Jodi Barrett
Biography
Jodi Barrett is a Partner in Hall Booth Smith’s West Palm Beach office and is active in a number of the firm’s professional Practice Area Groups.
She is a seasoned litigator having practiced over 27 years in high exposure cases including professional liability, legal liability, medical malpractice, commercial litigation, long-term care, employment and general liability cases.
Jodi holds the highest AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell, the nationally recognized and highly respected attorney rating service.
Jodi has resided in South Florida for her entire professional career and has been active in the local community. She is involved in many professional organizations including the Florida Bar and Palm Beach County Bar Association. Jodi resides near Wellington, Florida with her husband and enjoys equestrian activities and travel.
Experience
Jodi’s practice focuses on professional liability defense. She represents lawyers, doctors, nurses, allied health care professionals, hospitals, long-term care entities, and other professionally related businesses. She has extensive experience in litigation of high exposure cases both locally and on a national basis.
Ms. Barrett has litigated cases covering the full variety of civil matters from premises liability to vehicular accidents for over 25 years.
Ms. Barrett has handled a variety of employment disputes including claims of discrimination, harassment and retaliation as well as accommodation based on disability and religion. She has represented Florida employers in both state and federal court and appreciates the complexities of employment law practice.
Ms. Barrett has been representing various health care providers, hospitals, and long-term care facilities for over 25 years. She provides counsel to physician groups and hospitals and has handled wrongful death and catastrophic injury claims. Ms. Barrett also represented health care providers before licensing boards including the Board of Medicine, Nursing, Osteopathy, Dental and other allied health specialists.
Ms. Barrett’s practice includes the representation of professionals including attorneys in legal malpractice claims including estate planning, dissolution cases, and real estate. She has also been involved in representing attorney clients involved with complex securities matters and fraud.
Clients hire professionals including accountants, architects, appraisers, and engineers, with a certain level of confidence in their abilities and credentials; an expectation of professionalism and experience. When results don’t match their expectations – regardless of the circumstances – the response is to blame the professional and sue. Included within the skill set of our Professional Negligence practice group is the defense of claims brought against directors & officers for alleged breaches of fiduciary duties. Our experience ranges from Home Owners’ Association claims to sophisticated medical center credentialing disputes to publicly held corporate D&O claims.
It’s our job to protect and defend the professional clients and fiduciaries we serve, helping them manage the risks inherent to their practice, and advising and representing them if the need arises. We serve a wide variety of clients, in all areas, including legal, accounting, engineering, and architecture concerns. From publicly held firms to small partnerships to sole proprietorships, we have the specialized experience and expertise to help our clients avoid, manage and survive litigation.
Credentials
ADMITTED
State Courts:
- Florida, 1991
Appellate Courts:
- U.S. Southern District Court of Appeals
- Middle Florida District Court of Appeals
EDUCATION
- J.D., Indiana University, 1991
- B.A., Sociology and Criminal Justice, Indiana University, 1988
Memberships
- American Bar Association
- Defense Research Institute
- Florida Bar Association
- Florida Defense Lawyer’s Association
- Palm Beach County Bar Association
Presentations
- Emerging Trends – Litigation Financing – Markel Corp
Underwriting and Claims Summit, March 2018 - Amendment 7 – The Risks of Having Access to Adverse Medical Incidents
South Florida Member Roundtable – Florida Society for Healthcare Risk Management, April 2018
Publications
- Amendment 7: The Florida Supreme Court Eviscerates Traditional Statutorily Protections to Discovery of Quality Assurance Risk Management and Peer Review Documents – the Risks of Having Access to Adverse Medical Incidents
April 2018 - New Laws for Prescribing Controlled Substances in Florida
June 2018