Tallahassee, FL

Ben Crump

Listed amongst the Most Influential People of 2021 by TIME100, Ebony Magazine’s Power 100 Most Influential African Americans, The National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Lawyers, and the 2014 NNPA Newsmaker of the Year, Attorney Ben Crump is referred to as Black America’s Attorney General. Through a steadfast dedication to justice and service, renowned civil rights and personal injury attorney Benjamin Crump has established himself as one of the nation’s foremost lawyers and advocates for social justice. His legal acumen has ensured that those marginalized in American society are protected by their nation’s contract with its constituency. He is the founder and principal owner of Ben Crump Law. Crump’s tireless advocacy has led to legislation preventing excessive force and developing implicit bias training and policies. He has represented families in several high-profile civil rights cases including Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Stephon Clark. He also represented victims in the Holtzclaw Oklahoma City Police rape case and worked on the Robbie Tolan excessive police force case. More recently, he represented the families of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, the residents of Flint, Michigan, who were affected by the poisoned water of the Flint River, as well as the family of Henrietta Lacks in a landmark reparations case. Crump has helped reach historic settlements and verdicts for families that have faced injustices, including a $411 million verdict for Duane Washington, a $641 million settlement for Flint, Michigan, a $27 million settlement for George Floyd's family, a $12 million settlement for Breonna Taylor's family, and over $200 million in banking while Black cases. Crump is the President of the National Civil Rights Trial Lawyers Association and previously served as President of the National Bar Association. He was the first African-American to chair the Florida State University College of Law Board of Directors and is the founder and director of the Benjamin Crump Social Justice Institute. In 2023, the College of Law at St. Thomas University in Miami, Florida, became the Benjamin L. Crump College of Law. He has been recognized with the NAACP Thurgood Marshall Award, the SCLC Martin Luther King Servant Leader Award, the American Association for Justice Johnnie Cochran Award, and the Alpha Kappa Alpha Eleanor Roosevelt Medallion for Service. He hosted legal docudramas and served as executive producer and writer for a documentary. He is a frequent contributor to MSNBC, CNN, and USA Today. Crump’s book, published in October 2019, Open Season: Legalized Genocide of Colored People, reflects on the landmark cases he has battled, and how discrimination in the courthouse devastates real families and communities. Crump graduated from Florida State University and received his law degree from FSU College of Law. He is married to Dr. Genae Angelique Crump.

Joe Zarzaur

Joe Zarzaur is a fearless and intense personal injury trial lawyer, dedicated to representing victims of wrongdoing. He is a Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer, a designation held by only about 1% of Florida lawyers, and has achieved record jury verdicts in Escambia ($9.3 Million) and Santa Rosa ($16 Million) Counties. He is AV Rated by Martindale-Hubbell and has a 10.0 Superb rating by AVVO. He founded Zarzaur Law in 2007.

William W. Corry

William W. Corry has been practicing plaintiff’s personal injury law in Tallahassee for more than 38 years. He is a fifth-generation Floridian and a graduate of the University of South Florida and Florida State University. He is admitted to practice in Florida and various U.S. federal courts. Mr. Corry has received numerous awards including Florida 'Super Lawyer' (2006-2012), Lawdragon's 'Nation’s best plaintiff’s lawyers', and several FJA awards. He is a past President of the American Board of Trial Advocates (Tallahassee Chapter) and the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys (Tallahassee Chapter), and a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum.

Robert Scott

Robert Scott is a seasoned trial lawyer who has dedicated his career to helping the injured. In 2010, at just twenty-seven years old, he co-founded Scott & Wallace LLP with his law partner, Clint Wallace. Two years later, at twenty-nine, Robert secured his first recovery exceeding five hundred thousand dollars. At thirty-one, he tried his first wrongful death case to a jury verdict, and by thirty-two, he had obtained his first multimillion dollar recovery. In 2021, Robert served as lead counsel and won a seven-figure verdict recognized as one of the Top 100 Verdicts in Florida that year. Since the firm’s founding, he has personally resolved more than 8,000 injury and wrongful death cases, recovering over 200 million dollars for clients. Scott & Wallace LLP has been ranked among the Best Law Firms in America by U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers in America.

