Erin Brockovich has been working with Weitz & Luxenberg for a decade to help people harmed by environmental pollution find justice. Ms. Brockovich and the firm worked together on the $14.9 billion settlement for the 2010 British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico with people affected by the Porter Ranch Southern California natural gas leak. An Oscar-winning movie immortalized her fight for families injured by groundwater contaminated with hexavalent chromium. Her efforts contributed to Pacific Gas & Electric paying a $333 million settlement to more than 600 affected residents of Hinkley, California.

She enjoys a public role with W&L and is a key component of our continuing efforts in environmental litigation. Through her celebrity and wide-reaching social media presence, Ms. Brockovich’s websites typically receive between up to 50,000 unique visitors per month. She joins W&L attorneys in town hall meetings across the country with people that have severe health issues due to perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) contamination in their drinking water.

Ms. Brockovich believes that, “If I can channel people to a law firm that can take on litigation to cease injustice, fight the good fight, and correct a wrong, I will… Oftentimes, to get justice, you need the backing, the wherewithal, and expertise of a strong firm that’s been there before. That’s why I’m working with Weitz & Luxenberg, and that’s why I get out of bed every day.”

Mark Mandell practices law at Mandell, Boisclair & Mandell, Ltd. in Providence, Rhode Island. He specializes in catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, medical negligence, dram shop and products liability cases.

He is Board-certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy and also by the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys. Double board certification nationally is rare for trial lawyers. Both certifications require trial experience and passing a national certification exam. Mark is actually Triple Board Certified as he is also board certified in Civil Practice Advocacy by the National Board of Legal Specialty Certification.

Mark obtained his law degree in 1974 from Georgetown University Law Center. Mark is admitted to practice before the Rhode Island Supreme Court, Alabama Supreme Court, United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island, United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and the United States Supreme Court. Mark is a member of the Inner Circle of Advocates. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and also of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

He is listed in the “Best Lawyers in America” in the fields of personal injury litigation, product liability litigation and in appellate practice. Mark has been selected as Best Lawyer’s “Lawyer of the Year in Providence” for the years 2013-14 (Personal Injury Litigation), 2014-15 (Appellate Practice) and 2015-16 (Personal Injury Litigation).

In Rhode Island, Mark is a former President of both the Rhode Island Trial Lawyers Association (1988-1990) and the Rhode Island Bar Association (1993-1994). He is the immediate past Chair of the Board of Directors of the Roger Williams University School of Law and remains a member of that Board. From 1984 to April, 1995 he was Chair of the Board of Bar Examiners for the United States District Court, District of Rhode Island. He is currently a member of the Rhode Island Supreme Court’s Ethics Advisory Panel (2004-present).

At the national level, Mr. Mandell is a Past President of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (now American Association for Justice) (1998-1999), the Roscoe Pound Institute and the National Crime Victims Bar Association (2006-2007). He also has served as Board Chair of the National Center for the Victims of Crime (2010–2013). He has co-chaired the Board of Trustees of the National College of Advocacy (NCA). Mark has more million dollar verdicts and verdicts of over $10,000,000 than any other lawyer in Rhode Island history.

Mark has written the book “Case Framing”. He has published 24 articles in national and state trial law journals on a variety of subjects. He has lectured in 45 states and internationally to both legal and medical communities on a wide range of legal and medico-legal topics.

10/01/18

Natalie Woodward

Anyone who meets Natalie Woodward feels like they have known her their entire life. It is this ability to put people at ease that makes her such an effective trial lawyer. Indeed in her very first jury trial as lead counsel, she secured a $1 million verdict in a wrongful arrest case.

Natalie focuses her practice on trial work in both the civil and criminal arena. She has extensive experience in personal injury, product liability, medical malpractice, false arrest, malicious prosecution, and criminal defense cases. She also represents high worth individuals who are dealing with divorce or custody issues.

A native of Powder Springs, Natalie is a venerable “Double Dawg.” She received undergraduate degrees in Journalism and Political Science. She then attended and graduated from the University of Georgia School of Law. While at UGA Law, she was the Chair of the Moot Court Board and a member of the champion Intrastate Moot Court Team.

