Three years later he achieved Florida Bar Board Certification as an Appellate Lawyer. He continues to represent employers, carriers, and servicing agents in an active trial practice. In addition, he has handled nearly 500 appeals addressing myriad legal issues before the District Courts of Appeal, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court of Florida. Mr. Rogner is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell and is annually recognized as a “Super Lawyer” by Law & Politics. He was Chairman of the Florida Bar’s Workers’ Compensation Section of the Florida Bar from 2014- 2015 and he was inducted into the Workers’ Compensation Institute’s Hall of Fame in 2018. Mr. Rogner resides with his wife, Carmen, in Orlando. His daughter Sofia is an HR Law associate. His son Nicolas managed to avoid the practice of law. Mr. Rogner is an avid traveler, golfer, and sailor.
Board certified; American Inns of Court (workers compensation Chapter (founding President)
Richard S. Thompson is Vice President, Claims-Legal, for Zenith’s Florida operation and has managed the Claims-Legal department in Florida since 2004. He is Board Certified by The Florida Bar as a specialist in Workers'
Compensation law; AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell; and has practiced workers’ compensation law statewide for 25 years, including over nine years of service as a Judge of Compensation Claims in Orlando. Over his
career, he has tried hundreds of cases as an attorney and has presided over more than 1,500 trials as a judge. Mr. Thompson served as president of the Florida Conference of Judges of Compensation Claims and is a past Chair of the Florida Bar’s Workers’ Compensation Section.
In 2011, he was elected as a Fellow in the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, a national organization recognizing the most accomplished workers’ compensation lawyers in the country. He is a frequent lecturer and author on the topic of Florida Workers’ Compensation law and has testified before and at the request of the Florida Legislature regarding workers’ compensation issues.
Education JD, Florida State University College of Law, (1988)
BS (Business), Clemson University, (1985)
Memberships
Florida Conference of Judges of Compensation Claims (1995-2004, President 1999-2001)
Workers’ Compensation Section of the Florida Bar (Executive Council Member 2004 to present, Chair 2010-2011)
Fellow, College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers (2011 to present)
Florida Insurance Council (Board of Directors 2005 to present, Executive Committee 2010-2014)
Mark A. Touby is a Board-Certified Workers’ Compensation attorney and the managing partner of Touby, Chait & Sicking, PL in Miami, Florida. Mr. Touby was the lead Trial Counsel and Appellate Co-Counsel in the 2016 landmark case Castellanos v. Next Door Company. He was inducted into the Florida Workers’ Compensation Institute Hall of Fame in 2019. In 2020, he became a fellow of the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers. Mr. Touby is the recipient of the 2021 Justice Anstead Award for The Florida Bar Board Certified Lawyer of the Year.
Mr. Touby currently serves as Chair of Florida Bar Workers’ Compensation Section. He is the immediate past Chair of the Florida Bar’s Workers’ Compensation Board Certification Committee. In 2017, Mr. Touby became a member of the panel counsel for the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA). He is a Past-President of the Florida Workers’ Advocates.
Dawn received her Bachelor’s degree from Washington & Jefferson College in 1992 and her Juris Doctorate degree from D.C. Law in 1995. She is a member of The Florida Bar, the U.S. District Court for the Middle and Southern Districts of Florida, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and the Supreme Court of the United States. Dawn concentrates her practice in the defense of workers’ compensation, and labor and employment matters. Dawn is the Managing Partner of the Miami/Fort Lauderdale Office of Eraclides, Gelman, Hall, Indek, Goodman Waters & Traverso.
Dawn is a Past Chair of the Workers’ Compensation Section of The Florida Bar, a member of the Executive Council of the Workers’ Compensation Section of The Florida Bar and is Continuing Legal Education Chair for the Workers’ Compensation Section of The Florida Bar. Dawn has been named as a Fellow in the prestigious National College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers. She is a member of the Broward County, Dade County and Monroe County Bar Associations.
Dawn is certified by The Florida Department of Financial Services as an instructor in Workers’ Compensation, and has lectured on multiple occasions at numerous conferences including The Florida Bar’s Workers’ Compensation Forum, The Florida Workers’ Compensation Institute (FWCI), The Risk Management Society (RIMS), PRIMA (Public Risk Management Association) and International Association of Rehabilitations Professionals (IARP) on various topics including ethics, and the administration and defense of workers’ compensation claims.
Dawn was previously the Vice-Chair of the Workers’ Compensation Rules Committee. Dawn is a Trustee with the Friends of 440 Scholarship Fund, and former Chair of the South Florida Chapter. Dawn is a founding member and Master at The Richard A. Sicking American Inn of Court. In 2017, Dawn was the first woman to have received the Frierson-Colling Professionalism Award.
Ann has practiced almost exclusively representing employers and insurers in workers’ compensation matters since 1981. Ann was President of the Boards of both Kids’ Chance of Georgia and Kids’ Chance of America. Ann chaired the Executive Committee of the Workers’ Compensation Section of the State Bar of Georgia, was editor of the Section newsletter, was vice-chair of the Workers’ Compensation and Employers’ Liability Committee of TIPS, was the recipient of the 2017 Distinguished Service Award by the Workers’ Compensation Section of the Georgia Bar and the 2018 Justice Benham Community Service Award from the State Bar of Georgia. Ann, also, serves on the Boards of the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers and the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America.
Judith Ashe Blackwell is a 1984 graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law. She began her practice representing Employers and served as an Administrative Law Judge with the Georgia State Board of Workers’ Compensation for six years. She currently works with Hasner Law representing injured workers throughout Georgia. She is a member of the Georgia Injured Workers’ Advocates and an avid volunteer for Kids’ Chance of Georgia.
Robert Bourne, a University of Georgia graduate, earned his law degree at Georgia State University. While in law school, he worked for Governor Joe Frank Harris. He also worked as legal counsel for the Judiciary Committee of the Georgia House of Representatives. He has represented injured workers for 35 years and devoted much of his career lobbying for injured workers at the state legislature and executive branch of government.
Ms. Clarke began her workers’ compensation practice in 1983. She served on Governor Barnes Workers’ Compensation Advisory Commission, serves as a member of the SBWC Advisory Council and has served as a worker’s compensation Special Assistant Attorney General. She has also served as Chairman of the Workers’ Compensation Section of the Georgia Bar. Ms. Clarke co-founded Mediated Dispute Resolutions in 2008 and has mediated hundreds of disputed worker’s compensation claims.
Mr. Eddings is past Section Chairman of the Georgia Workers’ Compensation Section, past recipient of “Plaintiff ’s Attorney of the Year” award, appointed by former Governors Harris and Miller serving on worker’s compensation study committees, member of the State Board’s “Advisory Council” Rules Committee, a founding member of the “Workers’ Compensation Claimant’s Association.” Mr. Eddings is a graduate of the University of Alabama and the Cumberland School of Law, Samford University.
John Ferguson, Jr., partner, Drew, Eckl & Farnham, workers’ compensation defense; B.A. with distinction 1973 University of Virginia; J.D. University of Georgia 1976; research editor Georgia Law Review; Chairman, Workers’ Compensation Section 1989; Chairman’s Advisory Council 1990-2012; Super Lawyer 2004-2012; Best Lawyers in America; co-author Workers’ Compensation Desk Manual. Married, three children, three grandchildren.
Marquette University 1971; Emory University School of Law 1976; Savell & Williams 1976 – present. Chairman GA SBWC Advisory Council Rules & Mediation Committee 1996 – present; Former Chair State Bar of GA WC Section and Atlanta Bar WC Section. Defense attorney.
Ben Gerber is a founder and currently the managing partner of the law firm Gerber & Holder. His practice is dedicated to representing individuals who have been injured while working. He is a frequent speaker on a variety of subjects related to workers’ compensation, is an active board member of WILG co-chairing conferences throughout the country, and is a proud graduate of the University of Georgia and George Washington University Law School.
We represent injured workers all over the State of Georgia.
Julie John has been practicing law for over 30 years and concentrates her efforts in the defense of Workers’ Compensation claims for employers, insurers, self-insurers, and self-insured funds throughout Georgia. She serves clients in many industries and has particular experience in city and county government, transportation and carriers, healthcare providers, manufacturing, small entrepreneurial organizations as well as charitable groups.
She has taken and defended hundreds of depositions including those of expert witnesses, injured workers, and employer witnesses. During her career, she has also handled hundreds of hearings and mediations throughout Georgia. She is a Certified Mediator and frequent speaker and author in the area of Workers’ Compensation law and mediation including topics on the defenses to workers’ compensation claims, limiting workers’ compensation claims, return to work issues, legislative and Board Rule changes, statutory employer issues, best practices for hearings and mediations, and handling catastrophic claims. Julie has served on the Rules And Mediation Committee of the Chairman’s Advisory Council of the Georgia State Board of Workers’ Compensation since 2003 and is currently the Chair of the Executive Committee of the Workers’ Compensation Section of the State Bar of Georgia.
Between her tenures at Drew Eckl & Farnham, Julie worked at the Georgia State Board of Workers’ Compensation from 1996-2002. During that time she was a Mediator and Public Information Officer from 1996-1998; an Administrative Law Judge from 1998-2002; and served as the Executive Director from 2000-2002. She was also on the Medical Committee of the Chairman’s Advisory Council from 2000-2003. Julie re-joined the firm in 2002 as a Partner and has been acknowledged as a Georgia Super Lawyer every year since 2004. She has also received an AV Preeminent Rating from Martindale Hubbell for her high ethical standards and professionalism. She has served on the Board of Directors for Drew Eckl & Farnham since 2014 and served as the Chair of the Board in 2016 and 2017. Julie is also a member of the Defense Research Institute and GDLA. In 2017, she was elected into the National College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers. In 2018, she was selected by her peers for inclusion in the Best Lawyers in America© 25th edition in the field of Workers’ Compensation in Atlanta.
EDUCATION
Samford University, Cumberland School of Law, J.D., 1987, cum laude
University of Tennessee, B.S., 1984, highest honors
Retired attorney formerly representing injured workers for 35 years
Mr. Leonard is the managing partner of the Atlanta, GA office of Cipriani & Werner, and defends workers’ compensation matters in Georgia. He is a member of the Georgia State Bar and admitted before all state courts in Georgia. Mr. Leonard is AV Rated by Martindale-Hubbell and has been included in Georgia “Best Lawyers” and “Super Lawyers” since 2007.
Ralph has been practicing workers’ compensation for over 40 years, primarily representing injured workers. He handles cases under Georgia WC. He handles cases nationwide for Longshoremen, Non-Appropriated Fund workers and those under the Defense Base Act. He has argued at all levels of these cases and has spoken for many years on topics covering the workers he represents. He has been selected as a Super Lawyer in Georgia for over 15 years. He is on many advisory boards involving wc.
Current Director and Appellate Judge for Georgia State Board of Workers’ Compensation (SBWC). Recipient of 2019 National Judge Comp Laude Award from WorkCompCentral. Previous Chairman of the Georgia SBWC (8 yrs.) Past President of the Southern Assoc. of WC Administrators (SAWCA). Served on Board of Directors for the IAIABC. Served on Board of Directors for the National Assoc. of WC Judiciary (NAWCJ). Serves on the Advisory Board for the WCI. Serves as an Advisory Committee member for WCRI in Georgia. Serves on Georgia’s Statewide Opioid Task Force. Served on Georgia’s Kids’ Chance Board of Directors.
I am a graduate of Northwestern University and Mercer University Law School. I have been practicing workers compensation law in Savannah, Georgia since 1986. I opened my firm in 1999 and since then my practice has consisted primarily of representing injured workers in both Georgia and Longshore claims. I also represent claimants in Social Security Disability claims.
Lynn Olmert’s practice focuses on workers’ compensation defense in the firm’s Atlanta office. She has extensive trial experience in general liability cases on behalf of insurance companies and their commercial insureds in both Georgia and Maryland. Lynn has significant first-chair jury trial experience and has tried numerous workers’ compensation cases. She frequently presents on workers’ compensation issues to employers, insurers and colleagues at the State Bar of Georgia. Lynn was selected to the Governor’s short list of nominees for the position of Administrative Law Judge for the Georgia State Board of Workers’ Compensation. Prior to joining MGC, Lynn practiced law in both Atlanta and the Baltimore-Washington area. She currently serves on the firm’s Diversity & Inclusion committee.
Outside of the office, Lynn can be found crossing the finish line at a marathon or triathlon, as well as raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society through Team-in-Training. She is also an active member of Mount Paran Church.
Jason Perkins received his JD from the University of Georgia. He is a partner at Perkins Studdard LLC with offices in Carrollton and LaGrange, Georgia. He focuses his practice on representing injured workers in workers’ compensation claims. He is a past President of the Workers’ Compensation Claimants Lawyers Section of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association and a past Chair of the Workers’ Compensation Section of the State Bar of Georgia.
Mr. Potter is a native of Atlanta. A 1970 graduate of Mercer University, he served as an officer in the U.S. Navy before returning to the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer where he served as editor-in-chief of the Law Review. Upon graduating magna cum laude in 1977, he joined Swift, Currie, McGhee & Hiers where he has practiced since.
His practice has included legislative and regulatory representation and defense of workers’ compensation and liability claims. Mr. Potter is past Chairman of the Workers’ Compensation Section of the State Bar of Georgia, a member of the Defense Research Institute, and a member of the Atlanta Claims Association. He is a Fellow of the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers. He has been recognized as a Georgia Super Lawyer annually since 2004, and as a Best Lawyer in America annually since 1999.
He is co-author of Georgia Workers’ Compensation Law and Practice, first published in 1981 and now in its sixth edition, which he annually supplements. He is Chairman of the Chairman’s Advisory Council at the State Board of Workers’ Compensation and frequent speaker at seminars.
Mr. Potter is an avid golfer, has served as President of Druid Hills Golf Club, and has served in almost every role at Haygood Memorial United Methodist Church.
Mr. Price has been practicing in the field of workers’ compensation since 1978 and during that time has earned many distinctions including the 2012 Distinguished Service and Professionalism Award by the Workers’ Compensation Section of the State Bar of Georgia and he received the first Kid’s Chance Volunteer of the Year Award.
Bryan Ramos is the founder of Ramos & Law, a litigation firm in Atlanta dedicated to Georgia’s working class. He is a fellow of the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, and is a registered neutral with the Georgia Commission of Dispute Resolution. Mr. Ramos serves on the Georgia Advisory to the United States Commission on Civil Rights, as well the Boards of Asians Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta; Georgia Council on Substance Abuse, and the North Georgia Low Income Tax Clinic.
Mr. Ramos is also the current Secretary for the National Filipino American Lawyers Association, and serves as the General Counsel to the National Federation of Filipino American Associations. He is also a Regional Director for the Filipino Veterans Recognition and Education Project.
He graduated from Florida State University and earned his Juris Doctorate and Certificate in Advanced Legal Drafting at Mercer University.
Honorable Sharon Hurt Reeves is the Deputy Chief Administrative Law Judge of the Georgia State Board of Workers’ Compensation. Before her appointment in 2017, she spent more than twenty years in private practice specializing in workers’ compensation and general litigation. She is a Board Member of the National Association of Workers’ Compensation Judiciary (NAWCJ). She is a graduate of the University of Georgia and the University of Georgia School of Law.
Ms. Sadow received her B.A. Magna Cum Laude in History and French from Tufts Univ. in 1978 and her J.D. from Emory Univ. School of Law in 1981. She founded Susan J. Sadow, P.C., now known as Sadow & Froy, in 1992. Ms. Sadow concentrates her practice on representing workers with serious or Catastrophic injuries. She has the distinction of settling a number of seven-figure cases. She was awarded a listing in The Best Lawyers in America from 2003 – 2023. She was also named a Georgia Super Lawyer from 2005 – 2023. Ms. Sadow proudly served as Chair of the Atlanta Bar Workers’ Comp. Section and on the Board of Directors of both the Atlanta Bar Association and Kids’ Chance. She was appointed to the State Board Chairman’s Advisory Council Public Education Committee and proudly served in that capacity for 15 years. Ms. Sadow frequently lectures on workers’ compensation topics. She is a Registered Neutral with the Georgia Office of Dispute Resolution and serves as a workers’ compensation mediator for JordanADR throughout the State of Georgia
Represent employers and insurance companies in Florida and Georgia in the defense of workers compensation and legislative matters. Have served as the second President of the College as well as a member of the Board of Governors. Was a member of the Charter Class of the College following induction in 2007.
