Michael J. Heron
Biography
Michael J. Heron is a Partner in our Oklahoma City office with over 30 years of legal experience. He specializes in protecting the rights of individuals and businesses in civil cases involving medical malpractice, professional liability, construction, transportation, and insurance matters.
Mike represents hospitals, practice groups, physicians, nurses, and other health care professionals in a wide range of litigation, policies and procedures, compliance, investigations, business transactions, labor and employment issues, human resources matters, and other day-to-day business and operational needs. He works closely with senior leadership and in-house counsel at each client to ensure his legal strategy supports the long-term business goals of the organization and to create best practices and internal policies to reduce the likelihood of litigation in the first place.
Before joining Hall Booth Smith, Mike was a Partner at his own firm near Oklahoma City for more than 15 years. He also worked as an associate attorney for more than a decade earlier in his legal career.
Mike earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Oklahoma, and he also completed both a Master of Science in Audiology and a Bachelor of Science in Communication Disorders at the University of Oklahoma. He formerly served as President and sat on the Board of Directors of the Oklahoma Association of Defense Counsel and is a past member of DRI.
Experience
Mike represents hospitals and health care professionals in a wide range of labor and employment matters including contracts, credentialing, licensure actions, human resources matters, corporate compliance, policies and procedures, and other employer/employee matters.
Mike has decades of experience defending hospitals, practice groups, physicians, nurses and other health care professionals in complex medical malpractice and other professional liability litigation including catastrophic injury, misdiagnosis, wrongful diagnosis, and other high-exposure cases.
Credentials
Admitted
State Courts:
- Oklahoma
U.S. District Courts:
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma
U.S. Courts of Appeals:
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
Education
- J.D., University of Oklahoma
- M.S., Audiology, University of Oklahoma
- B.S., Communication Disorders, University of Oklahoma
Memberships
- Oklahoma Association of Defense Counsel: President (former), Board of Directors Member (former)
- DRI: Member
- Medical Liability and Health Law Committee: Member (former)
Recognition
- AV Preeminent® Peer Review Rated™, High Ethical Standing; Martindale-Hubbell
- Oklahoma Super Lawyer, Super Lawyers®; 2011-2012, 2017-2019
Presentations
Michael provides numerous presentations and educational seminars to nurses and physicians for hospitals on topics such as charting, credentialing, informed consent, EMTALA, depositions, end-of-life issues, and human resources matters. Select presentations are listed below.
- Current Trends in Litigation
PLICO Regional Hospital Meeting, 2016 - Pitfalls and Liability Issues with the Use of the Electronic Medical Record
Oklahoma Healthcare Summit, 2015 - Negligent Credentialing Claims and Dealing with Difficult Practitioners
Oklahoma Association of Medical Services (OKAMSS), 2012