Honors and Awards:

• AV Rating, Martindale-Hubbell, 2009

Special Licenses/Certifications:

• Board Certified in Workers' Compensation Law - Texas Board of Legal Specialization

Bar/Professional Activity:

• Member of the Workers' Compensation Section of the State Bar
• Member of the State Bar of Texas, 1998
• College of the State Bar of Texas, 2006
• Appointed to the Workers' Compensation Exam Commission of the Texas Board of Legal Specialization., 2009
• Dallas Trial Lawyers Association, 2010

Pro bono/Community Service:

• Capital Improvements Advisory Board, City of Saginaw, TX, 2005-2008
• Vice-Chair of the Planning & Zoning Commission of the City of Saginaw, Texas, 2006-2009
• Chairman, Planning & Zoning Commission, City of Saginaw, Texas, 2009

Scholarly Lectures and Writings:

• The focus of this engagement was to present all of the most recent case decisions affecting workers' compensation issued by the State Office of Administrative Hearings.  These cases deal specifically with disputes over reasonable and necessary medical care, medical billing, and reimbursement for medical services., Speaker, Medical Disputes: State Office Of Administrative Hearings Decisions Update, Workers’ Compensation Medical/Treatment/Billing/Collection Seminar, 2002
• Work Comp 201 is advertised as a crash course session just prior to the Texas Board of Legal Specialization exam on workers' compensation.  This presentation was just prior to the very first exam offered in the area of workers' compensation for board certification.  In this session, I covered the appeal of a workers' comp case to Civil Court, including all of the most common procedural issues and jurisdictional questions.  The main focus here was to address any and all issues that could be asked on the board certification exam about a workers' comp appeal., Speaker, Workers’ Compensation in Civil Court, Workers' Comp 201, 2004
• This presentation focused entirely on new procedural rules adopted by the Division of Workers' Compensation in the process of requesting and handling benefit review conferences and contested case hearings., Speaker, The New Benefit Review Conference and Contested Case Hearings Procedures & Standards, Workers’ Compensation Dispute Resolution, Workers' Comp Publications, 2006
• Work Comp 201 is advertised as a crash course session just prior to the Texas Board of Legal Specialization exam on workers' compensation.  In this session, I covered a broad range of topics including reporting a workers' compensation claim, actual knowledge of a workplace injury, timely claim denial, and how to re-open the question of liability of a claim using newly discovered evidence.  The final area of discussion was of various medical conditions, what they are, how they affect the body, and treatment for these conditions., Speaker, Timely Reporting, Newly Discovered Evidence & Specific Medical Conditions, 2006
• Work Comp 201 is advertised as a crash course session just prior to the Texas Board of Legal Specialization exam on workers' compensation.  In this session, I covered current issues in handling impairment rating disputes including the AMA Guides, range of motion, multilevel spinal fusion and radiculopathy, cervical vs. lumbar ratings, and keys to determining impairment of the extremities., Speaker, Impairment Rating Cases, Work Comp 201, 2006
• In a presentation directed mainly at medical providers in the Texas workers' compensation system, I examined current issues surrounding preauthorization.  Providers had been experiencing an increase in denials of requests for medical treatment.  The aim of this session was to explore ways to justify the need for ongoing care, and the steps to take when the insurance carrier denies requests for preauthorization., Documenting The Need For Treatment, Texas Workers’ Compensation Medical Treatment And Dispute Resolution Seminar, 2006
• Injured workers are often terminated.  The Texas Labor Code provides protection for injured workers' from retaliatory discharge, or termination in retaliation for filing a workers' compensation claim.  The criteria for proving a retaliatory discharge claim were reviewed, as well as differentiating a legitimate non-discriminatory personnel decision from a pretextual reason for termination., Speaker, The Consequences of Terminating A Workers’ Compensation Claimant, Texas Workers’ Compensation Claims Adjusting Pitfalls, Workers' Comp Publications, 2006
• I served as the claimant's voice in a two-person panel presentation to a group of employer and insurance company attendees.  The discussion centered on exhausting administrative remedies and taking workers' compensation cases into court.  Topics included identifying which cases to appeal, costs and expenses, administrative traps, and attorney fees., Speaker, Appealing A Workers’ Compensation Decision, The Texas Work Comp Forum, 2007