Born in the New York metropolitan area, Alex Wallach grew up in the Washington, DC suburbs of greatly influenced by the coverage of the Watergate scandal in the Washington Post.
He graduated cum laude with a BA in Political Science from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio in 1984. He is a 1987 graduate of the Emory University School of Law.
Alex has practiced the entirety of his career with the firm now known as GEORGE & WALLACH, LLLP and has concentrated his practice on representing applicants in Workers’ Compensation and Social Security cases. He has been named a Super Lawyer annually since 2008 and was inducted as a Fellow of the ABA’s College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers in 2016.
Joe Amarilio is an Arbitrator with The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission, appointed by Governor JB Pritzker and confirmed by the Illionis Senate. Previously, Joe was a partner at Elfenbaum Evers Amarilio & Zielinska, P.C., representing injured workers and their families. Joe’s commitment to Pro Bono services was acknowledged with an award for 20 years of distinguished service with The Center For Disability and Elder Law as a volunteer attorney and as a Board Member, as well as volunteer attorney with The Latino Union of Chicago and Chicago Volunteer Legal Services. Joe graduated from Northwestern University and UIC John Marshall Law School where he was the associate managing editor of The John Marshall Law Review. Joe is married and the proud father of three children, three granddaughters and a dog named Ziggy.
Howard Ankin is the founder of Ankin Law with a staff of 75 members concentrating in Petitioner’s workers’ compensation and liability injury cases throughout Chicagoland and the State of Illinois. Howard is a board member of ITLA and co-chairs the WC section, Governor for AAJ and VP WC Section, ISBA WC Board Section Member, and President of UIC Law Alumni.
I have represented injured persons for 40 years.
Appointed IWCC Chairman by Governor Pritzker in 2019, Michael J. Brennan led the creation of the agency’s paperless filing system, virtual status calls and pre-trial hearings. Practicing since 1977, with cases reported by the Illinois Appellate, Supreme and the US Supreme Court, he co-authored Larson’s Illinois and other publications. He is a qualified expert, recognized by his peers’ multiple times and a member of the WCLA and the CBA.
Rosario Cibella has been practicing in the area of workers’ compensation defense in Illinois and Indiana for 39 years. He is currently the owner of Rosario Cibella & Associates LTD which employs five attorneys all practicing Workers Compensation defense. While in law school, he worked as a clerk for a firm handling workers’ compensation claims and has been practicing in that area since that time. The firm represents self insureds, insurance carriers and TPAs.
During his education process, he worked in the grocery industry, sales, and construction industry as a laborer in the summers gaining invaluable experience in the subtleties and day-to-day experiences of those employees and their employers. He has been able to translate that experience into formulating practical every day vigorous defenses to workers’ compensation claims.
He has been nominated as a LEADING LAWYER since 2009 and has received the Martindale-Hubble AV rating, which is the highest possible peer review rating in legal ability and ethical standards, since 1995.
Ron was admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1983. Since that time he has practiced Workers Compensation, Social Security Disability and Personal Injury Law. He has successfully represented thousands of working people. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been recovered helping to support working families.
Ron has served as technical adviser to the Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives on Workers Compensation legislation. He has served on the Board of the Illinois Trial Lawyers and spoken at their seminars. Ron was elected to a Fellowship in the National College of Workers Compensation Lawyers. This College is an honor for those lawyers who have demonstrated a lifetime commitment to teaching and developing the law of Workers Compensation.
Mr. DeVriendt attended DePaul University and received his JD in 1976. He was admitted to Federal Court in March 1984. He practiced Workers’ Compensation, representing both Petitioners and Respondents. Mr. DeVriendt was appointed to Illinois Workers’ Compensation Arbitrator from 2004 to 2011 and to the Commission from 2011 to 2019. He is married to Judith DeVriendt, attorney and owner of DeVriendt & Associates in Joliet IL. They have four wonderful children.
Mr. Doerries has specialized in the field of workers’ compensation law over the past 37 years, representing clients in a variety of industries, including hospitals, municipalities, staffing agencies, national restaurant chains, and manufacturers. He served as president of the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Association in 2011, presents tutorials on workers’ compensation law to third-party administrators and insurance carriers, and is a contributing author for the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education (IICLE).
Joseph A. Garofalo is a dedicated husband, brother, partner, mentor, friend, trial lawyer, and writer.
He is a graduate of North Park College (magna cum laude, 1974) and DePaul University School of Law (1977). He was admitted to practice law in Illinois before the US District Court, Northern District of Illinois, in 1977 (subsequently including the Federal Trial Bar). He was admitted to practice before the US Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit, in 1989. After working as an associate in a firm for seven years, in 1984 he co-founded his own law firm, now called Garofalo, Schreiber, Storm & Grant, Chartered.
Throughout his career, he concentrated his practice in the area of workers’ compensation and employers’ liability, defending employers and insurance companies. He has extensive litigation experience before the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission, the circuit court, the appellate court, and the Illinois Supreme Court. He has lectured on the topic of workers’ compensation defense before the Chicago Bar Association and a variety of business groups and has presented seminars for insurance professionals and self-insured professionals. He also served as an arbitrator in the Circuit Court of Cook County mandatory arbitration program (1990–present).
He is “AV Preeminent” as rated by Martindale-Hubbell, and his firm’s biography is presented in Best’s Directory of Recommended Insurance Attorneys. He has been selected as one of Illinois’s Leading Lawyers, where he is an advisory board member (2006–21) and one of Illinois’s Super Lawyers (2008–21). He was inducted into the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers in 2011. Old Republic Construction Program Group named him as the 2014 Midwest Region’s Workers’ Compensation Attorney of the Year. In 2018 Leading Lawyers selected him as the 2nd Highest Ranked Illinois Workers’ Compensation Defense Attorney in Illinois. He is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association, the Chicago Bar Association, the Workers’ Compensation Lawyers Association, and the Justinian Society of Lawyers.
Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, he lives with his wife, Toni, residing in Park Ridge, Illinois.
Richard K. Johnson dedicates his practice to assisting injured workers’ obtain benefits under the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act. He practices throughout the State of Illinois. Mr. Johnson’s law firm represents several prominent unions and he is especially adept at coordinating the benefits of the union contract with Workers’ Compensation benefits. He is AV rated by his peers, which reflects his deep understanding of the law and his high ethical standards. Mr. Johnson played an important role in developing the theory of repetitive trauma in Illinois. He has lectured throughout the US to lawyers in continuing education seminars. He is the Author of the Chapter, “Occupational Diseases Act” for the Illinois Trial Lawyers Notebook and Author of the Chapter, “DIsability Evaluation” for the IICLE Workers’ Compensation Handbook. Additional awards include being named to “Best Lawyers in America”, Illinois Super Lawyers and Leading Lawyers.
Since graduating law school in 1976, Mr. Marszalek has represented injured workers throughout the state of Illinois. Having been a union member and walked picket lines for several years before becoming a lawyer, Mr. Marszalek is very familiar with the problems associated with a workers’ compensation claim being fought by a “difficult” employer. He has prosecuted workers’ compensation cases for injured workers throughout the state of Illinois before the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission on arbitration and review, before the Circuit Courts throughout Illinois, the Illinois Appellate Court, and even the Illinois Supreme Court.
Bar/Professional Association Involvement:
I was raised in NYC, graduated from Cornell and Boston University. I am admitted in Illinois the Central and Northern District., including the trial bar. and the United States Supreme Court. I am an ABA life Fellow. My practice is concentrated in advising employers on all labor and employment issues. I also represent C suite executives in separation from their employer an in their new executive employment agreement
My specialty is occupational disease defense.
I am in my 45th year of practice and my 15th as a sole practitioner representing claimants only in workers’ compensation claims. I am a Board member of WILG and a panel member on the NFLPA, MLS, and PHPA panels of attorneys. I was selected as a Leading Lawyer and enjoy an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell.
Sonia Das Sturm defends employers before the Worker’s Compensation Board of Indiana. She has experience advising clients and litigating all disputes before the Board. She guides employers and insurance adjusters on compliance with the requirements of the Worker’s Compensation Act, mediates settlements, tries claims in formal hearings, makes argument to the Full Board, and handles all aspects of any appeals. She also has experience litigating worker’s compensation issues in civil courts, including the exclusive remedy defense, threshold questions (employee vs independent contractor, secondary liability), and coverage. She is a frequent author and speaker on worker’s compensation topics, and has served as the Chair of the Worker’s Compensation Section of the Defense Trial Counsel of Indiana. In 2017, she also began representing employers before the Workers Disability Compensation Agency in Michigan. Sonia practices at the law firm of Lewis Wagner in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Experienced litigator with dual-state licensure (IN, IL) and practice-area expertise spanning worker’s compensation, personal injury and general civil law. Passionately represents client interests, working to provide positive resolutions to complex legal matters. Proven success achieving favorable verdicts, awards and settlements.
Mr. Fanning limits his practice to Indiana Worker’s Compensation law. He authored the Worker’s Compensation Handbook published by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce and the Layman’s Guide to Worker’s Compensation published by the Indiana Manufacturer’s Association. He is a frequent speaker regarding worker’s compensation issues and has authored numerous articles for business, medical and insurance groups as well as for the Indiana Continuing Legal Education Forum. Mr. Fanning was a resource panel Chairman for the Governor’s Task Force on Worker’s Compensation and Occupational Disease Law Reform, a founder of the Indiana Worker’s Compensation Defense Association, a past Chairman of the Worker’s Compensation Section of the Defense Trial Counsel of Indiana and a past Executive Director of the Indiana Self-Insurers Association.
ROGER B. FINDERSON
Roger Finderson has practiced law in Indiana since October of 1993. His firm, Finderson Law LLC, is working to open a new office in St. Augustine, Florida. Mr. Finderson is a plaintiff’s lawyer, focusing his practice on Personal Injury, Workers Compensation, Social Security Disability and Adoptions. He is admitted to practice in Indiana and Florida. He earned his undergraduate degree in Computer Science from Brandeis University in 1990, where he played varsity basketball, and his law degree from Indiana University, Bloomington in 1993. Happily married, he and his wife Terra have three children, Delaney, Zaira and D’Artagnan.
Roger is a member of the American Association for Justice, Worker’s Injury Law & Advocacy Group currently serving as its Treasurer, College Of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Indiana Trial Lawyers Association, Florida Justice Association, Indiana State Bar Association and the Florida Bar.
Roger has presented at multiple CLE seminars for the American Association For Justice, the Worker’s Injury Law & Advocacy Group, the Indiana Trial Lawyers Association, Indiana Continuing Legal Education Foundation and Allen County Bar Association on topics such as Ethics of Social Media Advertising, the Paperless Office, the Top 10 tips for Opening Your New Firm, Workers’ Comp in a GIG Economy, and Work Comp Case Selection.
Daniel G. Foote, born in 1969 in Rockford, Illinois, has practiced law for over twenty-five years. A National Merit Scholar, he completed undergraduate work with the Honors Division at Indiana
University, earning a B.A. in Political Science, a Certificate in Latin American Studies, and a minor in Spanish. He graduated as a member of the Mortar Board Senior Honor Society. In 1993, Dan enrolled as a part-time evening student at the Indiana University School of Law, earning his J.D. and passing the Indiana bar examination in 1997.
In 1997, Dan began his legal career at the Indianapolis firm of Locke Reynolds, LLP, where he focused his practice on worker’s compensation and occupational disease cases, civil litigation, and appeals.
In 2005, Governor Mitch Daniels appointed Dan to the Worker’s Compensation Board of Indiana, where he serves as an Administrative Law Judge. He hears work injury and occupational disease cases in the northeastern region of Indiana and, with his fellow Board members, hears administrative appeals.
Since his appointment to the Board in 2005, Dan has maintained a private practice devoted to
civil litigation, appellate matters, and alternative dispute resolution. He has tried numerous
civil cases, appeared in over fifty appellate matters, and argued before the Indiana Court of
Appeals and the Indiana Supreme Court.
In 2016, Dan completed mediation training and became a Registered Civil Mediator. He enjoys public speaking and is a frequent lecturer on Indiana law. In 2020 and 2021, Dan presented a series of training courses to newly-hired Administrative Law Judges. He currently serves as an adjunct professor at the I.U. McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis, where he teaches Federal Administrative Law.
Over the years, Dan has served in a wide variety of civic roles. He was accredited as an observer of transitional elections in Nicaragua (1990) and El Salvador (1994). In the late 1990s, Dan produced and hosted a weekly public radio program dedicated to international music. From 2012 and 2018, Dan used his Spanish skills as a volunteer with Operation Walk Midwest, a not-for-profit group of orthopedic surgeons providing joint replacement surgeries to patients in Nicaragua and Guatemala. Dan is also a member of the Indiana Council on World Affairs.
Chair, Worker’s Compensation Board of Indiana
Representation of injured Workers, Mediation and Adjunct Professor Valparaiso University School of Law.
Mike is an active member in workers’ compensation specific organizations, including the Indiana Workers’ Compensation Institute and the Defense Trial Counsel of Indiana, workers’ compensation section. He has taken an active leadership role in the DTCI work comp section by serving as President on two separate occasions, writing articles and doing seminars and presentations to various Workers Compensation groups and clients. He regularly attends DTCI work comp section meetings and functions, and interacts with other lawyers in the State that defend workers’ compensation claims. As a registered civil mediator, Mike enjoys working with both the plaintiff and defense bars, in resolving complicated disputes. Additionally, he regularly works with the Workers’ Compensation Board members and representatives, as they development new policies and procedures, and implement modernization of the handling of claims at the Workers’ Compensation Board.
Mr. Kearney, a partner with Hunt Suedhoff Kearney LLP, has been representing employers and insurance companies before the Worker’s Compensation Board of Indiana for more than thirty years. He is a member of the Defense Trial Counsel of Indiana (DTCI) and is a frequent speaker at Continuing Legal Education seminars on worker’s compensation topics. He is a 1986 graduate of Seton Hall University School of Law.
Mr Maudlin graduated from the Indiana University School of Law – Indianapolis cum laude in 1995. He associated with a large Firm in Indianapolis where he represented employers in worker’s compensation matters for 7 years. In 2003, he moved to New Harmony, Indiana, a small town, where he now represents employees. He also served as Town Attorney for New Harmony for 10 years. He is licensed to practice in Indiana and Illinois.
Sharon Murphy has represented a wide range of employers throughout the state of Indiana in defense of workers’ compensation claims at all levels of litigation. She represented primarily small governmental units, schools, fire and police departments. She was an original founding member of the College (inducted in 2007) and served as its President from 2011-2013. She has been a leader in the ABA Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section for many years. Sharon retired from the practice of law in April of 2022.
Craig Van Schouwen graduated from the DePaul College of Law in 1991. He was admitted to the Indiana bar that same year. He concentrates his practice on plaintiffs’ Workers’ Compensation law. He takes pride in helping people get the medical treatment and benefits they need. He serves on the board of directors of Kids’ Chance, a national organization committed to scholarship funding for children with a parent who has been injured in catastrophic workplace accidents. He lives and works in Valparaiso Indiana.
Diana Wann has practiced law since 1990, primarily in the defense of worker’s compensation claims in Indiana. She is counsel with Jackson Kelly, PLLC, the charter Indiana member of National Worker’s Compensation Defense Network for which she served as board member and president, a fellow in the College of Worker’s Compensation Lawyers, Chair of the Defense Trial Counsel of Indiana, former co-chair of the ABA Labor and Employment Law Worker’s Compensation Committee, and a founding member of Kids Chance of Indiana.
She is a graduate of Indiana University McKinney School of Law and has a B.S. from Indiana University – Purdue University.
