Good lawyers in Arkansas

[lernme]

Can anyone give any names of some accomplished, perhaps high profile lawyers in the Northwest or Central Arkansas areas, including Fayetteville and Little Rock and north? This pertains to a dental malpractice suit where the dentist wants to pursue some ambulance chasers and their client when the insurance company is ready to say uncle. We don't want to just settle when there has been no malpractice.

Thank you for any contributions

[Betty3]

We cannot give referrals to attorneys. You can check with your state or local bar assoc., local legal aid society or local law school (if there is one) for a referral. Sorry.

[complwyr]

Trust me on this, lawyers ("ambulance chasers"?) don't spend their time and money pursuing medical or dental professionals for malpractice when there is "no malpractice." Lawyers are too smart to waste their time and money on marginal claims. The fact that the Defendant cannot be objective about the substandard care the patient got does not mean that the claim is frivolous or that the Defendant will win in court.

If your insurance company wants to settle, the professional should park his or her ego somewhere safe and listen to them. The insurance company knows when it does not make sense to go to court, and that is why it wants to settle. That is why you paid the premiums--to take care of your avoidable professional errors and protect your reputation.

Going to court to defend yourself, even if you win, can do a lot of damage to your professional reputation in the community from which you draw new patients. People will talk about it--

"Did you hear that Dr. So and So got sued for malpractice?

Really?

Yeah, the lady's mouth was really messed up!

Wow. Well, I won't go to him anymore!"


And if you lose the trial, add another line of dialogue:

"Yeah, the jury found 12-0 that Dr. So and So committed malpractice!"

Sometimes settling with insurance company money is the smart thing to do in the long run. You can usually get a confidentiality agreement with the settlement, which will protect the dentist's reputation better than going to trial, which is a public event often covered by local news media.