Mr. Petri has been a long-time resident of Indiana. He attended high school in Hammond, Indiana. He later attended Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, after which he served several years in the U.S. Governmental Service. His experiences in the service inspired him to enroll in law school, and the skills he gained during his service were an invaluable foundation for the practice of law. He graduated from Indiana University School of Law in 1966, and was immediately elected Prosecuting Attorney for Owen County. He served as Prosecuting Attorney until 1974. Since 1974, Mr. Petri has owned and operated his own legal practice, known today as Vernon J. Petri & Associates. Mr. Petri has significant professional and leadership experience. He has served a term as President to the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Association, as well as several years on the organization’s board of directors. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Indiana Trial Lawyers Association. Lastly, he has served on the National Board of Directors of the Breast Implant Litigation Group of the American Trial Lawyers Association. Mr. Petri has been named to the Million Dollar Forum, which is exclusively reserved for attorneys who earn verdicts and settlements in excess of $1,000,000. Even in the face of adversity, he has consistently obtained favorable verdicts for his clients. In his 40+ years of practice, he has fought to expand the rights of those injured in Indiana by exploring new theories of negligence, and in many cases, appealing them all the way to the Supreme Court of Indiana.

Nick Deets has been a partner with Hovde Dassow + Deets in Indianapolis since 2001. His primary areas of practice are personal injury, medical malpractice, product liability, and wrongful death. He has tried more than 80 jury trials to verdict. Nick was named the Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Indiana Trial Lawyers Association in 2010, Best Lawyers, Lawyer of the Year, Plaintiff’s Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions, in 2018, and Best Lawyers, Lawyer of the Year, Plaintiff’s Medical Malpractice, in 2020. He has been recognized as an Indiana Super Lawyer by Indianapolis Magazine every year since 2006 and has been listed in Best Lawyers, Personal Injury Plaintiffs, every year since 2010. He is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the American Board of Trial Advocates, the Litigation Counsel of America, and is AV-rated by Martindale Hubbell.