Natalie is a member of the Executive Committee for the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, is a member the Atlanta Trial Lawyers Society, and serves on several non-profit boards. She has chaired the Small Firm Practice Section of the Young Lawyers Division of the State Bar of Georgia and was selected as one of the Best Young Lawyers in Georgia by Atlanta Magazine.

Prior to founding Shamp Speed Jordan Woodward, Natalie began her career at Brinson Askew Berry in Rome, Georgia. She also practiced at Commander & Pound, before starting her own firm in Roswell. She has also worked for both Federal District Court Judge Charles Pannell and Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Sears.

Natalie is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the State of Georgia, as well as all other trial and appellate courts in the State of Georgia.

Mia Mance, Owner of Mia Talks Media & Marketing
Wife of Attorney Chad Mance, Owner Mance Law Firm specializing in personal injury law
Director of G100 the Throwback Station and afternoon drive host weekdays 2pm-7pm
Public Service Director for DBC Radio
DBC Radio Host of the Southern Spotlight Public Service show
Public Affairs Chair 2018-2019 for the Junior League of Savannah
GA State Public Affairs Advocacy Chair Junior League of Savannah 2019-2020
United Way Marketing Committee Member
2016 GA Radio Personality of the Year
2017 GA Radio Station of the Year
2018 and 2019 Savannah Morning News Best of the Best of the Coastal Empire finalist

Jeffrey R. Harris Partner

One of the nation’s top trial attorneys, Jeff Harris is an award-winning litigator who handles high-profile, complex cases across a wide variety of practice areas. He excels at securing justice for clients who have been seriously injured or killed, holding responsible parties accountable for their actions as well as their negligence.

Over the course of his career, Jeff has secured hundreds of millions in jury verdicts and settlements for his clients and has helped make a variety of products, vehicles and industries safer for everyone. His cases have been featured in The New York Times, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, 20/20, CBS Evening News and many other national media outlets.

Jeff has obtained numerous record-setting verdicts and settlements on behalf of his clients and has been repeatedly included on the annual survey of top jury verdicts in the United States, compiled by the National Law Journal. He has been inducted to the Georgia Verdicts Hall of Fame and honored on the Georgia Super Lawyers Top 100 list, the National Trial Lawyers Top 100 list and the National Association of Distinguished Counsel’s Top One Percent list.

Jeff has earned a reputation as a strategic, aggressive litigator who takes on major corporations and wins cases on behalf of his clients. Jeff has successfully litigated cases involving product defects, business disputes, wrongful death, catastrophic injury, bad faith, aviation accidents, medical negligence and industrial accidents. His specialty is trying cases to a jury. He is routinely brought into complex cases at the request of other attorneys to handle the trial of those disputes.

Jeff excels at product liability cases and has successfully sued virtually all of the major automakers for manufacturing defective vehicles. He represented a client who was paralyzed due to an injury caused by her Ford Explorer, securing a $40 million jury verdict while demonstrating that the company knew for decades that its transmission suffered from a “false park” defect. He also secured a $47.7 million jury verdict in a case involving a 6-year-old girl who was paralyzed due to a defect in the design of the Lincoln LS sedan and obtained $16.52 million in damages against Michelin in a high-profile product liability and wrongful death case, demonstrating that tread separation on a defective tire caused his client’s death.

In addition, this talented litigator has had major wins in business tort cases. He took on the City of Atlanta and Clear Channel, winning a $17.5 million federal judgement arising from illegal bid awarding practices related to advertising contracts at Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Jeff has also earned a reputation as a fierce litigator in wrongful death and catastrophic personal injury cases. In a highly publicized Narconon-related wrongful death case, he helped shut down dangerous drug treatment facilities and secured a confidential settlement on behalf of the family of a patient who died as a result of negligent drug rehab treatment. He also represented the family of a two-year-old who tragically drowned in an unsecured pool at an unlicensed daycare facility, securing a $9.85 million jury verdict, and secured an $8 million verdict for the victim in a sexual molestation case involving a youth minister.

