PROFESSIONAL LICENSURE
Professional licensure requirements originated in the Middle Ages, with trade guilds controlling the regulation of crafts and trades such as merchants, weavers, masons, and blacksmiths. Generally, membership in a guild was necessary to legally conduct business. Doctors, nurses, pharmacists, engineers, attorneys, and general contractors are just a few of the former guild-regulated professions that we recognize today.
While some professions are disciplined by a central governmental entity, others are governed by boards made up of fellow members working in coordination with a government agency. Complaints brought to these boards occasionally involve criminal allegations, but more often stem from someone’s general dissatisfaction with a particular result, such as a homeowner who disagrees with an engineer’s home assessment or the losing party in a divorce, who blames his or her attorney.
With licensing often being the gateway to participating in a chosen profession, attacks on licensure are attacks on the ability to earn a living. At Rolfes Henry, we have experienced attorneys who have both prosecuted licensing violations for regulatory boards or agencies and defended professionals in licensure matters. There is a particular methodology which should be employed in defending against licensure attacks. Having evaluated the issue from both sides of the equation, our licensure attorneys are well-equipped to defend your interests.
We work closely with our clients to present their side of the story in the best possible light, highlight critical factual and legal elements overlooked by the complainant, and defend the integrity of our clients’ work and actions. We are mindful of the responsibility that comes with that undertaking and the potential impact to our clients’ financial well-being a negative result may have. Whatever the circumstances of the alleged professional error or transgression, our attorneys stand ready to assist you in protecting your license and your right to participate in your profession.
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PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY
Any action seeking money damages devolving from the exercise of professional judgment is an action for “professional negligence” or “malpractice.” To prevail against a licensed professional, the party bringing the suit is generally required to prove the case through the introduction of expert testimony with respect to the professional standard of care to be applied in the case, the breach of that standard of care, and the causal relationship between the claimed breach, and the resulting injury to persons or property.
Several attorneys at Rolfes Henry enjoy a well-deserved reputation in the field of professional negligence defense. Over the years, our attorneys have defended medical professionals, hospitals, judges, architects, engineers, lawyers, and dentists. Currently, the firm represents Ohio’s veterinarians almost exclusively throughout the State. More recently, the defense of veterinary professionals had become a large part of our Florida practice as well.
Our attorneys understand how to win professional negligence actions. More importantly, we understand the sensitive nature of these cases, and the importance of protecting the professional’s reputation in the community during, and even after, the litigation. We aggressively defend these cases, not only to protect the good name of the client, but to send the message that we will do everything necessary to protect the professional’s reputation.
Our professional negligence attorneys have enjoyed a phenomenal success rate. Our excellent results have the added benefit of discouraging the filing of professional negligence actions in the first place. In addition to representing professionals in the courtroom, our attorneys also represent individual professionals before the State licensing boards in professional disciplinary matters. Whether a lawsuit or a disciplinary proceeding, Rolfes Henry attorneys have the expertise to represent professionals in many fields.
FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ONE OF THESE ATTORNEYS TO DISCUSS THIS PRACTICE AREA