Leading Medical Malpractice, Personal Injury Attorneys Join Forces to Create New Firm.

NEW YORK -- Three nationally known attorneys, who have represented thousands of clients in personal injury and medical malpractice cases across the country, have joined forces to create a new firm: McGehee, Pianelli & Wachsman, LLP.

Jack E. McGehee and James V. Pianelli of Houston, Texas and upstate New York, and Harvey F. Wachsman, MD, JD, an attorney and neurosurgeon, whose practice has been based in the New York area, will be the three partners in the new firm. Together, these three attorneys and their firms have obtained hundreds of millions of dollars in judgments and settlements on behalf of clients around the United States.

Jack McGehee and James Pianelli have been partners in McGehee & Pinelli, LLP since 1992. They have compiled an extraordinary record of accomplishment and built McGehee & Pianelli into one of the preeminent personal injury, medical malpractice and product liability firms in the country.

Dr. Harvey Wachsman, most recently a partner in The Law Offices of Harvey F. Wachsman, MD, JD, LLP and previously a partner in Pegalis & Wachsman, PC, has been one of the most prominent medical malpractice attorneys in America for many years. He has handled cases around the country and has been involved in some of the most high-profile litigations in recent memory -- building a reputation as a tireless advocate for protection of the public against negligent physicians and hospitals.

The new firm's initial offices are on Long Island, New York; the Albany, New York region; and Houston, Texas. The firm will have an exceptional depth and breadth of resources and geographic reach. The new partners said that the creation of the firm comes at a time when politicians and advocates for the medical establishment, the insurance industry and big corporations are pushing hard for so-called "tort reforms," that would limit the public's right to bring legitimate lawsuits and remove the deterrent effect that these lawsuits have on individuals and institutions that cause injuries and death through negligence, incompetence or greed. Standing up for the people whose lives are destroyed through this type of misconduct is crucially important, they said, and will be the primary mission of their firm.

Mr. McGehee, who is licensed to practice law in New York as well as Texas, handles consumer fraud class actions as well as medical malpractice and other catastrophic injury and death cases. His trial experience includes over 300 personal verdicts. Previously he was a lead medical malpractice trial attorney with the Pentagon in Washington, DC, and traveled throughout the country representing the United States in medical malpractice cases filed in Federal District Court. He is board certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, the National Board of Trial Advocacy, and the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys, on whose Board of Governors he also serves. He is immediate past president of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association and is author of a legal treatise entitled "The Plaintiff's Case: From Voir Dire to Verdict" and numerous other publications.

Mr. Pianelli is licensed to practice law in Texas and New York and has personally tried over 175 cases and supervised attorneys in an additional 160 trials. Previously, he was one of the top trial lawyers for the U.S. Army and among the very few who have successfully prosecuted a capital murder offense. He is board certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and has written numerous articles for prominent publications around the country. With distinguished academic credentials, he was one of the youngest assistant professors to join the Law Department of the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Dr. Wachsman has devoted his career to shining a spotlight on healthcare crises - from negligent physicians to HMO abuses. He is President of the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys and Chairman of the Health, Science and Hospitals Committee of the State University of New York's Board of Trustees. He is licensed to practice law in seven jurisdictions, including New York and Texas, and has served as an adjunct professor of neurological surgery at SUNY Stony Brook School of Medicine and as adjunct professor of law at St. John's University School of Law and Brooklyn Law School. He is author of a book entitled "Lethal Medicine: The Epidemic of Medical Malpractice in America" and co-author of "American Law of Medical Malpractice," a six-volume text (first and second editions).