Gerson & Schwartz, P.A.

A Miami injury practice with a long history

Based in Miami, Florida, this is a personal injury practice that Philip M. Gerson founded in 1970. That start date puts it past the half-century mark in a single field of law. Registered as Gerson & Schwartz, P.A., the firm represents injured people, and it works the plaintiff side of those disputes.

Its reach runs across South Florida. Alongside the Miami office, the firm keeps satellite locations in Fort Lauderdale in Broward County and in West Palm Beach in Palm Beach County. That setup lets it meet clients across the region without asking everyone to travel to one address.

Longevity on one side of the docket is the first thing a reader notices here. A firm that has represented plaintiffs for this long has watched how injury cases move through the local courts, and that history is the sort of record this directory weighs above any tagline.

Focus and practice areas

The firm covers a broad slice of injury law, and its website sorts that work into a few clear groups. It arranges the list by the type of harm and the setting where it happened, which makes the range easy to scan. What ties it together is a plaintiff focus: the people it represents are the ones who were hurt, not the companies or insurers across the table.

Road and premises claims

Road cases head the list: car, truck, and motorcycle collisions. The firm also takes cruise ship and maritime injury claims, which fits a Miami base given the cruise traffic the city is known for. Slip and fall and wider premises liability matters round out the everyday work.

Malpractice, products, and catastrophic injury

The practice extends past traffic and property. It handles medical malpractice, defective product, and wrongful death claims, and it represents crime victims. The site states that the firm limits its work to plaintiffs with serious or catastrophic injuries, and it names traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, burn injury, and loss of limb as examples.

In my opinion that stated limit is worth reading closely. A firm that says it concentrates on severe-injury files is telling a prospective client what kind of case it is built to carry, which helps that person judge fit before a first conversation.

How the team is built

The site lists seven attorneys, divided between partners and associate attorneys, with a paralegal team supporting them. Philip M. Gerson is the founder and senior partner. Edward S. Schwartz, Nicholas I. Gerson, and David L. Markel are listed as partners.

The associate attorneys are Nick Plymale, Lee Andrew Watson, and Ahava Livingstone. A roster of this size points to a firm where partners can stay close to the files rather than passing them down a long chain. Named people, listed in the open, also give a reader something concrete to check.

The paralegal team sits behind those attorneys. In injury work, that kind of support usually carries much of the record-gathering, from medical files to crash and incident reports, which leaves the lawyers free for the parts that call for legal judgment.

Credentials the site points to

Philip M. Gerson's outside record centers on victims' rights. He was the founding president of the advisory board of the National Crime Victim Bar Association, and he provides pro bono legal services to the Victims Services Center in Miami. Both roles line up with the crime-victim work the firm lists.

He was elected to the board of directors of the National Center for Victims of Crime in 2007, and he has served as its board chair since 2012. The site notes a Preeminent AV Rating for him, a peer-review mark that reflects assessments of legal ability and ethics.

Edward S. Schwartz co-authored a chapter, "Issues and Experts in Negligent Security Cases," in the 2001 Expert Witness Update published by Aspen Law and Business. That credit points to work in negligent security claims, a corner of premises liability law.

How the firm says it runs a case

The firm reports handling matters from the first investigation through trial, and into appellate proceedings when a case calls for it. It says it appears in both Florida state and federal courts. That span covers the early evidence-gathering stage and the later argument stage that can decide an appeal.

As a reviewer, I read the appellate note as a small but real signal. A large share of injury claims settle before trial, so a firm that keeps trial and appeal in its own hands is describing a fuller route than intake and negotiation alone. It stops short of promising any outcome, which is the right line to hold.

A reviewer's read

What stands out is longevity paired with a clear plaintiff focus. The firm has worked one side of injury law since 1970, it names its attorneys in the open, and it leans on outside roles and a published chapter rather than on slogans. For someone weighing options across South Florida, that mix of history, stated scope, and named attorneys makes a reasonable place to begin a first call.