Lance Block

Lance Block is a prominent Florida attorney specializing in catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death cases, including motor vehicle collisions, product liability, governmental torts, abuse/neglect, and medical negligence. He has secured numerous multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements. Rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell, he has been recognized in publications like The Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers. A past President of the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers, he also lobbies for claims bill appropriations in the Florida Legislature, achieving record-setting awards. Block is a dedicated advocate for children and persons with disabilities, having chaired the Governor’s Commission on Disabilities and played a key role in legislation like "Rachel's Law." He has been a member of the Florida Bar since 1984.

Scott E. Gwartney

Scott E. Gwartney graduated from Liberty University in Virginia in 1985 with a degree in political science and human resource management. The Tallahassee native then returned home to attend Florida State University College of Law, graduating in 1991. He has remained in Tallahassee since. After working with the first attorney to successfully submit a nursing home case to verdict in the State of Florida, renowned trial lawyer Kenneth L. Connor, the two went on to create The Connor & Gwartney law firm. The firm eventually joined the Tampa-based nursing home litigation firm of Wilkes & McHugh, becoming its Tallahassee office, where Mr. Gwartney continued to work until he joined Brooks, LeBoeuf, Foster & Gwartney in 2002, becoming a firm partner in 2003. Mr. Gwartney’s practice is unique: While he always carries a significant number of case files for auto claims and medical litigation in his Tallahassee hometown, his expertise in the fields of Medical Malpractice, Assisted Living Facility, Nursing Home and Group Home litigation is widely known throughout Florida and Georgia. And so, he often finds himself pursuing claims in courthouses from Naples and Ft. Meyers, up the Gulf coast to Pensacola, and on the east coast all the way to Savannah and Augusta Georgia ... and virtually all points in between. Mr. Gwartney passionately believes that our disabled and senior citizens deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. In the same manner that fine china is treated with a gentle and compassionate touch, our physically frail citizens also need to be treated with a gentle touch and great respect. The fragile among us deserve no less respect and dignity than that which is afforded to any other member of our society. The results of Mr. Gwartney’s experience and efforts on behalf of the elderly speak volumes about his expertise and dedication. His work on behalf of his clients has led to numerous verdicts and settlements of $1 million or more across the southeast. While Mr. Gwartney’s case load is most active throughout Florida and Georgia, he is also licensed to practice law in Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. Mr. Gwartney believes the greatest accolades are found in knowing who he represents. The greatest accolades are found when judges, opposing counsel and insurance adjusters - people who see the hard work and results - call on him for their own legal issues, as they often do. Mr. Gwartney has been recognized among the Nation’s Top One Percent by the National Association of Distinguished Counsel (2014 & 2015), as one of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers by the National Trial Lawyers (2012 - present), and among Florida Trend Magazine’s Florida Legal Elite (2012 - present). Mr. Gwartney has also been named a Florida Super Lawyer for his work in Plaintiff’s Medical Malpractice litigation, an award only given to the top 5% of attorneys in the state (2006, 2014-2015, 2019-present). Alongside these achievements, Mr. Gwartney has received the AV Preeminent ® rating from Martindale-Hubbell® since 2009, the highest rating available based upon confidential reviews by local lawyers and judges. Due to his expertise, he is also frequently called upon to share his knowledge about long term care and medical malpractice litigation with peers in both the legal and medical professions and as a guest lecturer in the university setting. When he is not working, Mr. Gwartney is active in his church and local community. Inspired by his own family experience, he served on the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration’s Bone Marrow Transplant Advisory Panel from 2011-2022 and currently serves on the board of directors for several charitable organizations in the Tallahassee area including Lighthouse Children’s Home and A Doctor’s Heart (an organization he co-founded to support ministries serving the river people deep on the Amazon River). He works to keep his faith strong, and his family close. He enjoys spending time with his wife, Cathy, their three children, and expanding brood of grandchildren. He is also an avid fan of FSU athletics.

Donald M. Hinkle

Donald M. Hinkle is a founding attorney with over 30 years of experience, specializing in serious and catastrophic injury cases, including medical malpractice, personal injury, and product liability. He has secured numerous multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements, including one of Florida's top 10 jury verdicts ($30,840,015) in 2019 and the largest non-jury malpractice verdict ($4,725,962) in 2020. He is board-certified in Civil Trial Practice and Professional Liability, maintains an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell, and has received prestigious awards such as the War Horse Award, Crystal Eagle Award, and recognition in Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers in America. He is also an adjunct professor at Florida State University College of Law and has held leadership positions in various legal associations, including President of the Tallahassee Bar Association, Capital City Justice Association, and American Board of Trial Advocates (Tallahassee chapter).