A sought-after plaintiff’s attorney for cases involving injuries and deaths on film and TV sets, Jeff served as the lead trial attorney on the landmark Jones v. CSX case, securing an $11.2 million verdict on behalf of the family of camera operator Sarah Jones, who was killed while working on the Midnight Rider movie. He is a strong advocate for set safety and routinely represents cast and crew members who have been injured or killed during production.
In addition, Jeff has led major courtroom victories for clients in catastrophic medical malpractice cases, including a record $18 million jury verdict in Chatham County, Georgia on behalf of a client who was paralyzed due to negligent medical treatment, a $5 million verdict against Gwinnett Hospital System as well as a $4.3 million verdict in a case involving a misdiagnosed infection.

Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Jeff began his legal career with a defense firm specializing in product liability cases, personal injury claims and business disputes. After working as a defense attorney, Jeff realized that his heart was on the side of representing people, and not large corporations or insurance companies.

After working with several prominent plaintiffs firms, Jeff formed the law firm of Harris Lowry Manton, LLP, along with partners Steve Lowry and Jed Manton. The firm is committed to excellence in its representation of those injured or killed by the negligence of others and prepares every case with a focus on presenting the case to a jury. The firm maintains offices in Atlanta and Savannah, and Jeff splits his time between those two cities.
Jeff is a magna cum laude graduate of Mercer Law School, where he graduated first in his law school class. In law school, Jeff served as Editor in Chief of the Mercer Law Review and was a member of the Moot Court Board. He received a number of scholastic awards in law school including the Woodruff Medal and the Order of the Barristers. Prior to attending law school, he received his undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia and an MBA in finance from the Mercer Business School.

Jeff has repeatedly been recognized as a Georgia Super Lawyer, a member of Atlanta’s Legal Elite and listed as one of the Finest Lawyers in the South. He was also recognized by the Fulton County Daily Report as one of the top 14 lawyers under 40 practicing in Georgia.

AREAS OF PRACTICE:
Serious Personal Injury Wrongful Death Product Liability Automotive Products Liability Commercial and Business Tort Litigation Medical Malpractice

BAR ADMISSIONS:
Georgia U.S. Supreme Court

EDUCATION:
Mercer University, Walter F. George School of Law, Macon, Georgia, 1999, J.D. Honors: Magna Cum Laude Honors: Recipient, The Woodruff Medal (First Honor Graduate) Honors: Member, Brainerd Currie Honor Society Honors: Order of Barristers Honors: Moot Court Board Honors: National Team, Intrastate Team (Best Team, Best Brief) Honors: First in Class Law Review: Mercer Law Review, Editor-in-Chief, 1998-99 Mercer University, MBA, 1997 University of Georgia, B.A., 1995

HONORS AND AWARDS:
Georgia Super Lawyers Top 100 Georgia Verdicts Hall of Fame Inductee Top 100 Trial Lawyers, The National Trial Lawyers 10 Best Attorneys in Georgia, American Institute of Personal Injury Attorneys (AIOPIA) Top One Percent, The National Association of Distinguished Counsel Verdicts Hall of Fame – Product Liability, Fulton County Daily Report The Nestlehutt Award, Georgia Trial Lawyers Association Georgia’s Legal Elite, Georgia Trend Atlanta’s Legal Elite, The Atlanta Finest Lawyers of the South, South Magazine On the Rise, 14 Top Lawyer Under 40 in Georgia, Fulton County Daily Report Super Lawyer Rising Star

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS:
State Bar of Georgia, Member of State Disciplinary Board American Association for Justice, Board of Governors Southern Trial Lawyers Association, Board Member Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, Vice President and Champion Member, Membership Committee Co-Chair, Legislative Committee, American Bar Association, Member American Trial Lawyers Association, Member AIEG, Member Atlanta Bar Association, Member Lawyers Club of Atlanta, Member Savannah Bar Association, Member International Society of Barristers, Fellow Trial Lawyers for Public Justice Member

