Personal Injury

Viral Mehta has called Charlotte his home for over 30 years. He attended and graduated from Charlotte-Mecklenburg public schools. He then graduated from nearby Davidson College with a Bachelor of Arts in History. Mr. Mehta obtained his law degree from Wake Forest University School of Law and then returned home to Charlotte to begin his legal practice. Mr. Mehta spent the first decade of his legal career defending employers and large insurance companies in workers’ compensation claims. Mr. Mehta developed expertise in workers’ compensation law, but he felt a lack of fulfillment in representing insurance companies against injured workers. Mr. Mehta began representing injured workers when he founded the workers’ compensation practice group at a local law firm. Mr. Mehta then co-founded Mehta & McConnell PLLC. Mr. Mehta’s previous experience representing insurance companies gave him the insight necessary to effectively represent injured workers. He knows how insurance companies and adjusters handle workers’ compensation claims. Mr. Mehta is a North Carolina State Bar board-certified specialist in workers’ compensation law. He has obtained favorable decisions before all levels of the North Carolina Industrial Commission, Court of Appeals, and Supreme Court. Viral Mehta was a contributing author of the 2017 edition of the North Carolina Workers’ Compensation LexisNexis Practice Guide, and he was selected as a Super Lawyers Rising Star in 2019, 2020, and 2021. Mr. Mehta is certified by the North Carolina Dispute Resolution Commission as a Superior Court mediator. He enjoys mediating cases, especially workers’ compensation claims. In addition to practicing workers’ compensation law, Mr. Mehta also handles personal injury cases. Mr. Mehta is married with one son and a dog named Alfred. He enjoys spending time with friends and family, traveling, sports, and reading.

Wes represents individuals and companies in matters in state and federal court and also regularly advise clients in transactions, corporate, employment, and compliance matters. For corporate clients that can benefit from consistent, readily available legal advice, Wes acts as an outside general counsel. He also handles individual and corporate defamation cases, breach of contract matters, corporate/shareholder disputes, personal injury cases and wrongful termination cases for both defendants and plaintiffs. We has represented plaintiffs and defendants on federal and state whistleblower cases involving healthcare and banking fraud . Wes regularly represent individuals and entities, particularly health care professionals, on the full range of state licensing and regulatory matters, including Certificate of Need applications and disputes. Wes regularly advises health care clients in corporate matters and regulatory and compliance advice including the development of compliance programs and advising on Stark, Antikickback and other federal and state law compliance. He regularly represent health care providers including Nursing Homes, Hospices, Physicians, Hospitals, Dentists and others with ZPIC, RAC and other federal and state audits to include initial response and appeal of audit findings.

Howard Chetkof is partner at Levin & Chetkof, LLP. He is a seasoned attorney and a highly skilled negotiator concentrating his practice in personal injury. He has represented clients who have sustained all types of serious personal injuries as the result of automobile accidents, motorcycle accidents, trucking accidents, pedestrians struck by motor vehicles, wrongful death, construction site accidents, premises liability, trip/slip and falls, dog bites, assault and battery, nursing home negligence, and certain medical malpractice matters. Mr. Chetkof’s representation of injured individuals has extended to both the state and federal courts. In addition, Mr. Chetkof handles matters involving legal malpractice, no-fault/first-party benefit arbitrations, and real estate. Mr. Chetkof and the firm handle their cases from inception to conclusion, including the claims stage, litigation, trials, and appeals. He has also directly negotiated and handled hundreds of cases at mediations and arbitrations and has recovered millions of dollars for his clients. Not only does he represent his firm's clients, but Mr. Chetkof has also been retained as outside counsel, by other law firms, to represent their clients' interests at mediations, arbitrations, trials, and appeals. Mr. Chetkof believes that every client has the right to talk directly to their attorney, not just the office staff, and has an open-door policy for the firm’s active clients, former clients, and prospective clients.

Richard S. Gershman, the firm’s founder, has been practicing law for more than five decades. Over the past 50 years, Richard Gershman has won recoveries amounting in the millions of dollars for injured plaintiffs and their families. As most colleagues and clients already know, Richard Gershman is a tireless advocate for those injured through the negligence of others. Richard S. Gershman, born in Far Rockaway, New York 1946, attended Oklahoma City University earning a BS in business, and continued his education at Suffolk University Law School earning a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree. Professionally, Richard S. Gershman specializes in Personal Injury beginning his career with the Law Firm Queller & Fisher. He then went on to form his own firm Bernstein & Gershman which handled real estate transactions along with oil & gas transactions. He now is the sole owner of Richard S. Gershman & Associates PC. Richard S. Gershman has formerly been a board member of Franklin General Hospital. He is the former president of the Woodmere Country Club. He has served as a board member of Fresh Meadow Country Club. He is currently a Board Member of Northwell Health and was named the outstanding Associate Trustee of the hospital in 2019. Over the past 35 years, he has headed up Golf tournaments for numerous charities including Northwell Health for Cohen’s Children’s Hospital, raising in excess of twenty-five million dollars.