• An introduction to the newly adopted Official Disability Guidelines and The Medical Disability Advisor.  Topics included an overview of the texts and how they affect treatment and benefits in the workers' compensation system., The Official Disability Guidelines & The Medical Disability Advisor, New Legislation & Case Law Update, Workers' Comp Publications, 2007
• Panel discussion of the newly adopted workers' compensation disability guideline, The Medical Disability Advisor.  The focus of the presentation was on how the MDA would be used and applied, including its evidentiary value, the effect of its recommendations, and in what context it would be applied to specific cases.  The main argument was that it does not affect cases where an injured worker has been released to return to work at light duty, which has become the unwritten industry standard., Speaker, Dispute Resolution & The Medical Disability Advisor, State Bar of Texas Advanced Workers’ Compensation Course, 2007
• In an analysis of case law addressing an insurance carrier's ability to reduce an injured workers benefits to reimburse itself for a prior overpayment of benefits, I presented the argument that this could only be done in rare circumstances, and that in most cases a claimant would be able to obtain a windfall when a carrier is denied a chance to recover overpaid benefits.  However, I spelled out the procedural requirements for a carrier to request approval of reimbursement from the Division, including ways to maximize the recovery., Author, Recoupment: Its Limitations & Procedural Pitfalls, State Bar of Texas, Workers’ Compensation Section Newsletter, Vol. 1, Issue 2, 2008
• This article addressed the most fatal rule in a workers' compensation claim, the Ninety-Day Rule.  The focus of the article was an analysis of the technical or administrative deficiencies of an impairment rating or its genesis that would allow a party to avoid finality of a rating under the rule., Author, Avoiding The Ninety-Day Rule: Filing Proper Disputes and Challenging Validity of Impairment Ratings, State Bar of Texas, Workers’ Compensation Section Newsletter, Vol. 1, Issue 1, 2008
• In a presentation to legal and medical providers, this discussion centered on the Division of Workers' Compensation's use of The Official Disability Guidelines as a guide for reasonable and necessary medical treatment in the workers' compensation system.  Topics included medical necessity, preauthorization, exemptions from preauthorization, and medical dispute resolution., Speaker, The Official Disability Guidelines, Texas Workers’ Compensation Ethics and Medical Dispute Resolution Seminar, 2008
• Panel presentation discussing the need for discovery in the newly created medical contested case hearing.  Topics included identifying information and documents that should be discovered and the methods for obtaining them., Speaker, Discovery In Medical Contested Case Hearings, State Bar of Texas Advanced Workers' Compensation Course, 2008
• This was an advanced seminars for attorneys in the Texas workers' compensation system.  We discussed issues related to timely reporting of injuries, timely disputes of claims, and disability., Notice of Injury, Waiver, Causation, Disability & Bona Fide Offers of Employment, Workers' Comp Publications, 2009
• I was asked to speak on Indemnity Dispute Resolution, which is the process for overturning a denial of workers' compensation benefits.  Parties wishing to resolve disputes must go through a benefit review conference, a contested case hearing, and an appeal process before filing suit in the State courts.  Topics including procedural and discovery issues, as well as practical suggestions for reaching a settlement., Speaker, Workers' Compensation New Legislation & Case Law Update, Workers' Comp Publications, 2009
• In this presentation, we addressed how to represent a client through the medical dispute resolution process of the Texas workers' compensation system.  Topics focused on medical contested case hearings and discovery.  Additionally, we addressed current trends and hot topics including pharmacy reimbursement, evidence-based medicine and administrative complaints in lieu of formal dispute resolution., Panelist, Medical Dispute Resolution Update, State Bar of Texas Advanced Workers' Compensation Course, 2010

Representative Clients:

• Killeen Injury Clinic
• Alta Vista Healthcare
• Elite Healthcare & Rehab
• Princeton Pain Management
• Patient's Choice Clinics
• Main Rehabilitation & Diagnostics
• Texas Health
• Central Dallas Rehabilitation
• Texas Back Institute, 2010

Educational Background:

• BA Harding University, 1994