PUBLISHED WORKS:
“Board of the County Commissioners v. Brown: Nepotism, Skepticism, and Causation Under 42 U.S.C.,” Mercer Law Review, 1998 Co-Author, “Constitutional Criminal Procedure – A Two Year Survey,” Mercer Law Review, 1999 “The Effective Use of Other Similar Incident Evidence,” The Verdict, Spring 2005

PAST EMPLOYMENT POSITIONS:
Harris Penn Lowry LLP Scherffius, Ballard, Still & Ayres Butler, Wooten, Scherffius, Fryhofer, Daughtery & Sullivan LLP Victim-Witness Assistance Program, Athens-Clarke Solicitor General’s Office

Howard Spiva opened his law firm in 1984.

He limits his law practice to serious catastrophic personal injuries, wrongful death and trucking litigation with an emphasis on brain injuries and claims involving children.

He and his wife Kelly are from Savannah, Georgia. Kelly is their office manager.

He co-founded The Justice For Children Foundation, Inc. (in 1999). www.Headsinhelmets.com

His eldest (step) son, Clay is an attorney (19 years).

His son, Gene, served as an Army paratrooper, graduated Mercer law with honors and joined the firm in October 2018.

His granddaughter (age 20) attends the University of Georgia and his grandson (age 18) takes college classes. Both of his grandchildren have announced they are attending law school. Howard asks, “doesn’t anyone go to medical school anymore?”

As a Florida board-certified criminal trial lawyer and partner at Romano Law Group, Eric Romano has been effectively representing clients in civil and criminal matters, including personal injury and wrongful death, criminal defense and commercial litigation, for 15 years. During his career, he has gone to verdict in more than 100 criminal and civil trials.
Eric was recognized by his peers for inclusion in 22nd Edition of The Best Lawyers in America 2016 in the field of Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs. He also holds an AV Preeminent rating through the Martindale-Hubbell anonymous peer-review rating system and was named to Florida Super Lawyers from 2009 to 2011. He has been appointed Special Assistant State Attorney to prosecute criminal cases in Palm Beach County and President-Elect of the Southern Trial Lawyers Association. Eric also serves on the board of directors of the Florida Justice Association and frequently lectures on criminal and civil trial practice.

Eric began his legal career in 1997 as a prosecutor with the state attorney’s office in Palm Beach County. As Assistant State Attorney, he prosecuted a wide variety of criminal cases in the misdemeanor, juvenile, domestic violence and felony trial divisions. In 2001, he left the public sector to join Romano, Eriksen & Cronin, which was renamed Romano Law Group in 2007. Eric is also a member of the Taos Group, an association of prominent trial attorneys from around the country who work together to better serve the needs of their clients.

Janette Bejlkova-Carey is a Co-Founder and President of Client Legal Funding and Co-Founder of CSC Enterprises. Ms. Bejlkova-Carey received her B.A. degree in Economics from the University of South Florida on a full athletic scholarship and her M.S. degree in Business Entrepreneurship from University of South Florida.

Before her Business career, Janette was a professional tennis player for four years, participating on the world circuit, until the age of twenty. At the University of South Florida, she was the number one player on the team, and was undefeated in the Big East (Division One). Starting the University program at age 20, she finished her B.A. degree and her M.S. degree, in five years.

During the last year of her Master’s program, she was a Co-Founder of Client Legal Funding till present and two years later started CSC Enterprise. She is proficient in reading and writing in German, Czech and English and conversant in French and Russian language.

She was nominated for Entrepreneur of the Year (2014) under the auspices of the Tampa Bay Business Journal (under age 30).
Education

University of South Florida, Tampa, FL: Bachelor of Economics, December, 2010. Enrolled in MS of Entrepreneurship / Leadership in applied Technologies, University of South Florida, May 2012.

