Thanks in part to some work by its Little Rock office, the Wilkes & McHugh law firm, based in Tampa, Fla., has been named by the National Law Journal to the "Plaintiff’s Hot List," a list of the top 20 plaintiff firms in the nation.

Brian Reddick, the managing attorney with the Little Rock office, oversaw a 2001 case in which the firm won a $78 million verdict in a negligence suit against Advocat Inc., a national-nursing home chain with a home facility in Mena. It was the largest such verdict in Arkansas history, Reddick reports, though the judgment was later reduced.

The firm, which has some 60 lawyers in seven states - including 12 in Little Rock - was recognized by the Law Journal for pioneering a legal niche. In its profile, the law journal noted that "groundbreaking litigation developed in the 1980s and 1990s by the partners at Wilkes & McHugh has carved out a niche and a name for itself. ...It has pioneered use of... residents’ rights law to sue for neglect, as a separate cause of action beyond simple negligence."

The law firm has represented nearly 2,000 families in cases against nursing homes, Reddick reports.

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