Steve Spencer obtained his JD with distinction from the University of Iowa in 1980. Steve Spencer is a problem solver and finds great pleasure in being an attorney when he is able to assist clients in reaching a prompt and fair resolution of their disputes. He focuses his time and energy on workers’ compensation matters. Steve has practiced law solely in the area of workers’ compensation for over thirty years.
Washburn Law 1971; University if Kansas 1968. Past chair Kansas City Metro Bar Workers committee and past chair of the Missouri Bar Workers compensation committee. Contributor to Mo Bar workers compensation desk book. Frequent speaker to bar and business groups regarding workers compensation and related issues.
Eric Lanham has been representing employers and insurance carriers in defending workers’ compensation claims since 1993. His experience encompasses all areas of workers’ compensation practice, and he works with clients to identify and implement ways to reduce the number and severity of workers’ compensation claims. His expertise is in handling complex workers’ compensation claims, defining the limits of workers’ compensation and employer’s liability policies, and protecting his clients’ subrogation interests.
Mr. Lanham is a shareholder with the firm. He has served as the firm’s President and CEO and has been its managing partner. Mr. Lanham is AV rated by Martindale Hubbell and is admitted to practice law in Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas. He has served on numerous boards and committees.
Chris McCurdy is a shareholder and Workers’ Compensation Department head at Wallace Saunders, a medium-sized law firm headquartered in Overland Park, KS, with offices in Kansas and Missouri. Chris is a 1995 Washburn University Law School graduate. Chris has focused his practice upon representation of employers, insurance carriers and self-insureds in workers compensation matters.
After graduating from Law School from the University of Kansas School of Law and being admitted to the bar, I pursued a general civil and criminal trial practice, including both prosecution and defense of workers’ compensation claims, for approximately eleven years before moving to a new community and serving as a prosecutor. After four years as a prosecutor, I joined the Kansas Department of Human Resources (now, Kansas Department of Labor).
I have been serving the agency as an Administrative Law Judge since 1995. I joined the faculty of the National Judicial College in 2009, and became a Fellow in 2016. I am a past President of the National Association of Workers’ Compensation Judiciary.
Cliff Stubbs focuses his practice on representing self-insured employers, third-party administrators, and insurance carriers in the defense of workers’ compensation claims in Kansas and Missouri. This includes public and private employers, school districts, manufacturers, restaurant chains, retail employers, distribution companies, medical and pharmaceutical companies, security providers, hotel chains, service providers, and others.
Mr. Stubbs handles complex matters involving medical causation, permanent total disability, work disability, Medicare Set-Aside, medical bill liens, and social security disability offset issues. He is responsible for the largest single fraud fine ever against a claimant in a Kansas-litigated workers’ compensation case.
Mr. Stubbs has chaired the American Bar Association Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section Workers’ Compensation and Employers’ Liability Law General Committee. He has served on the Executive Counsel and Board of Governors for the Wyandotte County Bar Association, the Kansas Bar Association, the American Bar Association-YLD, and the American Bar Association-TIPS.
Bill Townsley practices workers’ compensation law at Fleeson, Gooing, Coulson & Kitch in Wichita, Kansas primarily representing employers and insurance carriers. He is a past-president of the Wichita Bar Association, the Kansas Bar Association Litigation and Insurance sections, and the Wesley Brown Inn of Court. He is listed in Kansas/Missouri Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers in America.
Chris Evensen graduated from the Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville with honors, Cum Laude, in 1999. In October of 1999, Mr. Evensen was admitted to practice Law in Kentucky and began with a local firm representing injured people in workers’ compensation claims and other personal injury matters. In 2008, Mr. Evensen began the Evensen Law Office focusing his practice on helping individual with workers’ compensation claims. Since then, Mr. Evensen has represented over a thousand individuals in workers’ compensation claims. Mr. Evensen served as the Chair of the Kentucky Bar Association’s Workers’ Compensation Section for 2014-2015, and has been President of the Kentucky Workers’ Association since 2020. Mr. Evensen received a Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent Rating 2011; has been listed in Best Lawyers in America since 2009; has been named a “Top Lawyer” in the Louisville Magazine in Workers’ Compensation since 2010; has been listed in Kentucky’s Best Lawyers in the field of Workers’ Compensation since 2011; has been recognized in Super Lawyers Magazine since 2013; and, in 2024, was selected by his peers as the 2024 “Lawyer of the Year” in Workers’ Compensation Law for injured workers in Louisville.
Areas of Concentration
Education
Admitted to Practice
Associations
Faculty Appointment
Memberships/Achievements
Publications
Presentations
Civic Activities
Alan G. Brackett is a Founding Member and the Managing Member of Mouledoux, Bland, Legrand & Brackett, LLC, representing employers and carriers in the defense of workers’ compensation claims, with particular focus on the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, Defense Base Act, and War Hazards Compensation Act. He obtained a B.A. in history from Tulane University in 1982 and his J.D. from the Tulane School of Law in 1984.
As supported by the many peer honors he has received, including CWCL, The Best Lawyers in America, and Super Lawyers, Alan has developed a reputation as an extremely skilled litigation attorney, who maintains the highest standards of professionalism, qualities that have attributed to him being widely recognized as one of the top litigators in the industry.
He is a fellow of the Louisiana Bar Foundation, American Bar Foundation and Claims and Litigation Management Alliance. Alan has been a contributing author to The Longshore Textbook and has served as Chairman of the Advisory Board and Seminar Moderator for the Loyola University College of Law Annual Longshore Conference since 1998. He has lectured at numerous maritime, labor, and workers’ compensation law seminars around the country and abroad.
Alan currently serves as President of the Louisiana Bar Foundation, the primary funder of civil legal aid in the State of Louisiana.
He serves as Chancellor and the principal Verger for Christ Church Cathedral, and previously served two terms as Senior Warden. He serves as Treasurer and on the Executive Board of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana and previously served two terms as President of the Disciplinary Board. He is a past chair of the Board of Trustees of St. Martin’s Episcopal School.
Shannon Bruno Bishop is a District Judge of the Louisiana Office of Workers’ Compensation. As District Judge, Judge Bishop conducts judicial hearings and trials by presiding over workers’ compensation claims and rendering final judgments that are appealable to the state appellate courts.
Judge Bishop is a native of New Orleans who graduated from Tulane University with a B.A. in Sociology and The University of Mississippi School of Law with a J.D. She is admitted in all state and federal courts in Mississippi and Louisiana. She began her legal career representing plaintiffs in personal injury, medical malpractice, employment discrimination, and workers’ compensation cases in Mississippi. She later returned to Louisiana where she worked as an insurance defense attorney prior to joining the Office of Workers’ Compensation as a staff attorney and mediator. After serving as a mediator for nine years, she was appointed District Judge, but she also served as Chief Judge for two years during her tenure.
Judge Bishop has served as a panelist for various seminars with the National Association of Workers’ Compensation Judiciary (NAWCJ), Southern Association of Workers’ Compensation Administrators (SAWCA), American Society of Workers’ Compensation Professionals (AMCOMP), International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions (IAIABC), and the Louisiana State Bar Association. She is a fellow of the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers and serves as a Panel Advisor to the American Medical Association AMA Guides® Editorial Panel. Judge Bishop is President of the NAWCJ and she serves on the SAWCA Steering Committee, and the IAIABC Board of Directors.
Joe’s extensive experience representing both employers and insurance companies for the last 38 years has equipped him with the industry knowledge, personal communication tools, patience, and strategy to be an effective mediator. His defense practice of predominantly workers’ compensation cases naturally led to mediation with the Prism Group, which he joined in 2022 as the 4th member of our mediation team. Outside of his work life, Joe is a member of the very active Dawnbusters Kiwanis Club in Metairie, Lector at St. Clement of Rome Church, self-employed bourbon and scotch taster on weekends, and a very involved “Papa Joe” to his four grandchildren.
Christopher M. Landry graduated from Loyola University New Orleans School of Law in 1989. He became a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association in 1989 as well. He has represented insurance companies and self-insureds in the defense of longshore claims, state workers’ compensation claims and general casualty claims since that time. He has also defended numerous insurance companies and product manufacturers as a result of personal injury claims. He has been a speaker and moderator at many seminars over the years on varying subjects, including seminars in Louisiana Workers’ Compensation law, United States Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation law and general casualty issues. He is currently admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Louisiana, all Louisiana District Courts, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and all United States District Courts in Louisiana. He also regularly appears before the United States Department of Labor, Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, and Office of Administrative Law Judges. He is currently a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association, Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel, and the Claims & Litigation Management Alliance. He is also a Fellow in the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers.
Workers’ Compensation Judge
Jeff is a director in the law firm of Juge, Napolitano, Guilbeau, Ruli, & Frieman in Metairie, Louisiana. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree, cum laude from Louisiana State University in 1982. He was a member of the Loyola Law Review, and he received his JD from Loyola University School of Law in 1985. Jeff represents employers and insurers in Louisiana workers’ compensation and employer’s liability. He has successfully litigated cases before the Louisiana district courts, OWC courts, appellate courts and Supreme Court. He is a member of the CLM, is a fellow of the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers and carries Martindale-Hubbell’s highest rating (AV Preeminent). Jeff has served as Chair for the Workers’ Compensation Committee of the Defense Research Institute (DRI). Jeff has been a featured speaker of numerous seminars including DRI, WCI, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI), and the LSBA.
Steve Wanko graduated from Tulane University in 2001 and founded the Wanko Law Firm in 2004. He is a member and past president of the Louisiana Workers’ Advocates Group. His firm won a seminal case to keep “Choice of Physician” in Louisiana. He continues to fight each year in the Louisiana State Legislature to avoid further loss of benefits to the injured, a fight that seems to get harder each year.
Elizabeth Connellan Smith practices in the areas of workers’ compensation, labor, and employment law counseling and litigation. Her articles on workers’ compensation law have appeared in various local and national publications and she regularly lectures on employment law topics. Beth’s practice includes representing clients with diverse employment-related concerns, including in proceedings pending before the Maine Human Rights Commission, the Maine Unemployment Commission, the Maine Workers’ Compensation Board, and the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. Beth was graduated cum laude from Bowdoin College in 1987 and was graduated in 1992 from the University of Maine School of Law.
Beth is the Maine member of the National Workers’ Compensation Defense Network and is Board Secretary of that organization. Beth is currently Chair of the ABA Tort, Trial & Insurance Practice Section’s Workers’ Compensation and Employers’ Liability Committee and she is a Fellow of the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers.
Jonathan Beiser has been practicing law for 31 years, concentrating on Defense Base Act, Longshore & Harbor Workers Compensation and Maryland Workers Compensation
Michael H. Daney, a founding partner of Erlandson, Vernon & Daney, LLC, is AV rated and defends workers’ compensation claims in Maryland and the District of Columbia. Mr. Daney is a board member and treasurer of the Maryland Workers’ Compensation Educational Association and has been a moderator for programs the past 4 years.
Graduated Law School in 1960, University of Baltimore, received the degree of Juris Doctor. Admitted to practice in State of Maryland 1960 followed by attendance in Officer Candidate School in Newport , Rhode Island. 5 years active service 16 years reserve and retired as a Naval Commander. 1965 entered into private practice and have continued to date representing victims of industrial accidents, motor torts and medical malpractice . Has lectured on trial tactics, advocacy and workers compensation. Past President of Maryland Trial Lawyers Assoc., Member of WILG, AAJ, and State and City Bar Associations.
Ms. Harrison is a senior field counsel with the Liberty Mutual Group and concentrates her practice in representing the interests of employers and insurers. She is a board member and past president of the Maryland Workers’ Compensation Educational Association and past co-chair of the Workers’ Compensation Section for Maryland Defense Counsel. Ms. Harrison lectures regularly in the Section’s annual “Hot Tips in Workers’ Compensation” program as well as other venues.
Heather Kraus is a principal attorney with Semmes, Bowen & Semmes. She represents employers and insurers in the defense of Maryland workers’ compensation claims as well as claims filed under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act. She earned her BA from the University of Maryland and JD from Georgetown University.
Jim Lanier is an attorney member of Warnken, LLC. His practice focuses on representing individuals who sustain work-related injuries and other personal injury actions. He has advocated for his clients at all levels of the Maryland federal and state judicial systems. Mr. Lanier is 2021 inductee to the College of Workers’ Compensation Attorneys. He is a member of the Maryland State Bar Association (MSBA) and is the 2021-2022 President of the Negligence, Insurance and Workers’ Compensation Section (“NIWC”). Jim is a member of the Maryland Association for Justice (MAJ) and is a member of the Legislative Committee and a past Co-Chair of the Workers’ Compensation Section. Mr. Lanier has written legal articles on various topics, mostly involving Maryland workers’ compensation law. He has organized and/or spoke at workers’ compensation seminars for the MSBA’s NIWC Section, the Maryland Workers’ Compensation Education Association (MWCEA), and the MAJ.
Founding partner at Agnelli Law Offices, PC in Worcester, Mass. Representing injured workers for over 40 years. Member of CWCL since 2011. Author of book, “The Board – A History of the First Century of the Mass. Industrial Accident Board and Workers’ Compensation Act” (2011). Long-time chair (since 1996) of the workers’ compensation update programs for Mass. Continuing Legal Education. Graduate of Suffolk Univ. Law School (1980).
Ms. Calnan is a founding partner of Calnan, Freeley & Pellegrini, a women-owned law firm established in August 2017. The firm specializes in workers’ compensation law and is the Massachusetts representative for the National Workers’ Compensation Defense Network. She is a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association and serves on its Workers’ Compensation subcommittee. In 2018, she was awarded the James Garretson Advocacy Award by the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys.
Joseph J. Durant joined TKCK as Counsel in 2007. Joe received a B.A. degree in History & Political Science cum laude from Boston College in 1977 and earned his Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School in 1980. He is a graduate of the National Institute of Trial Advocacy Teacher Training Program at Harvard University and repeatedly served on the faculty of Liberty Mutual Insurance Company’s Advanced Advocacy, Workers’ Compensation, SIU, and Subrogation training seminars. He has lectured in evidence and criminal law at Boston State College and the University of Massachusetts Boston. He has served on the faculty of the Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education Workers Compensation “Day with the Experts” seminar for the last 5 years.
Attorney Durant was a Partner at Kaufman & Durant since 1992, where he was the Senior Trial Attorney for a major insurer handling both Workers Compensation and Liability Litigation. Atty. Durant has tried both jury and jury waived cases in the District and Superior Court Departments and has argued successfully at the Appeals Court. He has also been Designated Counsel for several Large National Insureds and Self Insurers and has tried hundreds of Workers’ Compensation cases. Mr. Durant has been an elected member of the Board of Selectman in his home town for over twenty seven years.
Joe has many years of experience as SIU counsel, in which he successfully recouped losses incurred in insurance fraud cases, and also participated in the criminal prosecution of the perpetrators.
Jane Eden is a founding partner of EdenRafferty. She has zealously represented injured workers in all phases of workers’ compensation litigation at the MA Department of Industrial Accidents for forty years. She is a 1978 graduate of the College of Holy Cross and a 1983 cum laude graduate of Suffolk University Law School. She is a published author and frequent speaker in workers’ compensation and Social Security Disability law.
Terry enjoyed the practice of law concentrating in workers’ compensation for over 35 years. He is now retired from this practice, now residing in Stonington CT working on legislative reform in the area of ERISA law and assisting in ERISA based appeals for claimants.
Attorney Nason strives to provide personal attention and dedicated service to each and every one of his clients. Attorney Nason is a recognized expert in the field of Massachusetts and National Workers’ Compensation Law. The Firm concentrates its practice in Workers’ Compensation and personal injury litigation, and all aspects of disability law, including the inter-relationship of ADA, FMLA, ADEA, OSHA, and other related employment laws.
Alan Pierce has been representing injured workers and their families for over 35 years.