THOMAS W. CAREY–is the founding partner of the Clearwater firm of Carey & Leisure, Co- Founder, CEO of Client Legal Funding. Mr. Carey received his A.B. degree from Georgetown University, his Juris Doctorate degree, cum laude, from Suffolk University in 1977, and his L.L.M. degree from New York University Law School in 1979 on full Academic Fellowship. In 1977 he was admitted to the Rhode Island Bar and the Massachusetts Bar, and in 1978 he was admitted to the Florida Bar. He is Board Certified as a Civil Trial Lawyer by the Florida Bar Board of Legal Specialization and Education and as a Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. He served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers (currently known as The Florida Justice Association) from 1987 to 1997. He served as a State Representative for the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (currently known as The American Association for Justice) from 1991 to 1994 and was the former Litigation Chair of Funeral Services and Cemetery Malpractice.

Following the tragic loss of his wife, Joni, to a drunk driver, Mr. Carey served as the State Chairman for Mothers Against Drunk Driving in 1986 and was the Pinellas County President from 1984 to 1985. He continues to be actively involved in the organization and was co-founder of RID (Remove Intoxicated Drivers) in the Tampa Bay area. Mr. Carey served on the Board Committee of Morton Plant Hospital from 1992 to 1994, on the Board of Directors of the Pinellas/Pasco Boy Scouts of America from 1992 to 1994, on the Pinellas County Civil Service Board in 1991, and was a member of the Board of Directors of the Pinellas County Center for Crime Victims.

Mr. Carey has been an adjunct professor of Trial Practice at Stetson University College of Law and has lectured on Funeral Home and Cemetery Malpractice, the Dram Shop Act, and other topics. He is the author of Florida Personal Injury Practice Forms, 1994, West Publishing Co. and Co- Author of “A Conversation With Our Clients”, 2012 (self-Published). Mr. Carey has litigated complex liability and medical issues in courts throughout west Florida and has been lead counsel in a large number of cases involving victims of drunk driving. He practices primarily in the areas of personal injury, wrongful death, and cemetery and funeral home malpractice.

Certifications
Board Certified in civil trial law by The Florida Bar (since 1988)
Board Certified in Civil Trial Practice by the National
Board of Trial Advocacy (since 1992)
Board Certified Civil Pretrial Practice Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (since 2013)

Accomplishments
Listed in the Miami Herald’s Super Lawyers 2006 – 2014

Editions:
Listed in the 2007- 2014 Editions of The Best Lawyers in America
Listed in the 2006 – 2014 Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers

Named #1 in the July/August 2008 edition of Tampa Bay Magazine under Tampa Bay’s Best Lawyer Personal Injury Litigation
AV Rated by Martindale-Hubbell — Recognition for highest professional legal standards and ethics.
Selected for the Top 100 Trial Lawyers in Florida in 2011 by The National Trial Lawyers Association Firm named #1 in Pinellas County by the Tampa Bay Tribune in October 2013

Jeffrey J. Kroll is an award-winning attorney who has represented injured victims of negligence throughout the country for nearly three decades, including in the areas of trucking accidents, products liability, and medical malpractice. His verdicts and settlements have exceeded $1 million on 75 separate occasions. In 2017, Mr. Kroll was part of the trial team that obtained a record-breaking $148 million jury verdict on behalf of a dancer who was paralyzed when a shelter collapsed on her at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.

Mr. Kroll has lectured throughout the country on personal injury and wrongful death matters with more than 115 legal articles published on topics ranging from strategic jury selection and maximizing an injured client’s recovery, to successfully handling wrongful death cases and preparing and cross-examining expert witnesses. He is well known in Chicago media for countless segments and publications, and has taught Trial Advocacy and Medical Malpractice Law at DePaul University and Northwestern Law School. Mr. Kroll was the only Illinois attorney to be published in the Anatomy of a Personal Injury Lawsuit, 4th Edition, released by Trial Guides and the American Association for Justice.

Academics
J.D., DePaul University
College of Law. 1990
B.A., DePaul University. 1987

Bar Admissions
U.S. Supreme Court. 2008
U.S. Court of Appeals, Northern District of Indiana. 2000
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois. 1991
Illinois Bar. 1990