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JAMES
BURKE MCHUGH is a partner in the law firm of McHugh Fuller based in Hattiesburg,
Mississippi. He received his undergraduate degree in
Education and his Masters Degree in Education Administration from the University
of South Florida. He received his Juris
Doctorate degree, magna cum laude, from Stetson University College of Law
in 1990 where he graduated first in his class.
Previously, he was associated
for seventeen years with the well-known firm of Wilkes & McHugh, where
his primary practice was on litigating nursing home cases. Prior to joining Wilkes
& McHugh, PA,
Jim taught third and sixth grades for four years.
Jim is licensed to practice
law in Alabama, Arkansas,
District of Columbia, Florida,
Georgia, Kentucky,
Oklahoma, Mississippi,
Pennsylvania, Tennessee,
Texas, and West
Virginia.
He is a member of the American Bar Association, American Association
for Justice and Florida Association for Justice.
Mr. McHugh’s current practice is in the area
of nursing home abuse, toxic torts and selected class action cases. Jim has
supervised and litigated thousands of nursing home cases, hundreds valued
in excess of $1,000,000. His firm
currently has pending filed cases in nine states. In addition to practicing law, Mr. McHugh
has served as a board member for a retirement home, as well as for a crisis
pregnancy center and reading to pre-school children in local child care
centers.
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Gregory
A. Cade, J.D., M.P.H., earned a B.S. in
Chemistry and Biology in 1990 from the University
of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School
of Public Health, an M.P.H. in
Occupational Health, Safety and Industrial Hygiene in 1996 from the University
of Alabama at Birmingham,
and a J.D. from Miles School of Law in 2001. Before being admitted to the Bar, Greg
joined Environmental Litigation Group, P.C. in 1993, as an investigator,
declining admission to medical school because of a burning desire to use
his scientific background in the handling of complex toxic tort cases after
growing up near a contaminated site near his childhood home town in Tuscaloosa,
Alabama. As an investigator and litigation
paralegal, Greg was recognized as pivotal in case development and trial
support resulting in verdicts and settlements for clients that have
exceeded the $1 billion mark to date. Greg maintains a host of credentials
and certifications including the National Association of Environmental
Professional’s
elite title of Registered Environmental Manager and several other
recognizable affiliations, including but not limited to, Who’s Who
Among In American Law, American Association of Justice, Benzene Litigation
Division, Alabama Association of Justice, and many other
scientific affiliations that are currently inactive because of his current
responsibilities as an environmental attorney. In 2005, Greg was recognized as one of Birmingham’s
“Top 40 Under 40,” a prestigious title that is
considered one of the nations most recognizable
titles for young successful professionals who exemplify model careers with
impressive achievements at surprisingly young ages. After being admitted to the bar, Greg
started his own environmental and toxic tort litigation practice, which he
merged into the practice of Environmental Litigation Group, P.C. shortly
thereafter. Greg had a brief stint as a hazmat consultant and expert
witness in the area of environmental and OSHA compliance where he
frequently offered advice on groundwater contamination and worker exposures
to breathing zone contaminants in a multitude of industries including steel
manufacturing, petroleum processing, cast iron and clay foundries, and a
host of other industries. Greg has
served as adjunct professor at Miles
Law School
and has spoken on several occasions at UAB and other colleges. In addition, Greg has worked closely with
UCLA School of Public Health toxicologists, epidemiologists, and other
scientists to establish exposure data for human health effects and exposure
to dioxins, furans, benzene, heavy metals, pesticides and other environmentally
persistent toxicants often found in the environment and workplace. Greg believes that lawyers prosecuting
toxic tort cases fail to take advantage of many peer-reviewed techniques
and methods for determining human exposure to certain toxicants, including
computer-generated modeling and sampling techniques utilized by federal and
state regulatory agencies, and in ground-breaking litigation Greg has
adapted these techniques for use in litigation. The use of these techniques is changing
the landscape of toxic tort litigation, for the techniques are virtually
unassailable under Daubert,
Frye, and Havner, and they are
thereby eliminating some of the most useful tools available to lawyers
defending toxic tort cases.
Robert
Leslie Palmer graduated magna cum laude with departmental honors
in political science from Tulane University
in 1979. He graduated from Georgetown
University Law
Center in 1982. Following
admission to the District of Columbia Bar, Mr. Palmer served four years in
the United States Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG).
In January 1987, Mr. Palmer joined the Birmingham
law firm Lewis, Martin, Burnett & Dunkle, P.C. For the
following eight years, he continued to work for that firm and its
successors, ultimately including Martin, Drummond, Woosley
& Palmer, P.C., concentrating in commercial matters, including business
litigation, commercial real estate transactions, workouts and foreclosures,
commercial bankruptcy, and international transactions.
In April 1995, he joined Environmental Litigation Group,
P.C., where he has since practiced in the areas of environmental and toxic
tort litigation.
The Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory has given Mr.
Palmer an AV rating, which “shows that a lawyer has reached the height of
professional excellence. He or she
has usually practiced law for many years, and is recognized for the highest
levels of skill and integrity.”
Mr. Palmer’s legal publications include “Lord Mansfield’s
Commercial Law and Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations: Common Underlying
Themes,” Commercial Law Journal,
Volume 88, No. 2, page 99 (February 1983); “Denial of Due Process: How
Alabama Citizens Are Barred From Recovery For Toxic Torts,” Journal of the Alabama Trial Lawyers
Association, Volume 24, No. 4, page 26 (Autumn 2004); “Withholding
Justice From Toxic Tort Victims,” American
Journal of Trial Advocacy, Volume 28, No. 3, page 567 (Summer 2005);
“Toxic Torts and Injustice in Alabama,” Litigation
Watch: Benzene (March 2006).
Mr. Palmer has also published guest columns in more than twenty Alabama
newspapers.
Mr. Palmer is a member of the Association of
Trial Lawyers of America, the Alabama Trial Lawyers Association, the Texas
Trial Lawyers Association, the Christian Legal Society, and the Birmingham
Bar Association.
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