He is past president of WILG (Workers’ Injury Law and Advocacy Group) and The Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys. He served nine years on the Massachusetts Workers’ Compensation Advisory Council. He has chaired the ABA’s TTIPS Workers’ Compensation Section and is also a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance where he serves on their membership committee. For several years he was on the editorial board of the Journal of Workers’ Compensation where his column From The Courts appeared quarterly. Currently, he is the Executive Editor of Workers’ First Watch for WILG and is the host of Workers Comp Matters, a podcast that can be heard on the Legal Talk Network (www.legaltalknetwork.com). In 2007 he was among the first class of Fellows inducted into the College.
Mr. Pierce is a graduate of Vassar College and Suffolk University Law School. He concentrates his practice in representing injured workers before the Department of Industrial Accidents. Mr. Pierce is admitted to practice before courts of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the United States Supreme Court. He is a member of Workers Injury Law and Advocacy Group, American Bar Association, the Massachusetts Bar Association, and the American Association for Justice. He has lectured on workers’ compensation law at numerous CLE seminars and to various union and advocacy groups. He has drafted workers’ compensation related legislation some of which has become law and some of which is pending at the Massachusetts State House. Mr. Pierce formerly served in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office’s Fair Labor and Business Practices Division. Mr. Pierce co-hosts “Workers Comp Matters”, an internet radio program. He was appointed to the Arlington Human Rights Commission, was elected twice to the Arlington School Committee from 2010-2016 and currently serves as a Town Meeting Member.
25 years’ experience. Statewide concentration in Massachusetts worker’s compensation litigation defense. My practice encompasses all forms of worker’s compensation defense to include claims brought against insurers, employers and by third party litigations for medical reimbursement. Second Injury Fund analysis. Training provided within the United States for insurers and employers on a companywide and individual basis. 2018 Fellow College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers; Since 2014 Martindale-Hubbell® AV Preeminent™ Rated annually. Co-counsel Wright’s Case, 486 MA 98 (2020) (medical marijuana) with Leonard Y. Nason (also a Fellow and lead counsel); Baker’s Case 55 Mass.App. 628 (2002) (statute of limitations). Published several articles, seminar materials and book chapter. Active committee member in multiple bar associations and frequent lecturer. Advisory member Kid’s Chance of Massachusetts, BNI.
Emily A. Spieler is the Edwin W. Hadley Professor of Law at Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, Massachusetts, where she also served as Dean from 2002 to 2012. Prior to her academic career, she served as the commissioner of West Virginia’s Workers’ Compensation Fund (an exclusive state fund), as West Virginia’s first deputy attorney general for civil rights, as a member of the state’s Human Rights Commission, and as a member of the Public Employees’ Insurance Agency Finance Board. She has also served as chair of the Whistleblower Protection Advisory Committee for the U.S. Department of Labor; as a member of President Obama’s Transition Team for the U.S. Department of Labor; as chair of the Workers’ Advocacy Advisory Committee, a federal advisory committee appointed to advise the U.S. Department of Energy on the implementation of the Energy Employees’ Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act; and as a member of several other national committees focusing on workplace health and safety and workers’ compensation. Her law practice, before joining the faculty at West Virginia University College of Law, concentrated on the legal problems of workers, particularly injured workers. She is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, the Pound Institute for Civil Justice, the Collegium Ramazzini and the American College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers; an elected member of the National Academic of Social Insurance; and a member of the Bar in Massachusetts and West Virginia. She received her AB degree from Harvard University (Cambridge, MA) and her JD from Yale Law School (New Haven, CT).
• Managing Partner of Tentindo, Kendall, Canniff & Keefe, LLP since 2000
• Co-Chair of the Litigation Group at Peabody & Arnold from 1995-2000
• 35 years of experience representing employers and insurers defending workers’ compensation and employment discrimination claims
• Member of the Judicial Nominating Committee of the Department of Industrial Accidents appointed by Governor Deval Patrick
• Member of the Board of Directors of SIGAM (Self Insurance Group Association of Massachusetts)
• Named Massachusetts Super Lawyer by Boston Magazine for Workers’ Compensation
• Frequent lecturer and author of articles on Workers’ Compensation and Disability Law
• Adjunct Professor of Workers’ Compensation at New England School of Law in Boston
• Rated AV Preeminent by Martindale Hubbell
• Fellow of The College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers
• Member of the DRI Workers’ Compensation Committee
• Admitted to the Massachusetts Bar 1978 and the US District Court District of Massachusetts and US Supreme Court
• Lecturer Lorman Educational Services
Michael Brenton has a long and successful history of defending workers’ compensation cases throughout Michigan. He has earned a reputation for efficient, professional, and principled legal counsel, and is committed to providing excellent service in advising and representing businesses, insurance carriers, third-party administrators, self-insured funds, and self-insured employers in hearing venues throughout the state of Michigan. He has represented the State of Michigan as a Special Assistant Attorney General since 1994.
Michael Brenton serves as a committee member on the Health and Human Resources Committee of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce. His passion for the Michigan wine industry was recognized in 2014 when he was appointed by Governor Snyder to be one of the two public representatives on the Michigan Grape and Wine Industry Council. For several years, he was also the wine columnist for Lansing City Pulse Magazine and is a partner in a Leelanau Peninsula winery.
He earned a B.A. with High Honors from Michigan State University, and a J.D. from the University of Notre Dame Law School.
He is a past Chair of the Workers’ Compensation Section of the State Bar of Michigan. He has also been selected for inclusion in the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory Bar Register of Pre-Eminent Lawyers.
John Charters was raised in Bay City, Michigan. After graduating from high school he was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point. After serving his country in Vietnam, he graduated from the University of Detroit Law School in 1973 and has specialized in workers’ compensation law throughout his entire legal career. He serves as an Executive Board Member of the Michigan Association for Justice and speaks on workers’ compensation rights to union leaders and labor organizations throughout southeastern Michigan. In March, 2009 he was elected as a Fellow to the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers and in June, 2014 he was inducted into the Michigan Workers’ Compensation Hall of Fame. As President of CTZS, he continues to practice law full time and remains dedicated to helping injured workers throughout the State of Michigan.
Handle a docket; Motions, Facilitations, Trials and Settlement Hearings
Mr. Hébert graduated from Michigan State University (1987) and from Thomas Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan (1990). He has practiced Workers’ Compensation litigation on behalf of employers and insurance carriers since 1992, joining the firm of Charfoos, Reiter, Peterson, Holmquist and Pilchak in 1994. In 2010, the firm became Charfoos Reiter Hébert. Mr. Hébert is the president and majority shareholder of the firm.
Mr. Lovernick joined Conklin Benham in February of 2008. He has over 30 years of legal experience and throughout that time has specialized in workers’ compensation. He also has considerable experience in insurance defense litigation including product liability defense litigation. Mr. Lovernick graduated in 1974 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Michigan. He graduated from Detroit College of Law/Michigan State University Law School in 1979 with a J.D. degree. Mr. Lovernick has specialized in the field of Workers’ Disability Compensation law for over 30 years. He has represented a number of insurance companies as well as self-insured clients. He has also organized and appeared as a speaker at numerous workshops and seminars relating to workers’ compensation litigation and practice. In addition to his extensive experience in workers’ compensation matters, Mr. Lovernick has tried a number of civil litigation matters, with the most recent being an extensive jury trial on a products liability matter. Mr. Lovernick has also been a member of the State Bar of Michigan Attorney Discipline Board since 1989. He has served as a chairperson on the Wayne County panel for the past ten years.
Ella S. Parker focuses on workers’ compensation, representing employers and insurance carriers for over twenty years. She is a shareholder at Conklin Benham, PC, a member of the State Bar of Michigan Workers’ Compensation Section Council, and is the Editor of the Section’s Newsletter. She is also a past chair of the Grand Rapids Bar Association’s Workers’ Compensation Section.
David Kempston hails from Minnesota. A perennial Super Lawyer, he was named the 2017 Anoka County Lawyer of the Year. He has written two books, “That’s Why They Call it Practicing Law” (2017) and “Lessons Learned on the Run” (2020). He enjoys reading, running, fishing, and spending time with family.
Gary is a senior attorney in the Jackson office of Daniel Coker Horton & Bell and previously served as Chair of the firm’s Workers’ Compensation practice group for more than 13 years. He is a graduate of the University of Mississippi School of Law, where he served on the editorial board of the Mississippi Law Journal. Gary has been involved in workers’ compensation practice for over 40 years and has served as a mediator in hundreds of cases over the past 20 years.
Gary is a Fellow of the Mississippi Bar Foundation, as well as the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, and serves on the Board of the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Educational Association. He has also been recognized by Best Lawyers in America® in the field of Workers’ Compensation Law – Employers, and is AV Preeminent® Rated by Martindale-Hubbell.
Deneise Lott received her undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Mississippi and served as an Administrative Judge with the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission for thirty-four years until her retirement in June 2022. She is a past president of the National Association of Workers’ Compensation Judiciary and of the Southern Association of Workers’ Compensation Administrators. She was chosen to be a member of the inaugural NAWCJ Adjudicator Hall of Fame in 2021 and was inducted into the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Hall of Fame in 2023. She is also a Fellow of the American College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers and of the Mississippi Bar Foundation. She has twice served as President of the Administrative Law and Workers’ Compensation Section of the Mississippi Bar. She currently serves on the Workers’ Compensation Section’s Kids’ Chance Mediation Board and is Vice-President of the Board of Directors for Kids’ Chance of Mississippi.
A director at Daniel Coker, George practices Workers’ Compensation law and mediation. AV Preeminent Rated and Best Lawyers in America, George received the Kenneth G. Perry Professionalism Award and earned his JD from University of Mississippi School of Law. He is a member of the Mississippi Bar Association, American Inns of Court-William C. Keady Chapter, CLM Alliance, Lafayette County Bar Association, Mississippi Defense Lawyers Association and Phi Delta Phi.
Linda A. Thompson has been an administrative law judge at the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission since 1992. She earned B.A. and M.A. degrees from Vanderbilt University and J.D. degree from Mississippi College Law School, where she has taught as an adjunct professor. She has served as Commissioner of the Mississippi Bar, President of the Mississippi Women Lawyers Association, and President of the Hinds County Bar Association. Judge Thompson is a Fellow of the Mississippi Bar Foundation and the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers. A frequent speaker at seminars, Judge Thompson coauthors the treatise Mississippi Workers’ Compensation, first published by Thomson Reuters in 2006, and the workers’ compensation chapter of the Encyclopedia of Mississippi Law, first published in 2003, both updated every year.
Licensed in Missouri and Kansas. Past President, WILG. Former Judge and Chairman of Missouri Labor & Industrial Relations Commission. Member of NASI,, AAJ, and state TLAs. Represent Injured workers and their labor organizations. Panel Attorney for NFLPA and PHPA. CWCL inaugural class Fellow.
Admitted to Missouri Bar in 1995. 2016 Fellow of CWCL. Member of MO Bar, Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys (served on Board of Governors), and WILG. President of WILG 2011-2012. Work comp attorney panel member of NFLPA and PHPA. Member of AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee. Frequent presenter on work comp topics
Michael C. Duff is Professor of Law at Saint Louis University School of Law. He is a member of the American Law Institute, a scholar-member of the Center for Progressive Reform, and a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance. He is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and an academic fellow at the National Civil Justice Institute. Professor Duff also serves as member of the Missouri Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission of Civil Rights.
Professor Duff has authored a textbook on workers’ compensation and is the founder of the Workers’ Compensation Law Professors’ blog. He worked for the Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents from 1993-1995, while in law school, and practiced workers’ compensation in Maine. He has taught courses on workers’ compensation since 2007, at four separate law schools, and has written law review articles on the subject of constitutional analysis of workers’ compensation. He also worked at the National Labor Relations Board from 1997-2006.
Professor Duff did not attend law school until his early thirties. In an earlier phase of his life, he was a blue-collar union shop steward who was personally injured at work on multiple occasions. His grandfather was a coal miner who died from black lung in his early 50s.
Jim Gallen is a member of Evans & Dixon which provides a broad range of legal services throughout Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa. He is located in the St. Louis, Missouri from which he defends workers’ compensation cases throughout Illinois, as he has since 1979. He was inducted into the College in 2010 and serves its the Board of Governors.
MICHAEL KORTE is a Fellow in the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers. He is the author of Volume 29 of the Missouri Practice series of West Publishing Company, Workers’ Compensation Law and Practice, and its annual addendum, Volume 29A.
He has received the Workers’ Compensation Distinguished Lawyer Award of BAMSL and Kids’ Chance, the Outstanding Service Award for his service as a former president of the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys, and has been recognized by a nationwide workers’ compensation bar association as one of the top 100 workers’ compensation attorneys in America.
He previously reviewed science fiction for The St. Louis Post Dispatch, and once pitched a no-hitter in Lawyers’ League slow pitch softball.
Graduate of St. Louis University School of Law. Licensed in Missouri and in Illinois since 1980. In private practice for over 35 years, representing injured workers. Served as Chairman of the Missouri Labor & Industrial Relations Commission from 2013 to 2018. Now of counsel to the firm of Mandel & Mandel in St. Louis, Mo..
Scott graduated from the University of Kansas law school in 1981. He began at The Popham Law Firm immediately upon graduation and has practiced in the Kansas City, Missouri law firm ever since. He is a member of ABOTA as well as the College of Workers Compensation Attorneys. He has argued and won two workers’ compensation cases before the Missouri Supreme Court. He has chaired the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association’s Worker’s Comp Committee and served on and chaired the Kansas City Red Cross Board. His practice has centered on plaintiff’s personal injury, including asbestos related disease cases, and worker’s compensation . He has been married to a fellow attorney, Patty Mach since 1987. They have thee children and four grandchildren.
Stephen McManus is a managing shareholder at McAnany, Van Cleave & Phillips’ St. Louis office. He represents employers, insurance carriers, and third party administrators in the defense of workers’ compensation claims. Mr. McManus has been practicing law in Missouri and Illinois for 28 years. He is a popular presenter at seminars and conferences.
Nancy has successfully represented injury clients in thousands of workers’ compensation, personal injury, social security disability, veteran’s disability and long-term disability claims. Her commitment to maximizing all resources and benefits for her clients is a top priority. She handles civil trial and appellate work. She has been successful in winning cases at trial and in the Missouri Court of Appeals and Supreme Court, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District and the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. She handles all variety of occupational disease cases such as carpal and cubital tunnel, asbestos/mesothelioma, silicosis, exposure to benzene, as well as back, neck, shoulder, elbow and hand, hip, knee, ankle, thoracic outlet, eye injuries, hearing loss.
Nancy has an A.V. Preeminent Peer Review Rating™ from Martindale-Hubbell® Law, the highest rating for legal ability and ethics. Nancy was nominated and inducted as a Fellow into the National Workers’ Compensation Lawyers Honors College for her distinguished career to the practice of Workers’ Compensation Law for her outstanding professional ability, leadership and service to her clients.
She was selected by her peers as a Super Lawyer 2016 to date.
Nancy has served leadership positions and as a member of many boards, legal, private business and nonprofit. Missouri Bar, Lawyers Assn of St. Louis, Women’s’ Lawyers Assn of Metropolitan St Louis, Foundation, Missouri Assn of Trial Advocates, National Organization of Social Security Representatives for the 8th Circuit, American Cancer Society Leadership Board, Visitation Academy, President of Kids Chance of Missouri and Founding Chair of Kids Chance of America are a few. She was also elected by the Lawyers in the Eastern District of Missouri to serve as a member of the Appellate Judicial Commission from January 2006 to December 2011. This commission is charged with nominating three candidates to the Governor of Missouri for judgeship on the Appellate and Supreme Courts of Missouri.
