Attorneys
The people who will read your file
Three trial lawyers and a registered nurse. The lawyer who reviews your case is the lawyer who handles it, and our nurse reads every page first.
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Founding partner
Lena Penrose
Lena began her career defending hospitals and physicians. After eight years on that side of the table, she founded the firm in 2006 to represent patients and families, and she still reads every chart the way a defense lawyer would.
She leads the firm's birth injury and HIE cases, and she is the person who most often sits down with parents to explain what the records show and what they do not.
Focus
- Birth injury and HIE
- Obstetric and neonatal care
- Cases for children
Admitted to practise
Connecticut and Massachusetts
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Partner
Thomas Hale
Thomas handles surgical error and misdiagnosis cases. He joined Lena in 2009 and became a partner in 2014.
His work starts long before a courtroom: building the timeline with the firm's nurse, finding the right specialist to review it, and deciding with the family whether the case is worth years of their life.
Focus
- Surgical errors
- Misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis
- Trial work
Admitted to practise
Connecticut and New York
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Senior trial counsel
David Whitcombe
David has tried medical negligence cases for more than twenty-five years and joined the firm in 2015.
He focuses on cases against hospitals and nursing facilities, where the questions are often about staffing and systems rather than one person's decision, and he mentors the firm's younger lawyers.
Focus
- Hospital and nursing negligence
- Medication errors
- Trial work
Admitted to practise
Connecticut
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Legal nurse consultant ยท not a lawyer
Clare Novak, RN
Clare worked for twelve years as a labour and delivery nurse and then in a neonatal intensive care unit before joining the firm.
She reads every set of records first, builds the medical timeline, and is often the person families speak with about what the records show. Clare is not a lawyer and does not give legal advice.
Focus
- Record review and timelines
- Fetal monitoring strips
- NICU care
Who you will hear from, and when
- At the first call
- A lawyer, not a call centre. Usually the lawyer whose practice area fits your case.
- During the review
- Clare, our nurse, may call with questions about dates, symptoms or what you were told. She explains the records in plain words.
- If we take the case
- Your lawyer calls or writes every month, even when nothing has happened, and answers messages within one business day.
For referring lawyers
Referring a malpractice or birth injury case
Many of our cases come from general practice and injury firms that do not keep obstetric, neonatal or surgical experts on hand. We fund the review and the experts, keep you informed at every stage, and handle referral fee arrangements as your state's professional conduct rules allow, in writing.
If our review finds no case, we tell you and your client together, with the reasons in writing.
Talk to Lena or Thomas directly
Call and ask for a lawyer by name, or email with "Referral" in the subject line.
Tell us what happened. We will tell you the truth about it.
A free, confidential review by our nurse and an independent physician. If we do not believe it was malpractice, we will say so and explain why.