Keith Gilman grew up in Queens County, New York. He attended Hunter College High School in Manhattan, where he lettered in baseball and bowling. Mr. Gilman graduated with honors from the University of Miami, and completed a year of undergraduate study at Oxford University in England. While in law school at St. John's University, Keith was a published author and editor for the St. John's Journal of Legal Commentary, and worked in the Litigation Bureau at the New York State Attorney General's Office. Mr. Gilman has specialized in the field of plaintiff's personal injury law over the past three decades and has recovered millions of dollars for clients during that span including substantial verdicts that have been published in the Jury Verdict Reporter. Because he is bilingual, Mr. Gilman is able to provide direct, face to face counsel to our Spanish speaking clientele. Mr. Gilman is an active member of the Queens County Bar Association and has served as an Arbitrator and Mediator in resolving attorney-client conflicts. He is admitted to the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York. In his spare time, Mr. Gilman volunteers as President of the Board of Managers at his Homeowners Association. He also enjoys traveling with his wife and two children.

Edgar Boles is an accomplished attorney with 42 years of experience in public law and private practice, primarily in the areas of civil litigation and dispute resolution, representing small and medium sized business entities and individuals. Immediately after graduating from Case Western Reserve University's School of Law, Edgar Boles served as a Law Clerk to Judge John V. Corrigan and Judge Thomas J. Parrino on the Eighth Appellate District Court of Appeals of Ohio for Cuyahoga County. Thereafter, he served as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in the Civil Division of the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office. Since 1976, Mr. Boles has worked in private practice with law firms in Greater Cleveland before joining Dinn, Hochman & Potter in July 2015. Mr. Boles is experienced in commercial disputes, business torts, shareholder claims and business dissolutions, personal injury claims, employment disputes representing both employers and employees, commercial, business and individual tort claims, and construction, real estate and real property claims and disputes including arbitration. Edgar Boles has experience representing individuals in Estate, Probate and Trust disputes and Domestic Relations matters including divorce, dissolution of marriage and post-decree proceedings. Mr. Boles also has experience in FINRA proceedings representing securities investment claimants and securities industry employment claimants.

Angelo graduated from St. Joseph’s University, Philadelphia PA, with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science, Latin American Studies and Economics in 1975 and graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 1978. After graduation, Angelo worked as a Compliance Officer for United National Bank in Washington, DC and Chase Manhattan Bank in New York, and in the Business and Finance and Real Estate Departments at Ballard, Spahr, Andrews & Ingersoll in Philadelphia. In 1989, he began his private practice. His practice is focused primarily on criminal defense and civil rights litigation, and Probate, Estates, personal injury and real estate law and litigation. He has extensive trial experience and has obtained both acquittals in criminal matters and substantial settlements for his clients whose civil rights have been violated. Angelo is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the U.S. Tax Court, and the Supreme Court of the United States. His professional affiliations include and have included the Philadelphia Bar Association, the Barristers Association of Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association, and the Pennsylvania Bar Association. He is a Certified Arbitrator with the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, the NASD, the NYSE and the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas, as well as the U.S District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He also serves as a redress attorney for the Pennsylvania NAACP.

In 1982, Phillip Galyen established his law practice which over the last 40 years has grown into one of the largest consumer law firms in the State of Texas. Bailey & Galyen is dedicated to meeting the needs of individuals and businesses in Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and across the State of Texas and now in Arkansas. We have built our legacy on an unwavering commitment to personal service and attention. Bailey & Galyen is a full service law firm and are ready to help you with any legal issues you might be facing including Personal Injury, Family Law, Divorce, Business Litigation, Criminal Defense, Employment & Labor issues, Social Security, Immigration, Workers' Comp, and more.

Ms. Dean's professional experience encompasses a broad range of legal matters. Her primary emphases are estate planning, elder law, and probate. Her estate planning practice involves helping clients orchestrate their estates by drafting a vast array of trusts, wills and powers of attorney. Ms. Dean also provides compassionate legal advice while assisting families through the probate process. Ms. Dean's legal expertise in civil appeals includes both advising at the trial court level and handling all aspects of the appeal. She has handled appeals dealing with complex insurance matters, business matters, personal injury and family law appeals. She has successfully argued in federal and state courts, including the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, on behalf of a major insurance company, corporations, and individuals. She works with trial attorneys and clients to preserve error on the trial court level, preparing legal motions, handling mandamus actions, preparing and arguing the jury charge and handling all post-judgment motions. At the appellate level, Ms. Dean leads the appeal of a judgment, including preparing briefs, petitions for review and briefs on the merits to the Texas Supreme Court, and presenting oral argument before diverse panels of judges. Throughout her career, Ms. Dean has handled other civil matters as well, such as complex commercial litigation, corporate buy-outs, employment and business contracts, consumer issues, family law litigation, adoptions, real estate transactions and personal injury litigation. She successfully negotiated and closed a multi-million dollar buy-out of a snowboard clothing company to a major sporting goods conglomerate. Prior to specializing in appellate law, Ms. Dean engaged in a successful trial practice and as a result, understands the needs of trial attorneys and what it takes to make them successful at the trial level and on appeal. Integrity and operating under a high standard of ethics are of utmost importance to us at The Dean Law Firm. We abide by the Texas Lawyer's Creed.

David Norman Getz is a practicing lawyer in the state of Texas handling personal injury matters,