Best Lawyers in Florida, United States for Medical Malpractice Law - Defendants
Florida is home to more than 23 million people, hundreds of industries and a wide range of legal needs. From individuals navigating personal matters like divorce or estate planning to businesses managing complex contracts or regulatory hurdles, legal guidance plays a critical role in daily life across the state.
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No matter where you live or what kind of legal help you need, chances are we’ve got it covered. Best Lawyers recognizes attorneys in both high-demand and niche areas of practice across all corners of the state. This directory includes lawyers from large metro areas like Miami, Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville, as well as smaller communities like Gainesville, Pensacola and Sarasota, ensuring you can find representation no matter where you're located.
Some of the most commonly searched legal services in Florida include:
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We also include lawyers practicing in emerging or specialized fields, such as cybersecurity law, cannabis regulation, aviation law and education law. With so many attorneys practicing across Florida, it can be difficult to know who truly stands out. That’s where Best Lawyers adds genuine value by showing you not just every practitioner who’s licensed, but qualified attorneys who have earned the respect of their peers through years of dedicated service and proven results.
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Every attorney listed in our Florida page has earned recognition through Best Lawyers’ rigorous annual peer-review process. This is a comprehensive methodology grounded in the insights of the legal community itself.
Here’s how it works:
- Nomination: Lawyers are nominated by peers or clients who have observed their work firsthand.
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This process helps ensure the integrity of our listings. If you’re selecting an attorney from our directory, you’re choosing someone who didn’t just claim to be the best—they were recognized by other attorneys as among the best in their field.
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Practice Area Overview
In simple terms, the standard of care is the legal duty that a health care provider (physician, nurse, medical technician, hospital, clinic, etc.) owes to the patient. That duty or obligation arises from the professional relationship established with the patient. It is axiomatic that without such a relationship the obligation to treat or provide care could not exist. The professional relationship, however, does not always require direct communication between the health care provider and patient may be established indirectly. For example, in addition to a physician who accepts a patient directly, lab technicians, pathologists, and radiologists may not encounter a patient personally but have the legal duty to comply with applicable standards of care.
Most states have enacted legislation which controls this area of specialized litigation and the legal duty of health care providers is largely defined by statute. It is now universally accepted that the duty and, thus, the standard of care, requires a health care provider to exercise the degree of reasonable care, skill, and diligence as would ordinarily be exercised by a similarly situated health care provider for a similar patient under the same or similar circumstances. The primary emphasis in this definition is necessarily placed on the requirement of "reasonable" care.
Frequently the defense of these cases will focus on the fact that the law does not require a physician or health care provider to be infallible in the exercise of his/her clinical judgments for a patient. Indeed, the law does not require perfection on the part of anyone. Important emphasis is also given to the recognition by medical science that there are often unexpected, unfortunate, and even tragic outcomes that will occur, despite reasonable care. So long as the care is found to be reasonable, there is no malpractice.
In a medical malpractice case, the burden is on the plaintiff to prove the following elements in order to be entitled to a verdict:
- A duty owed by the health care provider.
- A breach of that duty, i.e., a failure by the health care provider to meet the standard of care.
- Injury or death caused by the breach of duty by the health care provider.
While the law generally imposes no burden of proof on the defendant, the defense, where appropriate, will seek to discredit the plaintiff's theory of liability by a showing of the reasonableness of the care provided & contradictions to evidence offered by the plaintiff. This is done through testimony from the defendant with emphasis on her/his training, education and experience and the basis for the clinical judgment at issue. Additionally, pertinent medical literature may be presented along with qualified expert testimony to further demonstrate the appropriateness of the care provided and, in many cases, to show that the outcome was not produced by negligence, but may be the result of an inherent risk associated with the condition of the patient or the treatment, despite good and proper care.
The law also recognizes that, within the standard of care, there are often alternative methods of treatment which may be employed for a given medical condition and that a physician, for example, must be free to choose and follow the method he deems best for his patient, even though some other physician may later argue in favor of another method. As long as the method selected to diagnose or treat was reasonable within the standard of care and implemented with due care, there would be no liability (even if the diagnosis is later shown to be incorrect or the treatment resulted in an injurious complication).
In selecting counsel for the defense of medical malpractice claims, the health care provider and his/her representative will want to ask a number of important questions such as:
- What is the experience of the attorney/law firm in defending these highly specialized cases?
- What is the rate of successful defense for the attorney/law firm?
- What resources does the firm possess for investigation, medical/legal research, qualified support staff, development of demonstrative evidence, etc.?
- What is the expected time frame to conclusion of the litigation in the jurisdiction/venue?
- What involvement will the defendant have in assistance and preparation of her/his defense?
Select a city from the list below to find the best legal talent for your needs.
Cities
David Banker is an experienced civil trial lawyer who has tried a broad range of cases in federal and state courts involving products liability, employment discrimination, medical negligence, personal injury, commercial disputes and consumer disputes. Mr. Banker has also litigated mass tort and class action cases involving prescription drugs, medical devices and consumer products.
