Georgia

Brian J. McKeen

Detroit, MI

Brian McKeen began practicing law in 1982. During his career, he has become a powerful advocate for his clients and one of the foremost medical malpractice attorneys in Michigan. He has tried cases throughout the United States. He currently sits on the executive boards of the Michigan Association for Justice (MAJ) and the American Association for Justice (AAJ). Mr. McKeen formerly served as chair of the AAJ Professional Negligence Section, Medical Negligence Exchange Group and Birth Trauma Litigation Group (BTLG). Since 2001, McKeen & Associates has generated the year's top verdict in Michigan four times, including securing the state's largest medical malpractice verdict on record in 2001, when a jury rendered a verdict award of $55 million in the case of Hall v Henry Ford Health System. McKeen & Associates also topped all Michigan verdict awards in 2002, with an award of $22.5 million in the case of Blazo v McLaren Regional Medical Center, et al; in 2006 with an award of $16 million in the case of Lowe v Henry Ford Health System; and in 2007, with an award of $35 million in the case of Oppenheim v Aeneas C. Guiney. Mr. McKeen was recently inducted to The Inner Circle of Advocates and named Top Attorneys in Michigan as published by The New York Times in September 2012.

William Mattar is the Owner and President of William Mattar Law Offices, a firm he founded in 1990. He earned a B.S. in psychology from SUNY Plattsburgh in 1986 and his J.D. from Syracuse University College of Law in 1988. Admitted to practice in New York in 1989 and numerous other states, William focuses his practice on motor vehicle accident cases, driven by a goal to make a difference for injured people. He has over 30 years of experience, collected over half a billion dollars for clients, and is actively involved in various community and charitable organizations.

John Elliott Leighton

Miami, FL

John Elliott Leighton is a board-certified trial lawyer and the Managing Partner of Leighton Panoff Law, P.A., with offices in Miami and Orlando, Florida. He has 40 years of experience successfully trying major personal injury and wrongful death cases, and has won some of the largest verdicts and settlements in Florida, including a $49 million verdict and two $24 million verdicts. He is recognized as a national expert in negligent security and violent crime litigation, authoring 'Litigating Premises Security Cases'. He received the Advocate of Justice Award from the National Crime Victim Bar Association and was recently elected President of the National Crime Victim Bar Association. He is a frequent lecturer and teacher at legal programs, including ATLA’s 'Ultimate Trial Advocacy College' at Harvard Law School. Mr. Leighton believes in educating the public and giving back to the community, regularly appearing on media outlets like NBC’s Today show and CNN. He continues to represent victims of sexual assault and sex abuse. He recently received the Daily Business Review 2015 'Verdicts Hall of Fame Award' and American Lawyer Media’s 'Top 100 Verdicts of 2017' and National Law Journal’s 'Elite Trial Lawyer Top 50 Verdicts' in 2018. He also represents victims of legal malpractice. He has served as Chairman of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America’s Motor Vehicle, Highway and Premises Liability Section, chairs the Inadequate Security Litigation Group, and sat on the Executive Committee of the National College of Advocacy Board of Trustees. He is Chairman of the Academy of Trial Advocacy and President of the National Crime Victim Bar Association. He is a member of ABOTA (American Board of Trial Advocates) and has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America continuously since 2008. He has been voted into Florida SuperLawyers every year since 2006 and was honored as one of the Top 100 Florida SuperLawyers since 2009. He has been selected as a 'Top Lawyer' in the South Florida Legal Guide for 13 consecutive years and is listed in Florida Trend magazine’s 'Florida Legal Elite.' He was named 'Orlando Legal Elite' by Orlando Style magazine three years in a row. He has an A-V preeminent rating by Martindale-Hubbell and a 10.0/10 rating from AVVO.com. He is a board certified specialist in civil trial law by the Florida Bar Board of Legal Specialization. He received both his J.D. and B.A. degrees with honors from the University of Florida.