Bar Admissions:
Missouri
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri
U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
Court of Appeals of Veterans Claims
Professional Associations & Memberships:
Missouri Bar Association (Board of Governors 2009 to 2016, Committee on Veterans Issues Co-Chair, Committee to review Tort Related Legislation Chairperson, Workers Compensation Committee (1987-1990), Co-Chair Mini Law School for the Public (2009-2016)
Lawyers Assn of St. Louis (Board and President 1993-1994)
Missouri Assn of Trial Advocates (Board of Governors 1998-2001)
National Association of Veteran’s Advocates ( NOVA)
National Assn of Social Security Claimant’s Representatives ( NOSSCR) (Board – 2015 to 2017 – 8th Circuit Representative)
Workers’ Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG)
College of Workers Compensation Lawyers (Inducted 2010)
Professional Authorships:
Missouri Bar Workers Compensation CLE Practice Books:
– 2013 & 2019 Chapter 11 Systems and Procedures of Counsel for the Employee
– 1991 Supplement to Chapter 2: The Employer and Employee Relationship
Workers’ Litigation Injury Group (WILG): “Why injured Workers Seek Legal Representation” (January 2009)
Bar Assn of Metro St. Louis (BAMSL) Journal: “The Effect of the Medicare Secondary Payer Provisions and Workers Compensation” (July 2005)
Bar Assn of Metro St. Louis (BAMSL) Journal: “Workers’ Compensation and the Social Security Offset” (July 2000)
Rewards & Recognitions:
In 2016 she received the St. Louis Workers Compensation Distinguished Lawyer Award which jointly presented by the Bar Assn of Metropolitan St. Louis and Kids Chance of Missouri. The award is given to a St. Louis area workers compensation lawyer whose honesty, integrity, competence, zeal, selflessness and leadership have earned the respect of the community by practicing law in the way all should practice.
In 2015 she was selected by the Lawyers Assn of St. Louis as their recipient of their AWARD OF HONOR. This AWARD is given annually to a St. Louis trial attorney whose service to the profession and community merits recognition to inspire others to similar service.
In 2014, Nancy was awarded the Missouri Bar Foundation’s Spurgeon Smithson Award acknowledging significant contributions to the administration of justice.
In 2010, she was nominated by her peers and inducted into the National Workers Compensation Lawyers College for her distinguished career to the practice of Workers Compensation Law in accordance with the highest ethical and professional standards, and in the course of which has demonstrated outstanding professional leadership and has brought honor to the profession.
Nancy was honored to receive the President’s Award from the Women’s Lawyers Association of Metropolitan St. Louis in 2012 and the President’s Award from the Missouri Bar in 2011. She was voted “The Best Lawyer if you are Injured at Work” by Missouri Lawyers Weekly and received the Women’s Justice Award in 2002 from the St. Louis Daily Record/Countian for her work as a Civil Trial Attorney.
Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, David graduated from Ripon College and Hamline University School of Law. He moved to St. Louis and worked for Evans and Dixon. Later he joined Keefe and Griffiths. David has presented CLE programs for many organizations over the years, and was presented with the Distinguished Lawyer Award in 2014 by the St. Louis Metro Bar Association.
Scott Wilson has been proudly representing injured workers throughout Missouri his entire career. He is also a proud “girl dad” of two young girls, and a huge Mizzou fan.
Dean Blackaby, has handled workers’ compensation cases for nearly 30 years representing both injured workers and insurers. His current emphasis is representing injured workers. Over the course of his career, he had developed particular expertise in the area of Medicare Secondary Payer compliance, authoring two manuals on the topic and lecturing nationally on the topic including presentations to Arizona Association of Justice and Christus Health Care group. He has also presented on workers’ compensation topics to the California Applicants Attorneys Association, the Montana Trial Lawyers Association and WILG.
Mr. Blackaby’s primary office is located in Whitefish, Montana where he also serves as a board member for North Valley Food Bank. He was inducted as a Fellow in the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers in 2020 making him the second Montana attorney inducted.
Steve Carey is in his 39th year of practice. Known for his passionate representation, Mr. Carey has handled thousands of workers’ compensation claims during his career, initially for insurers before transitioning into a claimant’s practice over the past eighteen years. Mr. Carey has mediated hundreds of workers’ compensation cases and has made numerous presentations across Montana on workers’ compensation case law and issues.
Mr. Maynard graduated with highest honors from the University of Montana School of Law in 1987. Following a one-year clerkship with the Montana Supreme Court, Joe joined the Crowley law firm’s litigation department and has primarily focused on the defense of workers’ compensation claims. He is listed Best Lawyers in America, Mountain States Super Lawyers, Chambers USA, and Benchmark Litigation to name a few.
Thomas Murphy has represented injured workers in Montana for 37 years. He is Co-Founder of the Montana Trial Lawyers Association Workers Compensation Section, he serves on the Board of Directors of the Workers’ Injury Law & Advocacy Group, and he is on the Board of Governors for the College of Workers’ Compensation. Mr. Murphy received the WILG President’s Award on two occasions, and he now serves as Chairman of the WILG Constitutional Challenge Committee. Mr. Murphy is the recipient of the Montana Trial Lawyers Association Appellate Advocacy Award. He has lectured extensively on workers’ compensation issues in various seminars across the United States. Tom been married to his lovely wife Leslie for 40 years. He has three sons, and two of them practice law with him at Murphy Law Firm in Great Falls, Montana.
David Sandler has been involved in the Montana workers’ compensation system since 1999. During the first seven years of his practice, he primarily represented workers’ compensation insurers, self-insureds, and employers. For the next seven years, he primarily represented claimants in workers’ compensation cases and plaintiffs in personal injury cases. He served as the Judge of the Montana Workers’ Compensation Court from 2014 to 2023. He now focuses on mediating workers’ compensation cases.
I grew up in Norfolk, Nebraska and graduated from Norfolk Senior High School in 1986. I graduated with a BA degree from UNL in 1990. I was also a place kicker at the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers football team from 1986-1989.
I began my legal education in 1992 at the Thomas M. Cooley School of Law associated with Michigan State University. Seeking to get back to my Midwestern roots, I transferred to the Washburn University School of Law in Topeka, Kansas where I graduated in 1995.
Upon passing the bar exam in the State of Nebraska in September 1995, I opened the Law Office of Todd D. Bennett as a general practitioner. I obtained my bar admission in the State of Iowa in 2007.
On May 6, 1996, I joined the Rehm Law Firm as an associate and became a partner in December 2000. I celebrated nearly 27 years at Rehm, Bennett & Moore Law Firm before opening Bennett Law in April 2023. I specialize in workers' compensation and personal injury cases and have significant courtroom experience with over several hundred trials. I also have courtroom experience in social security disability administration hearings, unemployment law hearings and Federal Court cases dealing with COBRA law.
Dallas Jones is the Chair of the Workers’ Compensation Practice Group of Baylor Evnen, LLP. He is a Fellow in College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, a founding member of Kids’ Chance of Nebraska, Past President of the Nebraska State Bar Association Workers’ Compensation Section, Past Chair of the American Law Firm Association, Workers’ Compensation Practice Group, and a Founding member and President of Nebraskans for Workers’ Compensation Equity and Fairness. The focus of his practice is identifying innovative ways to enable employers to navigate the overlap of workers’ compensation claims and the myriad employment laws that can create complications in the claims process. Mr. Jones is a frequently-invited speaker, locally and nationally, regarding all aspects of workers’ compensation and the overlap of related employment laws.
Dennis is a native Nebraskan and a 1981 graduate of the University of Nebraska Law School. He joined Cassem Tierney in 1982 after serving as a clerk for the Honorable William C. Hastings of the Nebraska Supreme Court. His practice has focused on workers’ compensation at the trial and appellate levels since joining the firm and he recently began offering his services as a mediator.
Attorney Bernard practiced in the area of workers’ compensation defense in Manchester, New Hampshire for 38 years. He retired from Bernard & Merrill, PLLC in 2020 and presides as a Chair of the New Hampshire Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board.
Attorney Bernard practiced in the area of workers’ compensation defense in Manchester, New Hampshire for 38 years. He retired from Bernard & Merrill, PLLC in 2020 and presides as a Chair of the New Hampshire Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board.
Paul Kfoury, Jr. is an experienced litigator with a specialty in workers’ compensation defense matters to include: premium audits, wage and hour, workers’ compensation coverage, DOL compliance/fines, classification disputes involving NCCI and the NH Insurance Department, and DES hearings and audits. He frequently represents insurance companies, government entities, third-party administrators, and self-insured employers before the Department of Labor, Compensation Appeals Board, and the New Hampshire Supreme Court.
Jared O’Connor has exclusively represented injured workers for twenty years. He won the first state Supreme Court case to hold carriers liable for medical marijuana despite claims of potential criminal exposure, and has spearheaded legislation to expand coverage for PTSD and cancer in the first responders he routinely represents. He earned his BA from the University of New Hampshire and his JD from Boston College Law School.
Jon L. Gelman is nationally recognized as an author, lecturer, and skilled trial attorney in the field of workers’ compensation law and occupational/environmental disease litigation. Over a career spanning more than four decades, he has been involved in complex litigation involving thousands of clients challenging the mega-industries of asbestos, tobacco, and lead paint. Gelman is the author of NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (Thomson-Reuters) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (Thomson-Reuters). He is the former Vice-President of The Workers Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG) and a charter member of The College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers. Jon L Gelman is a former member of the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI). He is also an avid photographer. Blog: workers-compensation.blogspot.com
Adam Kotlar is a trial attorney with over twenty-five years of experience. He is one of four attorneys in New Jersey who is certified by the Supreme Court as both a Civil Trial and Workers’ Compensation Law attorney. He is a member of both the Million Dollar Advocates Forum and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum and is certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy as a Civil Trial Law Advocate.
Todd Wachtel, Esq. is a partner Levinson Axelrod, where he recently celebrated his 20th year. He is a former Deputy Attorney General for the State of New Jersey. Todd is Certified by the New Jersey Supreme Court, as a Workers’ Compensation attorney, and serves on the Executive Committee
of the Workers’ Compensation Section of the State Bar Association. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey with his wife, son, and daughter.
Donald T. DeCarlo is the principal of an independent law firm. He was formerly Senior Vice President & General Counsel of The Travelers. I am the principal of an independent law firm in Fresh Meadows, NY, which focuses on mediation/arbitration and regulatory (and insurance counseling). Before establishing the firm in 2005, I was a Partner at Lord Bissell & Brook LLP headed its NY office. Formerly, I was Senior VP and General Counsel of The Travelers Insurance Companies, and Executive VP and General Counsel Gulf Insurance Group. I am a Certified ARIAS-US Arbitrator & Umpire, a Master Arbitrator for the NYS Insurance Dept., and an Arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association. I was the the Founder and Chairman of The American Society of Workers Comp Professionals, Inc. (AMCOMP). In addition I am a Director of 17 companies in the insurance industry. I have authored numerous scholarly articles in legal and trade journals and co-author of four books on workers compensation insurance and law. Most recent book “Workplace Stress – Past, Present and Future. (2020) I Chair an Advisory Committee of the World Trade Center Captive Insurance Company and formerly served as Chairman and Commissioner of the New York Sate Insurance Fund (NYSIF) Insurance and General Counsel of NCCI. Mr. DeCarlo is Chairman and President of the American Society of Workers’ Comp Professionals, Inc. (AMCOMP), a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to professional excellence in the field of workers’ compensation.
Alex C. Dell is the founder of the Law Firm of Alex Dell, PLLC. He represents injured and disabled workers throughout New York and Florida with their Workers’ Compensation, Disability Retirement, Social Security Disability/Supplemental Security Income and Veterans’ Affairs claims.
In 2016, Alex was inducted into the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, a nationwide organization established to honor those attorneys who have distinguished themselves for more than 20 years in the Workers’ Compensation field. He is a member of the executive committee of the workers’ compensation division of the New York State Bar Association’s Torts, Insurance and Compensation Law section, New York Injured Workers’ Bar Association, Florida Workers’ Advocates and the Workers’ Injury Law Group (WILG), a nationwide organization for attorneys who represent injured workers. In 2019, Alex was appointed Co-Chair for WILG’s Nationwide Continuing Legal Education Conference. He also provided continuing legal education on the Workers’ Compensation Law to the justices and staff of the Appellate Division, 3rd Department, and to lawyers throughout New York State.
For 25 years, Alex worked as a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Ice Hockey Referee. Alex also served as a National Hockey League (NHL) trainee referee and officiated his 1st NHL games on January 23, 1992 between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York.
Learn more about Alex and his Firm at www.alexdell.com.
Partner
Ed has over 3 decades of experience in the area of Workers’ Compensation Law, focusing his practice on handling appeals before the New York Workers’ Compensation Board and the Courts of New York State. Ed received his Bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh in 1985, where he studied Mass Communications and Journalism. He graduated with honors from Delaware Law School of Widener University in 1988. Since admission to the New York Bar in 1989, Ed has worked extensively in the area of Workers’ Compensation, handling thousands of hearings and appeals before the Workers’ Compensation Board and dozens of appeals before the New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division and Court of Appeals. Ed is admitted to practice before all New York State Courts. He is a member of the New York State Bar Association, the Injured Workers Bar Association and the American Bar Association.
Steven M. Scotti was appointed to serve as the Executive Director of the NYS Workers’ Compensation Board, effective September 6, 2022.
Steven joined the Board bringing many years of relevant industry, government and leadership experience to the role. Most recently, he served as Acting Deputy General Counsel for the Workers’ Compensation Division of the MTA – New York City Transit Authority.
He has been a practicing attorney for over 30 years, beginning in the public sector at the U.S. Department of Labor, followed by 15 years with the NYC Law Department, where he served as Chief of the Workers’ Compensation Division for seven years. He joined Con Edison in 2002, where he was responsible for building a workers’ compensation practice in its Law Department, and from 2013 to 2018, served as Associate General Counsel for Labor, Employment and Benefits.
Steven has a BA in Political Science from Stony Brook University, and a JD with honors from New York Law School. He served on two Governor’s workers’ compensation task forces (Rocket Docket Committee and Task Force on Group Self-Insurance) and on the FBI Task Force on fraud. He was a member of the Executive Committee of the Special Funds Conservation Committee. He is a former Chair of the New York Self-Insurers Association and served for many years as its Special Counsel. He is a former President of the New York Claim Association and recipient of its annual award for excellence. He also received the Workers’ Compensation Board Chairman’s Award for Excellence in 2001.
He is Co-Editor in Chief of the 2011 NYS Bar Association’s Workers’ Compensation Law and Practice in New York, and a frequent speaker on workers’ compensation issues. In 2016, he was inducted as a Fellow in The College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers.
Martin T. Spiegel (Marty) graduated from Miami University (Ohio) in 1980 with a degree in political science. He graduated from Salmon P. Chase College of Law, Northern Kentucky University in 1983. He has continually practiced law in the State of Illinois since 1983. He has also practiced law in the State of Indiana since 1991. His practice has been concentrated in all aspects of personal injury litigation and workers compensation, although over the last 15 years, Marty has limited his practice to workers compensation matters. That practice has included all levels of litigation from trial through the appellate court level. He currently is a member of the Illinois and Indiana State Bar Associations
Catherine Stanton is a senior partner at the New York firm of Pasternack Tilker Ziegler Walsh Stanton & Romano, LLP and head of the firm’s workers’ compensation department. The firm has been representing injured workers for over 80 years and focuses primarily on workers’ compensation and social security disability claims.
Ms. Stanton served as President of WILG, Workers’ Injury Law & Advocacy Group, a national non-profit membership organization comprised of attorneys who represent injured workers; and was past Chair of the Workers’ Compensation Section for AAJ.
Locally, Ms. Stanton is a director for the New York State Trial Lawyers Association. She is a past president of the Society of New York Workers Compensation’ Bar Association and currently the President of the Brehon Law Society of Nassau County which is focused on monitoring and eradication of violations of human rights and civil liberties principally but not exclusively in the north of Ireland.
Workers’ Compensation; Social Security Disability
Jennifer Jerzak Blackman is the founder and owner of the Law Office of Jennifer Jerzak Blackman. She started her firm in 2019 after having practiced with civil defense firms for 20 years. Jennifer represents businesses before the North Carolina Industrial Commission, the North Carolina Court of Appeals, and the North Carolina Supreme Court. She practices exclusively in the area of Workers’ Compensation. Jennifer graduated from the University of Virginia in 1994 and the Wake Forest School of Law in 1997.