Jill F. Bechtold practices in the area of civil litigation, where she focuses on medical and professional liability defense, employment disputes, product liability defense, business litigation, trucking litigation, and insurance defense. Jill’s clients include drug and medical device companies, business owners, physicians, hospitals, trucking carriers, and insurers. She represents clients in state and federal court actions as well as arbitrates matters under the Florida Arbitration Code...
William D. Bonezzi is a Shareholder as well as one of the founders of the firm. He has been a practicing attorney since 1973 and his legal career has been devoted to trial work. His competitive nature, developed in college athletics and honed in the U.S. Marine Corps where he served his country from 1965 to 1968, is ideally suited for confidently litigating the most difficult cases. Mr. Bonezzi is admitted to both the Florida and Ohio bar and currently possesses licenses to practice law in bo...
Lee Cohen is a partner in the firm’s West Palm Beach office. Mr. Cohen is a Board Certified Civil Trial Attorney. He has extensive trial experience in state courts throughout Florida. His practice includes general civil litigation, liquor liability defense, medical malpractice, nursing home/health care litigation, commercial litigation, bad faith/extra-contractual liability, trucking claims defense, security negligence, construction litigation and condominium and homeowners’ law. ...
Kirk Davis is the chair of the Healthcare Practice Group, a multidisciplinary team recognized nationally for representing sector participants in regulatory compliance, insurance, and transactional issues. An accomplished litigator, Kirk represents hospitals and health systems in complex regulatory compliance issues and disputes with a focus on medical malpractice and peer review hearings. Kirk has decades of experience in the peer review process and has been involved in all aspects of hearing...
For more than 30 years, clients have relied on Earl’s pragmatic approach and strategic counsel to help them navigate their most complex legal matters. As a trial lawyer in the firm’s healthcare and litigation groups, he focuses his practice on medical malpractice defense and has handled numerous actions involving wrongful death, institutional medical negligence, and profound brain, spinal cord and other central nervous system injuries. In addition, Earl defends clients in business...
John is a Shareholder in the firm’s Litigation Group. He is an active trial lawyer who has tried more than 100 jury trials in both state and federal court throughout Florida. His cases have included personal injury, products liability, medical malpractice, premises liability, long-term healthcare, and pharmaceutical litigation. John has represented several major national corporations in defense of personal injury litigation. In addition, he has served as counsel for pharmaceutical corpo...
Doug Jones is a shareholder in the Tallahassee, Florida office of Carr Allison. He has over 35 years of trial experience and currently defends physicians, nursing homes, hospitals, dentists and other health care professionals in malpractice suits across the state and before state licensing agencies. He has extensive experience defending health care providers against claims involving complex medical issues, punitive damages, fraud and allegations of associated corporate misconduct. Mr. Jones c...
Michael has been practicing law for over 35 years, of which the last 20 have been devoted to insurance defense litigation. He tries significant product liability cases where there is catastrophic damage and/or serious injury or death. Michael also defends doctors, dentists, hospitals, and their employees, as well as other professionals such as lawyers, in malpractice suits and claims brought against them. To date, Michael has tried over 300 cases to verdict. Michael has also handled matters i...
Barry Postman is a Board Certified Civil Trial Attorney, who provides counseling and defense in the areas of professional malpractice, including the representation of doctors, lawyers, accountants, brokers, title agents and insurance agencies, as well as liquor liability defense, employment litigation, condominium and homeowners association matters, securities litigation, insurance coverage, trucking claims defense, class action, bad faith/extra-contractual liability, commercial banking and f...
Sherry Schwartz is a partner in the firm’s West Palm Beach Office. She received her Bachelors of Science, with Highest Honors from the University of Florida, followed by her Juris Doctor Degree from the University of Miami in 2001. Both in law school and in her early years as an attorney, Ms. Schwartz has successfully tried cases for her clients in criminal, civil, family, and probate matters. She joined Cole, Scott, and Kissane with experience in more than 30 jury trials, following her...
Dan Shapiro is a board-certified trial attorney who has tried in excess of 200 significant civil cases over his 25-year legal career. He provides aggressive trial counsel and defense in the areas of medical malpractice, health care, bodily injury litigation, automobile litigation, premises liability, pharmaceutical and medical device litigation, product liability cases, class action lawsuits and all matters of complex civil litigation, Medicaid and Medicare compliance, SIU/affirmative mass to...
Dion K. Bass focuses his practice on insurance defense, medical and professional liability defense, trucking litigation, employment disputes, and product liability defense. Prior to joining Rivkin Radler, Dion practiced at another Jacksonville firm where he handled a variety of civil litigation matters, including medical malpractice defense, municipality defense, insurance defense, premises and general liability, and employment and labor law. Before practicing law, Dion served in the United S...
Austin Sherman is a shareholder in Carr Allison’s Jacksonville (FL) office. Austin is admitted to practice in Florida and in the US District Court for the Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Florida. He focuses his practice on defending matters involving personal injury, government torts and public liability, medical malpractice, transportation, premises liability and commercial litigation. Austin is a proud Double Gator and graduated cum laude from the University of Florida with...
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.