Bruce A. Hagen

Decatur, GA

Bruce A. Hagen decided very early on that he was going to devote his entire career to helping injured people. After graduating from George Washington University Law School in 1986, Bruce spent the early years of his practice training under incredible mentors before launching his own law firm in 1992 in Atlanta. He took on auto accidents, truck wrecks, slip and fall cases, and listened to every victim that came his way to learn everything he could about personal injury law. Practice makes better - with more than 200 civil trials under his belt, Bruce built a name for himself in Georgia courtrooms and amongst his peers as The People’s Lawyer. The verdicts he won and settlements he obtained, have changed the lives of his clients for the better. In return, his clients kept coming back with more cases and Bruce built his practice the old school way - through word of mouth and personal referrals from satisfied customers. As his law practice grew, Bruce pursued a long-time passion and began representing injured cyclists and doing advocacy work on behalf of the cycling community in Georgia. Through Bike Law Georgia, Bruce spends a substantial part of his time hosting educational programs for bicyclists, drivers, and law enforcement officers to help ensure that people are aware of both their rights and responsibilities, as well as to help promote safety for all road users. Bruce is also heavily involved in working with both State legislators and Municipal leadership in crafting laws intended to help protect bicyclists and pedestrians. Throughout his legal career, Bruce Hagen has appeared on television and radio to discuss personal injury law and to provide a legal opinion on current situations on the news. He is a frequent guest on 680 The Fan and his weekly podcast “Where Sports Meets The Law” is a listeners favorite. Bruce Hagen co-authored the book Litigating Minor Impact Soft Tissue Cases Vol. 1, 2 & 3 with trial lawyer Karen K. Koehler and Dr. Michael D. Freeman. By sharing his knowledge and experience in this book, Bruce hopes to shape the next generation of personal injury lawyers. First published in 2015, it has been updated annually and has become a tool for plaintiff’s attorneys nationwide. Bruce Hagen has been recognized as a Georgia Super Lawyer for twenty consecutive years. In 2016, his son Matt Hagen joined him in his law practice as an attorney and has been recognized as a Georgia Rising Star for eight consecutive years. Community has always been at the heart of Bruce’s career. His law firm and legal team are involved in a variety of community outreach activities ranging from sponsoring various bike events, to collecting used bikes for kids, and teaching bike safety lessons at a local middle school. As the founding partner of Hagen Rosskopf LLC, Bruce Hagen is no stranger to the challenges of being a small business owner and running a successful law firm. One of his best accomplishments is the team at Hagen Rosskopf, many of whom have been with the firm for decades and who consider each other family. Although Bruce Hagen already has an impressive legal career to boast about, he remains focused on the needs of his clients and the rapidly changing legal landscape for injured people in Georgia.

Darren W. Penn

Atlanta, GA

Darren W. Penn is a trial lawyer handling a wide variety of tort and business litigation in state and federal courts across the United States. His practice areas include products liability, trucking and auto collisions, wrongful death, medical malpractice, aviation, business tort, entertainment, and intellectual property cases. He began his career in 1994 as a trial lawyer for State Farm, trying over a hundred bench and jury trials. He was a founding member of Penn & Pate LLP, then merged into Scherffius, Ballard Still & Ayres LLP, and later co-founded Harris Penn Lowry LLP, securing over $750 million in verdicts and settlements. He is the founder of Penn Law LLC. Darren is past President of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association (GTLA), a member of the Board and past Chair of the Georgia State Bar’s General Practice & Trial Law Section, and past Chair of the Civil Justice PAC of Georgia. He is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell, consistently named to Super Lawyers, Georgia Trend’s Legal Elite, and the Top 100 Trial Lawyers in America and Georgia. He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Georgia.

Todd Henningsen

Atlanta, GA

Attorney Todd Henningsen is the managing partner at Henningsen Injury Attorneys, P.C. With more than two decades of legal experience and expertise, Todd has spent his time as a personal injury attorney working toward one objective: to protect the rights of accident victims. As a result, he has won millions of dollars on behalf of injured victims all over the state of Georgia.