Bob Bollinger has represented injured workers since 1991 in Charlotte, NC. He has served as the Chair of the Workers’ Compensation Section of the North Carolina Advocates for Justice and remains active as the Education Chair of the Section. He is also active in WILG. Bob has been named to NC Superlawyers every year since 2007 and has held the AV Preeminent rating since 2004.
Joy Brewer is the owner and founder of Brewer Defense Group. Upon graduating from law school, Joy served as the law clerk to the Honorable Robert F. Orr on the North Carolina Supreme Court. She has since focused her practice exclusively in the area of workers’ compensation defense. In addition, Ms. Brewer has significant experience in handling cases before both the North Carolina Court of Appeals and North Carolina Supreme Court. Ms. Brewer graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1992 and received her J.D. from Campbell University School of Law in 1996. She has served on the Board of Directors for the North Carolina Association of Defense Attorneys and is member of the North Carolina Association of Self-Insureds. In addition, she is the past President of Kids Chance of North Carolina and continues to serve on the board.
Since 2019, Gina has been the Rulemaking Coordinator and a legislative liaison for the North Carolina Industrial Commission. Prior to that, she represented injured workers in workers’ compensation claims for over 18 years and worked as a Special Deputy Commissioner at the North Carolina Industrial Commission for 4 years. Gina is a Board Certified Workers’ Compensation Specialist and she serves on the North Carolina State Bar Board of Legal Specialization. She earned her law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law and her bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame.
Jay Gervasi received his B.S. degree in Zoology from Duke University in 1980 and his J.D. from Vanderbilt in 1986. He practiced for four years on the defense side, then jumped to a small plaintiffs’ firm in Greensboro, NC in 1990, starting his solo plaintiffs’ practice there in 2000. He is a certified specialist in workers’ compensation law and a past chair of the comp section of the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (now NCAJ).
Bruce is a trusted advisor and steadfast advocate for his clients. He represents insurance carriers, third party administrators and self-insured employers across industries. Over the past 30 years, he has developed a unique niche in the field that capitalizes on his collaborative nature and appellate experience. Bruce was a member of the legislative negotiations team for the 2005 Workers’ Compensation Reform Bill (House Bill 99), 2011 Workers’ Compensation Reform Bill (House Bill 709) and 2012 Amendments (House Bill 237), served on the North Carolina Industrial Commission Chairman’s Informal Advisory Council and is currently the legal advisor for the North Carolina Association of Self-Insurers. Bruce is regularly called upon to speak about recent developments in workers’ compensation law at the NCIC Annual Education Conference, the NC Bar Association’s Workers’ Compensation Seminar, the NC Association of Self-Insurers Conference and the NC PRIMA Conference.
Daniel W. Hayes is a partner with Teague Campbell Dennis & Gorham, LLP, in the Asheville, North Carolina office. He is a graduate of the University of South Carolina’s Honors College (1994) and School of Law (1997). He provides Medicare Secondary Payer consultation, preparing Medicare Set-Aside proposals and legal opinion letters in both liability and workers’ compensation settlements. He is licensed to practice law in North Carolina and South Carolina. He holds designation as a Medicare Set-Aside Certified Consultant (MSCC) and Certified Medicare Secondary Payer Professional (CMSP). He has been included in The Best Lawyers in America© for Workers’ Compensation Law from 2010 to the present. He is rated AV-Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell®. In 2018, he was inducted as a Fellow of the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers. He wrote the “Concurrent Laws: Medicare” chapter of the LEXISNEXIS PRACTICE GUIDE NORTH CAROLINA WORKERS’ COMPENSATION (2017 Edition) and is the author of MEDICARE ISSUES IN LIABILITY AND WORKERS’ COMPENSATION SETTLEMENTS, published by the South Carolina Bar in 2015.
Robert Hodgman has been a practicing attorney specializing in workers compensation for 48 years. He graduated from Duke University with a B.A. and from the UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA School of Law in 1972. Representation is limited to injured workers claims, Social Security disability and personal injury claims. He has been past chair of the N.C. Bar Association Workers Compensation Section , is a Board Certified Specialist in Workers Compensation (N.C. State Bar) since year 2000 and has been a a member and Board member of WILG for over 20 years. He practices in Greensboro, North Carolina with the law firm, Hodgman, Rowlett and Jahnes.
Julia focuses her practice on workers’ compensation and employment law. She has been representing counties and municipalities for over twenty years. She opened Teague Campbell’s second office in 2008 and is the past President of the North Carolina Bar Association Workers’ Compensation Section Council. She regularly presents continuing education programs for peers and speaks at industry conferences and client seminars. Julie and her husband, Joe, have three teenagers.
Mr. Jones has spent his career practicing before the North Carolina Industrial Commission. As a Board-Certified Specialist in Appellate Practice, he has litigated numerous workers’ compensation matters before the North Carolina appellate courts. Mr. Jones has been active in the North Carolina State Bar Appellate Rules Committee since 2012, and he has been recognized by Super Lawyers since 2015.
Griff is dedicated to assisting individuals who are the victims of discrimination, who need assistance with problems arising from work or who have suffered a serious injury. He practices primarily in the areas of workers’ compensation, employment, civil rights, and mediation. He has successfully represented victims of sexual harassment, gender, race, and disability discrimination. His workers’ compensation practice focuses on significant cases regarding physical injuries and occupational diseases, including mental stress cases. He has successfully represented clients on death row and at Guantanamo Bay.
Annemarie Pantazis is a board-certified workers’ compensation specialist and mediator with the Wilder Pantazis Law Group in Charlotte, NC. She earned her B.A. from William & Mary in 1994 and her J.D. from Wake Forest in 1999, where she was a published member of the Law Review and Chief Justice of the Moot Court Board. She served on the NCAJ Board of Governors and as Chair of the Workers’ Compensation Section. She currently serves as co-chair of the NC State Bar workers’ compensation specialization committee and the Executive Committee of WILG, which is a nationwide organization of workers’ compensation advocates. She received WILG’s rising star award, the Charlotte Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 Award, Super Lawyers recognitions of Top 25 Lawyers in Charlotte, Top 100 Lawyers in N.C., Top 50 Women Lawyers in N.C., Lawyers Weekly Women in Justice Award, and Best Lawyers-Workers’ Compensation Claimant’s Lawyer of the Year Award.
Fred Poisson started practicing law in Wadesboro, NC in 1976. Fred is a fourth-generation attorney, exclusively handling personal injury and workers’ compensation cases with his children, Stewart and Davis. Fred and Stewart are Board Certified in workers’ compensation and try personal injury cases. Davis is also licensed in South Carolina, tries serious personal injury cases throughout the Carolinas, and is a Bar Councilor as was Fred, Fred’s father and grandfather before him.
Daniel C. Pope, Jr. is Of Counsel with Wilson Ratledge, PLLC in Raleigh, NC. He has worked as a workers’ compensation defense attorney since 1989. Prior to entering private practice, he served as law clerk to two Industrial Commission Chairs, Ernest Pearson and William Stephenson. He co-chairs the Workers’ Compensation Subcommittee of the North Carolina State Bar’s Board of Legal Specialization, served on the North Carolina Industrial Commission’s Opioid Task Force, and taught as an adjunct faculty member of the North Carolina Occupational Safety & Health Education Resource Center, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He frequently lectures on workers’ compensation and related topics.
Vernon Sumwalt concentrates his practice on workers’ compensation and third-party cases. He is a Past President of the North Carolina Advocates for Justice and is a Board Certified Specialist in Workers’ Compensation Law and Appellate Practice by the North Carolina State Bar. He has published over 50 books and articles about trial practice, has taught at over 140 continuing legal education and other seminars in both North and South Carolina and nationally, and has handled approximately 110 appeals before the North Carolina appellate courts both from cases he has tried and as appellate counsel. Mr. Sumwalt has been selected three times by Best Lawyers as the “Lawyer of the Year” for workers’ compensation claimants in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is licensed to practice in both North Carolina and South Carolina.
Barbara Knapic was appointed the first woman chairperson of the Ohio Industrial Commission, on which she served for almost six years. She has been board certified specialist in workers’ compensation and an Ohio Super Lawyer since 2004. She was named one of the 50 Best Women Attorneys in Ohio in 2011.
Jerry Schneiberg is a Co-Managing Partner of Nager, Romaine & Schneiberg Co., LPA (NRS Injury Law), Ohio’s largest plaintiff workers’ compensation and injury practice. He is a frequent speaker on a variety of Workers’ Compensation topics. Jerry is the past chair of the Workers’ Compensation Section of the Ohio Association for Justice. He is also the past Chair of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association Workers’ Compensation Section and is actively involved with WILG.
Joseph C. Biscone, II, born August 17, 1949, Albany, New York; admitted to bar, 1975, Oklahoma; 1981, New York; also admitted to practice before U.S. Supreme Court; U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit; U.S. District Court, Western District of Oklahoma.
Preparatory education: Franklin & Marshall College (A.B., 1971); legal education, Oklahoma City University School of Law (J.D., 1974).
Recipient: Education Foundation Award (for improving and promoting legal education in Oklahoma), Oklahoma Trial Lawyers Association, 1996; Award of Appreciation (for many contributions and constant support of this organization), Lawyers for Working Oklahomans, 2002; Golden Quill Award, Lawyers for Working Oklahomans, 2003. Managed Care Subcommittee, Physicians Advisory Committee for Governor Keating.
Recognized by Lexis-Nexis Martindale-Hubbell®, Oklahoma’s Top Rated Lawyers for Personal Injury and Workers’ Compensation, since 1995. Listed in The Best Lawyers in America, Workers’ Compensation, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022.
Member:
E-mail: jcb@oklalegal.com
Margaret Bomhoff graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1984 and the University of Oklahoma College of Law in 1987. She practiced workers’ compensation law from 1992-2011. She was named to “Best Lawyers” and selected by the organization as “Workers’ Compensation Lawyer of the Year” in 2011. In 2012, Ms. Bomhoff was appointed by the Governor of Oklahoma to serve as a workers’ compensation judge, and she continues to serve in that capacity.
Donald (Don) Bullard
Don graduated from Southwestern Oklahoma State University in 1981 and the University Of Oklahoma College of Law in 1984. He has practiced workers’ compensation law for 36 years and founded Bullard & Associates in 1992. He is AV rated by Martindale Hubbell and is listed in Best’s Recommended Insurance Attorneys.
Don was honored with induction as a Fellow into the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers. He is also member of the American Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law, Litigation, Tort and Insurance Practice, and Workers’ Compensation Sections. He is admitted to practice in all Oklahoma Federal Courts and the United States Supreme Court.
He currently serves as Chairman of the Workers’ Compensation Committee for the Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce and on the newly formed Council of Advisors. Don was presented the Chairman’s Award at the State Chamber Annual meeting in June of 2021.
John McCaleb joined the Fenton Law Firm in Oklahoma City in 1977. He has been with the Firm his entire career and is now President of the Firm. John has devoted his practice exclusively to the defense of employers and insurance carriers in their compensation cases. He has tried hundreds of compensation cases. He continues to appear at the Workers’ Compensation Commission on a daily basis
Graduate of the University of Tulsa law school 1980. Workers Compensation Defense practitioner 1981 to 2012. Judge of the Workers Compensation Court State of Oklahoma from July 1st, 2012 until term ended on June 30th, 2020 due to Oklahoma’s switch to an administrative system. Private practice since July 1st, 2020. AV Martindale-Hubble rating. approximately 25 reported case as a trial lawyer and as a Judge.
Earned a BBA in accounting from the University of Oklahoma in 1985 and JD from Oklahoma City University 1991. He has represented insurance companies, employers and self-insured employers in the area of workers’ compensation for more than thirty years. Has lectured on topics on Workers’ Compensation Law, Bad Faith, and Mediation and is a Certified Workers’ Compensation mediator. Grady is an AV Preeminent® Rated Attorney.
Graduate, Claremont Men’s College, 1971, magna cum laude; University of Oregon School of Law, 1974. Admitted to practice in Oregon, United States District Court, District of Oregon, Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Deputy district attorney for four years, then LHWCA and Oregon workers’ compensation defense attorney, 1979 to April 2018: SAIF Corporation (25 years), then in private practice at Sather Byerly & Holloway LLP, Portland, Oregon until April 1, 2018 (partner as of 2012). April 2018 became Of Counsel, Brownstein Rask LLP, Portland, Oregon, representing workers subject to the LHWCA and some subject to the Oregon Act. Appellate practice before the Benefits Review Board and 9th Circuit on behalf of other attorneys. Prepares and distributes to claimant and defense bar a quarterly LHWCA caselaw summary. Participant in WILG’s Top Injured Workers’ Attorney Program. Invited speaker at sixteen continuing legal education seminars.
Joy Dougherty graduated from University of Arizona and holds a law degree from Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, CA. She began her law practice doing workers’ compensation in Oregon. She joined the Workers’ Compensation Board in 2003, and in 2010 became an ALJ. In October 2013, she was appointed Presiding ALJ. She was confirmed by the senate as the Chair of the Workers’ Compensation Board in October 2023.
David A. Hytowitz has been an Oregon lawyer since 1975. From 1976 through 1999, he represented injured workers in State and Longshore and Harbor Workers’ compensation and personal injury cases. As an active member of ATLA (now AAJ) and a partner in a law firm which created the National Association of Claimants Compensation Attorneys, he became a founding member of the Workers Injury Law and Advocacy Group (WILG). David helped create this seminal organization of lawyers committed to protecting injured workers’ rights at state and national levels.
David is a former chairperson of the ATLA (AAJ) Workers’ Compensation and Disability Section as well as the Oregon State Bar Workers’ Compensation section. He served on the Oregon State Board of Governors from 1998-2003 and was Vice President of the Bar twice during those years. He currently serves on the Oregon State Bar Client Security Fund Committee. The Oregon State Bar Client Security Fund was created in 1967 to help reimburse clients who lose money or property as a result of dishonest conduct by their lawyer. Oregon lawyers developed the program and fund it with a mandatory assessment paid by all active members of the Bar. The Fund is one way the Bar and its members compensate for the misdeeds of a few lawyers.
David now works solely as an arbitrator and mediator to assist people in resolving their cases.
Mr. Bolinger has been exclusively representing injured workers in Pennsylvania since 1985. He has been named a “Super Lawyer” and has received an AV rating from Martindale Hubbell. He has also been recognized in the “Best Lawyers in America.” He is a Fellow in The American Bar Association Foundation.
Mr. Bordonaro practices exclusively in workers’ compensation, with emphasis on representing employers and insurance carriers. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Workers’ Compensation Section and the Pennsylvania Defense Institute. He also serves on the Erie County Bar Association Workers’ Compensation Committee and has served on its Legal Education Committee as chairman. Mr. Bordonaro has recently been appointed to serve on the advisory panel for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s workers’ compensation section. This panel is dedicated to the planning and presentation of the section’s two-day seminar held in Hershey, Pennsylvania each year. Mr. Bordonaro is also a member of the American Bar Association. He was elected effective January 1, 2013, to serve as a Fellow in the National College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers. This distinction is extended to workers’ compensation lawyers who have practiced at least 20 years in the field and who have excelled in the profession. Mr. Bordonaro was certified as a workers’ compensation specialist by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 2013. He was selected to the list of Pennsylvania Super Lawyers. Mr. Bordonaro is currently a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Workers’ Compensation Section Certification Committee.
Mr. Bordonaro is a graduate of Slippery Rock University and a 1983 graduate of the University of Akron School of Law. While in law school, he was a senior staff member of the Akron Law Review. Mr. Bordonaro has also served on the Planning and Allocations Division of United Way of Erie County, was a liaison for the Salvation Army and has been a member of the Children’s Services Advisory Board. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors for the Erie Redevelopment Authority.
Mr. Bordonaro is admitted to practice before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. He regularly appears before the Workers’ Compensation Judges in Northwest Pennsylvania, as well as the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board, the Commonwealth Court, and the Supreme Court. Mr. Bordonaro handles workers’ compensation subrogation issues, as well, in the common pleas courts. He also handles heart and lung claims for municipal and city employers, which involve claims brought by police officers and firefighters under the Local Administrative Agency Act. He has made presentations and participated in seminars on these and other subjects before a variety of professional organizations, including the American Bar Association, Pennsylvania Bar Association, the Erie County Bar Association, and the Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association. His presentations have been approved for Pennsylvania Continuing Education credits.
Mr. Chaban practices in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as a member of AlpernSchubert, P.C.. He received his BA (1977) and JD (1980) degrees from the University of Pittsburgh, both with honors. Mr. Chaban has also written a number of amicus briefs for PAJ Amicus Committee on important workers’ compensation topics before the PA Supreme and Commonwealth Court. For this work, he has been awarded the George F. Douglas Amicus Curiae Award in 2007 by PAJ. Mr. Chaban served as the Chair of the Workers’ Compensation Section of PAJ from 2005-2007 and served as chair of its Amicus Committee from 2009-2011. He sits on the council for the PBA Worker’s Compensation Section, serving as Chair in 2011-2012. Mr. Chaban was appointed to the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Advisory Council in October 2015 and serves as Employee Co-Chair. He assumed the position of Zone 12 Governor on the PBA Board of Governors in May 2021.
During his fifteen years serving as a Workers’ Compensation Judge, Mr. Dlin gained insight and perspective that elude the advocates in the court room. He has brought those gains to the representation of his clients—folks in dire straits emotionally, physically, and financially. At Krasno Krasno Onwudinjo, the lawyers pride themselves on an 85-year reputation of providing top-tier representation to those most in need.
Michael Dryden has represented injured workers across Pennsylvania for nearly thirty years. He focuses on Workers’ Compensation/Occupational Disease, concentrating on occupational cancer and hearing loss. He is a Certified Specialist in Workers’ Compensation and represents many unionized groups of employees, including Teamsters, firefighters, and professional athletes. He has won multiple cases before the Pennsylvania Commonwealth and Supreme Courts and has testified before City and
State Legislatures regarding workers’ rights.
Alfonso Frioni, Jr., appointed Commissioner to the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board by Governor Tom Ridge in 1996, has served as Chairman since 2011. He is a member of the Pennsylvania WC Rules and Liaison committees, the WC Advisory Board and the IAIABC. He co-authored “A History of The Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board: 1972-2015.” In 2023, he was awarded the Irv Stander Memorial Award for dedication and professionalism.
Mr. Gross is a partner with the Philadelphia law firm of Gross & Kenny, LLP. He concentrates his practice in workers’ compensation litigation and has been representing injured workers for 32 years. In 2013, Mr. Gross became certified as a specialist in the practice of workers’ compensation law by the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Section on Workers’ Compensation Law as authorized by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. He served on the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Board of Governors from 2008-2010. Mr. Gross is a past co-chair of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Workers’ Compensation Section and has served on the Section’s executive committee for the past 19 years. He has served as the Chancellor of the Brandeis Law Society and is a founding member of the Brandeis Law Foundation. Mr. Gross is actively engaged in fundraising activities for the Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Bar Associations and is currently the Treasurer of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Workers’ Compensation Advisory Council and is Chair-Elect of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Worker’s Compensation Section. He has been the Treasurer of the Alexander Barbieri Workers’ Compensation Inn of Court since its inception in 2011. Mr. Gross was awarded the Martha Hampton Award in 2003 in recognition of his strong advocacy and compassion for injured workers as well as his professional and community service. He has been recognized by Philadelphia Magazine every year since 2004 as one of the area’s leading attorneys in workers’ compensation litigation, and has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America, published by Woodward &White. Mr. Gross is a Board Member of the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association, and is currently the Workers’ Compensation Section Chair for the Pennsylvania Association for Justice. He is active in the Philadelphia Bar Association and the Pennsylvania Bar Association. He is a frequent lecturer on various workers’ compensation issues and has authored numerous articles involving workers’ compensation issues in several publications, including The Legal Intelligencer. Mr. Gross received his J.D. from the Dickinson School of Law and his B.S. from Muhlenberg College. Mr. Gross is also an FAA licensed pilot.
Barbara Hollenbach, a member of Norris McLaughlin & Marcus, Allentown, Pennsylvania, has more than thirty years of experience in defending insureds and self-insureds in workers’ compensation and other litigation. A graduate of Penn StateMs. Hollenbach has more than 40 years’ experience in defending workers’ compensation matters on behalf of employers and is a frequent writer and lecturer on workers’ compensation topics. She has been certified as a specialist in the practice of workers’ compensation law since 2013. Since 1999, Ms. Hollenbach has been a member of the committee that plans and presents the biennial program Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Practice & Procedure. She has been recognized as a Super Lawyer in the field of workers’ compensation and selected for inclusion in “The Best Lawyers in America” for several years. A past chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Workers’ Compensation Law Section, she was the 2012 recipient of the Section’s Irv Stander Memorial Award for her dedication to workers’ compensation law and professionalism. Ms. Hollenbach has been a Fellow of the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers since 2013. and Dickinson Law School, she is listed in Pennsylvania Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers in America.
Jenifer Dana Kaufman, Esquire is the founder and principal of Kaufman Workers’ Compensation Law. She is certified as a Workers’ Compensation Specialist by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Jenifer has a special interest in the intersection of workers’ compensation and medical marijuana. She litigated the seminal Fegley v WCAB case which allows claimants to be reimbursed for the reasonable and necessary cost of medical marijuana used to treat their work injuries.
Mr. Krebs is Commissioner on the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board and is its immediate past Chairman. Prior to his appointment, he was a trial attorney in Pittsburgh for twenty years. He received a BA in 1981 from Pennsylvania State University and JD from Capital University Law School in 1984 where he served as Articles Editor of the Capital University Law Review. He is an Adjunct Professor at Duquesne University School of Law.
Valerie H. Lieberman is an equity partner and Chair of the Workers’ Compensation department of Naulty, Scaricamazza & and McDevitt, LLC. She has been practicing Workers’ Compensation for almost thirty years. She represents insurance companies, self-insured employers and uninsured employers. She serves as the Chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Workers’ Compensation Section and is on the Board for Kids’ Chance of PA.
R. Burke McLemore, Jr.: Burke’s interest in workers’ compensation began at Dickinson School of Law where he authored “Heart Attacks and the Pennsylvania Workman’s Compensation Act.” Following a clerkship in federal court he came to Thomas, Thomas & Hafer, LLP, chairing its Workers’ Compensation Section for 25+ years. He served as Secretary of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute. In 2014 he received PBA’s Workers’ Compensation Section Irvin Stander Memorial Award. He served six years on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Disciplinary Board, the last as Chairman. He chaired Pennsylvania’s Workers’ Compensation Act Centennial Committee, receiving PBA’s Special Achievement Award (along with Judge Torrey) for that work. He is a graduate of Washington & Jefferson College (Phi Beta Kappa, 1973).
Beginning in 1978 I practiced as an attorney representing injured workers and their families. I was appointed to serve as a Workers’ Compensation Judge in July of 2016.
Jim Poerio is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law whose career has been devoted to the defense of PA workers’ compensation claims and Federal Black Lung claims nationwide. Jim was founding chair of the CLM Workers’ Compensation Committee and currently serves as co-chair of the the CLM WC Advisory Board. He is principal author of the CLM PA WC Wiki. Jim has an AV Martindale-Hubbell rating and has been recognized by Best Lawyers annually since 2006.
Vincent J. Quatrini, Jr. is a founding partner at the firm and serves as managing partner.
He concentrates his practice in the area of Workers’ Compensation and the representation of injured workers exclusively.
Mr. Quatrini has more than 44 years of experience in state and federal courts and has served as counsel in prominent cases.
On June 25, 2007, Judge Rago was appointed as a Workers’ Compensation Judge in the PA Workers’ Compensation Office of Adjudication. She adjudicates approximately 400-450 petitions and mediates approximately 300 cases a year. Judge Rago mentors new Workers’ Compensation judges and trains internally, both judges and staff, on the use of the case management systems. She also prepares PowerPoint presentations to augment any given training.
Ms. Toland is a Principal in Post & Schell’s Workers’ Compensation Department, dedicating her practice to the defense of employers in workers’ compensation cases. Her client base includes large international corporations in the health care, maintenance, retail, and transportation industries. She has been honored by The Legal Intelligencer and the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Workers’ Compensation Section, among others, for her contributions to the legal industry.
Toni J. Williams, Managing Partner of SutterWilliams, LLC, located on the North Shore of Pittsburgh, PA, has dedicated her practice to defending workers’ compensation clients. Licensed in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, she represents insurance companies and self-insured employers throughout Pennsylvania and West Virginia. She is a 1986 graduate of Duquesne University and a 1990 graduate of Duquesne University School of Law, Evening Division.
Kimberly Zabroski is a partner in the Pittsburgh office of Chartwell Law. Her practice is dedicated to representing employers, insurance companies and third-party administrators in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. She is a dedicated and active member of the legal community. She was appointed to a three-year term to serve as a member of Pennsylvania Bar Association, Workers’ Compensation Certification Committee, 2019 – present. She has been recognized among her peers having been named to Best Lawyers in America© (2010-present). She is also a regular speaker for the Workers’ Compensation Section of the Pennsylvania Bar Association.
Katherine Poirier is a partner at BLG, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She practices Workers’ Compensation on the defence side and is a NWCDN member. She is a past Chair of ABA TIPS Workers’ Compensation and Employers’ Liability Committee. French-Canadian, proud McGill University Alumni, she also is a Chartered Human Resources Practitioner and a Best Lawyers honoree. Her practice also includes OHS, Labor and Employment Law & Privacy and Data Protection.
Gary Christmas is the founder and managing partner of Christmas Injury Lawyers. He is a member and past President of the South Carolina Injured Workers Advocates and served as Chairman of the South Carolina Bar Workers Compensation Counsel. His practice is dedicated to protecting the rights of the injured and their families, including those injured under the South Carolina, Federal Longshore, and Harbor Workers Compensation and Defense Base Acts.
I was appointed to the Maryland Workers’ Compensation Commission in January 1999.Prior to my appointment, I was engaged in the private practice of law serving as a civil trial attorney for Ashcraft and Gerel, LLP, where I concentrated on workers’ compensation, personal injury, medical malpractice and products liability .I am the Past President of the Women’s Bar Association and a former board member of the Maryland Chapter of the National Association of Women Judges . After 20 years of service at the Workers’ Compensation Commission, I retired in August of 2019.
Born and having lived in Charleston all his life, David Pearlman has spent his entire life observing the dignity and respect of the law. David’s father, the Honorable Gus H. Pearlman, was Probate Judge for Charleston County for 35 years. “He taught me that everybody deserves respect, dignity, and equal justice no matter their background.” David Pearlman has spent his entire career trying to ensure that “justice for all” means just that.
While in college at University of Georgia and George Washington University, David marched for civil and workers’ rights. After obtaining his law degree from the University of South Carolina Law School, he joined the Steinberg Law Firm in 1976. He became a partner in 1980.
“Irving Steinberg founded the firm to help the working people of South Carolina,” he says, “It’s always been a perfect place for me to practice law.”
David has been a member of the South Carolina Bar for more than 40 years. He has won landmark cases before the South Carolina Court of Appeals and the South Carolina Supreme Court. He has been credited with successful victories protecting working people against some of the country’s largest corporations.
David has lectured and served on numerous committees devoted to workers’ rights, including serving as Legislative Chairperson for South Carolina Injured Workers’ Advocates (IWA) for the last 12 years. He is a past recipient of the Gedney M. Howe Jr. Award for Outstanding Public Service. David previously served as an adjunct professor of Workers’ Compensation Law at the Charleston School of Law for 2 years. He is a 2011 and 2017 recipient of the Leadership in Law by Lawyers Weekly. He has been named one of the Best Lawyers in America for 10??? years in a row. He has been selected as a “Super Lawyer” for 8??? Years in a rows. He holds the highest professional and ethical rating (AV) in Martindale-Hubbell, a legal directory.
David and his wife, Janet, live on Sullivan’s Island and have two children. He is proud to say his daughter is a lawyer in Chicago, IL and his son is a lawyer in New York, NY.
Practicing law since 1982, Lana is a certified mediator recognized by the Supreme Court of South Carolina. After devoting thirty-five years to private litigation practice, he now has a solo mediation practice with a primary emphasis in the resolution of Workers’ Compensation cases. Born and raised for a short time in Panama, Lana is also conversationally fluent in Spanish.
Leslie F. Bishop, a Lewis Thomason shareholder, is responsible for all aspects of a general defense litigation practice, with an emphasis on workers’ compensation and employment law. Her employment practice ranges from representation of employers at state agencies to trial on all employment issues. She currently serves as co-chair of the firm’s Workers’ Compensation Practice Group.
Ms. Bishop joined the firm from the Tennessee Department of Labor Workers’ Compensation Division where she supervised the Knoxville Regional Office which covered nineteen counties. She has served as a member of the Governor’s Task Force charged with reform of workers’ compensation laws in the State of Tennessee. She has been a certified Mediator and has successfully participated in over 1,000 mediations, primarily workers’ compensation disputes.
Kenneth M. Switzer was appointed to the Tennessee Court of Workers’
Compensation Claims in spring 2014 to serve as the Court’s first chief judge.
In that role, he has led rolling out the new court, which officially opened its
doors on July 1, 2014. Chief Judge Switzer oversees all court operations, in
addition to handling a full docket of cases. He presently serves on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Workers’ Compensation Judiciary.
Jim is the Austin, Texas partner in the firm of Cattie & Gonzalez, a firm with a national focus on managing Medicare Secondary Payer issues. Licensed to practice law in Mississippi, his career there spanned 45 years before moving to Texas. He was the Senior Founding Member of Anderson Crawley & Burke, PLLC, in Ridgeland, Mississippi at the time of his move.
He is currently Vice-President for the CWCL Board. He is also active within the DRI and served as Chair of its WC Community 2021–2022.
Jim is Past-President of the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Educational Association, Inc., and Chaired the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Educational Conference from 2008 through 2021. He is an active participant in the Workers’ Compensation Institute in Orlando, Florida where he co-chairs the National Workers’ Compensation Review.
He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Faith Based Claims Association.
Jim has carried Martindale Hubbell’s highest rating (AV) since 1990 and has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America since 1995.
Lewis S. Fleishman is a maritime lawyer who focuses his practice on LHWCA and DBA cases. He has practiced law now for more than forty years. Currently, he spends considerable time assisting other attorneys with their legal issues/case development.
Bob is a partner with the law firm of Burns Anderson Jury & Brenner, L.L.P. He is board certified in Texas Workers’ Compensation Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Bob represents employers and insurance carriers in administrative and court proceedings regarding workers’ compensation benefit disputes, medical disputes, subrogation claims and compliance matters. He has participated in the legislative process regarding workers’ compensation issues and acted as an expert witness on workers’ compensation matters. Bob is a graduate of Willamette University College of Law, where he was a member of the Willamette Law Review and Moot Court Board, and Centenary College of Louisiana. He has been admitted to practice law by the State Bar of Texas, State Bar of Oregon (inactive) and the United States District Courts of the Western, Eastern, Northern, and Southern Districts of Texas. Bob is a former member of the Workers’ Compensation Law Advisory Commission (Texas Board of Legal Specialization), current member of the Workers’ Compensation Law Exam Commission (Texas Board of Legal Specialization), College of the State Bar, Austin Bar Association and a Fellow with the Texas Bar Foundation. He was Vice President, Carrier Section, Workers’ Compensation Section of the State Bar of Texas (2017-2018) and he is a former Chair of the Workers’ Compensation Section of the State Bar of Texas (2019-2020).
In his youth, he was a Pathfinder with the 82nd Airborne Division. In addition to the practice of law, Bob enjoys playing guitar and physical activities, participating in various fun runs, Warrior Dashes and Spartan Races. His is active in CrossFit.. Most recently, he has taken up gardening in a valiant effort to brighten his landsape.
Matt earned a BA in Political Science from Harding University in 1994, followed by a JD at the University of Houston Law Center in 1997. He has spent his entire career representing injured workers throughout Texas. Matt currently serves as the Chair of the Workers’ Compensation Section of the State Bar of Texas.
Represents injured workers since 1996. Fluent in Spanish. Licensed in both Texas and New Mexico. Past section chair for the workers compensation section at the Texas State Bar.
Following graduation from Florida Atlantic University, Mr. Sprain worked for Dr. M. Alexander Gabrielsen, a leading expert in aquatic injuries. He was accepted to practice law by the Supreme Court of the State of Texas on November 4, 1994. Mr. Sprain began career as an attorney in Houston, Texas participating in all aspects of commercial, personal injury, and tort cases from pre-suit to trial. In February, 1999, he formed the Sprain Law Firm, P.C. to represent individuals involved in Personal Injury, Defense Base Act, and Texas Workers’ Compensation cases. In 2004, Mr. Sprain became Board Certified by the Texas Legal Board of Legal Specialization in Workers’ Compensation. Michael L. Sprain has earned a reputation representing injured workers in all aspects of workers’ compensation claims. Mr. Sprain’s strong values and commitment to his clients allows him to achieve the results his clients expect and deserve. He has a proven record of handling complex disputed cases from inception through completion.
Robert Stokes is Board Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Civil Appellate Law and Workers’ Compensation Law. He has a B.A. from Abilene Christian University and a J.D. from Baylor University. Mr. Stokes is past chair of the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, and a former member of the Texas State Bar Committee on Jury Service, as well as the State Bar Committee on Pattern Jury Charges, General Negligence and Intentional Torts and Workers’ Compensation. He was lead appellate counsel in Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation v. Lumbermen’s Mutual Cas. Co., where the court disallowed an effort to increase impairment ratings through the use of agency “advisories”, and lead appellate counsel before the Texas Supreme Court in Ins. Co. of the State of Pa., v. Muro, which clarified the standard for an award of Lifetime Income Benefits.
Ms. Stone has worked in private practice from 1990 through the present and is board-certified in Workers’ Compensation Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Prior to founding Stone Loughlin & Swanson in 2004, Ms. Stone practiced at Shapiro Edens & Cook (1990-1991), Jenkens & Gilchrist (1991-1993), and Wilson Grosenheider & Jacobs (1994-2004). She served on the Advisory Counsel for the State Bar of Texas, Workers’ Compensation Section and is AV rated Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell. She is a Texas Bar Foundation Life Fellow and served on the board of the National Workers’ Compensation Defense Network. She is a Fellow of the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers. Ms. Stone was instrumental in the founding of Kids’ Chance of Texas.
Steve is Board Certified in Workers’ Compensation Law, Personal Injury Trial Law, and Civil Appellate Law, by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, , and is admitted to the bar of Supreme Court of the United States and State Bar of Texas. He is MARTINDALE-HUBBELL AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated, and named a SuperLawyer® by TEXAS MONTHLY, and LAW AND POLITICS magazines.
Steve was Briefing Attorney to the Hon. Robert M. Campbell, Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas, 1981- 1982.
Steve is a Certified Litigation Claims Management Professional, and a member of: The Texas Supreme Court Historical Society; The Faith Based Claims Ass’n; CLM; DRI (Advisory Board member, Workers’ Compensation Committee); and the Workers’ Compensation Defense Institute. He is also Contributing Editor to THE TEXAS WORKERS’ COMPENSATION MANUAL, annually 1982 to date, and Past President of The Wine & Food Foundation of Texas.
Keith Kasper has been defending Vermont employers and workers’ compensation carriers for over 30 years in all litigation matters form initial injury inquiries through Administrative hearings, to jury trial appeals to Vermont Supreme Court Appeals. He has been the head of the WC Section of the Vermont Bar Association since 2000. He was the founder of the Vermont Chapter of Kids Chance in 2014. He graduated from Rutgers Law School in 1987 where he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Rutgers Law Journal. Following law School he clerked for Justice Gibson at the Vermont Supreme Court. Attorney Kasper has been at his current firm since 1988, where he was managing partner from 2011 to 2020. Attorney Kasper was very pleased to be selected as the first Fellow from Vermont inducted into the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers in 2010
Phyllis Phillips embarked on her mediation career after a ten-year stint as the senior Administrative Law Judge for the Vermont Department of Labor’s Workers’ Compensation and Safety Division. Previously, she amassed extensive experience in all facets of workers’ compensation law, first as an attorney and consultant for injured workers, employers, and insurance adjusters, and later as co-owner of a Vermont-based workers’ compensation insurance company.
Phyllis has completed advanced negotiation training at Pepperdine University’s Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution and is a member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals. She has served on Vermont’s Uniform Pain Management Advisory Council and the Kids’ Chance of Vermont Board of Directors. A native of Marblehead, MA, Phyllis has accumulated a tattoo, a license plate, and a treasure trove of memories pertaining to the Boston Red Sox. She considers their 2004 World Series victory on a par with the birth of her children.
Deborah Wood Blevins is the Managing Deputy Commissioner of the Virginia Workers Compensation Commission Alternative Dispute Resolution Department. She is a 1980 honors graduate from Swarthmore College and a 1983 graduate of the University Of Virginia School Of Law. Deputy Commissioner Blevins was a partner in Gilmer, Sadler, Ingram, Sutherland, & Hutton, LLP in Pulaski, Virginia prior to joining the Commission in 2004. She is a mediator certified by the Judicial Council of the Virginia Supreme Court and a mediator mentor and trainer. Deputy Commissioner Blevins is Chair of the Dispute Resolution Committee of the International Association of Industrial Accident Boards & Commissions (IAIABC), a Fellow of the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, and was recognized by Virginia Lawyers’ Weekly in 2020 as an Influential Woman in the Law.
Claire has spent her entire 30-year legal career with the Mid-Atlantic law firm of Kalbaugh Pfund & Messersmith (KPM LAW), which has 4 offices throughout Virginia and is headquartered in Richmond. She is the Vice President of the firm and is the managing partner of the firm’s Worker’s Compensation Practice Group. After making equity partner in 1998, the following year, Claire created the firm’s Workers’ Compensation Practice Group, which now consists of 10 dedicated workers’ compensation attorneys across Virginia.
Over the span of her career, Claire has defended thousands of workers’ compensation and general liability claims, including 75 jury trials early in her career. For over 20 years, Claire has dedicated her practice exclusively to the defense of workers’ compensation claims in Virginia, representing numerous international, national, regional, and local employers throughout Virginia.
In 2013 she helped establish the Workers’ Compensation Committee of the National Retail Restaurant Association (NRRDA) and has twice chaired that committee, actively participating since its inception. In 2014 she helped establish the Virginia Workers’ Compensation American Inn of Court and has served as the programs chair, treasurer, secretary, and President. She co-established the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Advisory Conference in 2016 which is a bi-partisan state-wide organization dedicated to the advancement of workers’ compensation practice, issues, laws, and procedural changes at the Commission. In 2020, she helped create the Workplace Matters Group of The Gavel, a national organization of industry members and defense attorneys, and is currently serving as the group’s Chairperson.
In addition to being named to the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Claire holds an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell and has been named multiple times to Virginia Super Lawyer, Virginia Legal Elite, Woman Leader in the Law, America’s Top 100 Attorneys, Richmond Magazine’s Top Attorneys in Virginia, Best Lawyers in America and is an ALM Top Rated Insurance Lawyer.
David has been representing accident victims and injured workers since 1999. He has handled thousands of cases before the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission, as well as numerous appellate matters before the Virginia Court of Appeals.
Lynne M. Ferris is a Deputy Commissioner for the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the State University of New York at Geneseo in 1988 and a Juris Doctorate from Union University at Albany Law School in 1991. Ms. Ferris is admitted to the Virginia, New York , and Connecticut Bars. She is a former clerk for the Department of Labor Office of Administrative Law Judges in Newport News, Virginia, and was engaged in the private practice of law in Norfolk, Virginia. She began work for the Commission as a staff attorney in 1999 and a Deputy Commissioner in 2004. She has been certified by the Virginia Supreme Court as a general mediator since 2001 and she is a mediator and mediator mentor for the Commission’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Department. Ms. Ferris was inducted into the 2020 Class of Fellows of the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers in 2022.
Founder and President of Lucas&Kite PLC, a firm dedicated exclusively to the defense of workers’ compensation cases. Mr. Lucas is an AV rated lawyer, Best Lawyers in America since 1995, Super Lawyer since 2006 and was recently selected in the inaugural class of Go-To Lawyers in the Commonwealth of Virginia for Workers’ Compensation.
Jimese Pendergraft Sherrill is a Deputy Commissioner (Manassas Regional Office) and certified mediator/mentor with the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission. Before joining the Commission in 2008, she specialized in workers’ compensation defense. Ms. Sherrill earned a BA from Shippensburg University in 1984 and a JD from University of Richmond in 1987. She is a Board member of Kids’ Chance of Virginia, and a member of the Virginia Workers’ Compensation American Inn of Court. She and her husband, Jerry, live in Springfield, VA.
Jay Causey practiced for nearly 40 years in the field of workers’ compensation and disability law, including Washington State workers’ compensation claims, Social Security disability cases, Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Act cases, Defense Base Act claims, and maritime injury cases. In the last several years of his practice, Jay was invited by a broad array of plaintiff and defense lawyers and insurance carriers to mediate Longshore, Defense Base Act and other complex workers’ compensation cases. He retired from active representation of clients at the end of 2016, and converted his practice to perform this mediation work through Causey Mediation until the end of 2021. Causey Mediation enjoyed a high rate of success in bringing cases to resolution in Washington and a number of Western states.
After a short career as a labor lawyer, Dave has been representing injured workers since 1978, primarily handling Washington State Workers’ Compensation claims and claims under the Longshore and related Acts. Dave also serves as a mediator in Longshore and DBA cases.
H Dill Battle III is a Member at Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC, and Chair of the firm’s Workers’ Compensation Practice Group. Dill’s primary areas of practice are workers’ compensation, employment relations and counseling, and commercial litigation. Mr. Battle is a Fellow and member of the Board of Governors of the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers. He also serves on the board of the National Workers’ Compensation Defense Network. He is AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell and was nominated by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America in the area of Workers’ Compensation Law – Employers. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and his law degree from West Virginia University College of Law.
Steve Wellman serves as the CEO and workers’ compensation practice group leader at Jenkins Fenstermaker, PLLC, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2023. Steve’s practice is dedicated to the defense of employers, insurers, and claim administrators in workers’ compensation claim litigation of all types, and he appears frequently before the West Virginia Insurance Commission, Workers’ Compensation Board of Review, Intermediate Court of Appeals, and Supreme Court of Appeals.
Attorney Thomas M. Domer has represented injured workers in Wisconsin for over 45 years. He is listed in Best Lawyers in America (repeatedly chosen Milwaukee Workers’ Compensation Claimants’ Lawyer of the Year) and his peers continually recognize him as a Wisconsin Super Lawyer. Tom teaches the workers’ compensation course at Marquette University Law School. He lectures frequently around the state and nation (including the State Bar of Wisconsin, UW-Milwaukee, and the UW School for Worker’s Compensation Institute). His presentations on workers’ compensation practice and ethics for lawyers—and long-term advocacy for injured workers— earned him election as a Workers’ Compensation Fellow in the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI), and a Charter Fellow in the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers (where he served as President 2017-2019).
Charlie Domer exclusively practices Wisconsin workers’ compensation law, representing only injured workers. He is co-author of West’s treatise Wisconsin Workers’ Compensation Law. He is recognized in Wisconsin Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers in America, and he regularly makes presentations to other lawyers and students. Charlie is a founding Board member of Kids’ Chance of Wisconsin. His educational allegiance is to the Badgers (BS and JD from UW-Madison).
Attorney Flanagan is a 1974 law school graduate. His practice involves representation of injured workers. Legal activities include presentations to groups, co-editor of a legal magazine, one of the attorney advisors to Labor at the Wisconsin WC Advisory Council, and a co-host for a live weekly radio legal call in show.
Aaron Halstead is a shareholder in Hawks Quindel’s Madison office, which he was instrumental in founding in 1995. His practice is focused on representation of employees in worker’s compensation and employment litigation matters. Attorney Halstead also devotes a substantial portion of his worker’s compensation practice to representing injured Spanish-speaking employees.
Attorney Halstead has represented employees, and labor and community-based organizations before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and the United States District Courts for the Western and Eastern Districts of Wisconsin, as well as before various state and federal administrative agencies.
Have handled personal injury and worker’s compensation claims, on behalf of injury victims, for the past 33 years.
Daniel M. Pedriana is a shareholder and member of the Board of Directors of Lindner & Marsack, S.C. His current law practice primarily focuses on defending worker’s compensation claims for the insurance industry and self-insured employers. He also frequently handles related employment and subrogation issues. Mr. Pedriana was an in-house attorney for a major insurance company prior to joining Lindner & Marsack, S.C., defending against personal injury, property damage, and worker’s compensation claims. He has also handled various related subrogation claims.
Mr. Pedriana frequently lectures and speaks on worker’s compensation law, along with related labor and employment law and subrogation topics, in Wisconsin and throughout the country. Mr. Pedriana spent two years, during his attendance at the University of Wyoming College of Law, working for the Wyoming Public Defender’s office. There, he argued before the Supreme Court of Wyoming. Following law school, he completed a judicial clerkship with New Mexico’s Fifth District Court and wrote appellate briefs to the New Mexico Supreme Court. In 2019, Mr. Pedriana was honored by being selected as a Fellow of the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers. The College was established to honor those attorneys who have distinguished themselves in their practice in the field of worker’s compensation. He was previously named a “Rising Star” by Wisconsin Super Lawyers. Mr. Pedriana has a peer rating review of AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell. Mr. Pedriana strongly supports continued education. He received three undergraduate degrees and he is an adjunct faculty member at a local university. Mr. Pedriana teaches classes in labor and employment law, business law, and business ethics.
Paul R. Riegel, of Riegel Law, S.C. represents and counsels employers and insurers in Wisconsin workers compensation matters. Before establishing Riegel Law in 2005, Paul was a partner in the prestigious Milwaukee law firms of Borgelt, Powell, Peterson and Frauen, S.C. and Michael Best & Friedrich, LLP. He has been the general counsel for the Wisconsin Compensation Rating Bureau since 1992. A 1987 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, Paul is a member of the State Bar of Wisconsin, the Defense Research Institute, the American Bar Association and a guest lecturer at Marquette Law School. Paul became a Fellow in the College of Workers Compensation Lawyers in 2009. When he is not in the office, Paul spends his time with his family and competes in triathlons and cross-country ski races.
Robert H. Zilske is the founding shareholder of Zilske Law Firm S.C. formed in 1995. He received both his B.A. and his J.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He served as an administrative law judge for the Wisconsin Worker’s Compensation Division before entering private practice devoted primarily to worker’s compensation defense.
Mr. Zilske is a Fellow of the College of Worker’s Compensation Lawyers, carries a Martindale Hubbell AV Preeminent 5.0 Rating, has been listed in Best Lawyers in America annually for over twenty years, and has been listed in Super Lawyers in Wisconsin every year since its initial publication.
Mr. Zilske is a member of the Defense Research Institute, The State Bar of Wisconsin and its section on Labor and Employment Law, and the American Bar Association including its sections on Labor and Employment Law and Tort and Insurance Practice. He is past-president of the permanent Board of Directors of the Wisconsin Worker’s Compensation Forum, a non-profit corporation providing educational programming to the worker’s compensation community in Wisconsin. Mr. Zilske is former Wisconsin state chair of the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance, a national organization dedicated to ethical claims and litigation management.
Mr. Zilske has taught worker’s compensation law through the Marquette University Law School Extension and is co-author of the worker’s compensation chapters in two respected State Bar of Wisconsin publications. He is a frequent presenter to professional groups locally on Worker’s Compensation matters and nationally on medical legal topics including presentations to the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine and the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgery at their annual meetings.