Parker Hudson Ranked in the 2027 Edition of Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms”
Nov 05, 2026
Overview
Our appellate attorneys are known for stellar results and a team approach to appeals. We are often brought in as “counsel of last resort” — when the trial verdict didn’t go the right way and fresh analysis and advocacy are needed on appeal.
Success on appeal requires creativity, sophisticated analysis, and a fresh approach. It’s that combination that has led us to one success after another, not only for matters we handled in the trial court, but also for appeals on matters where Parker Hudson did not serve as trial counsel.
Because of our size and experience, we are able to offer the same superb quality as big-firm appellate teams, with attorneys who are equally well credentialed, but with fee arrangements that provide better value for the client.
Though we often serve as lead appellate counsel, many clients and other law firms have also brought us in as consultants, tapping our experience and insight to help them prepare an effective argument at any level of appeal.
Our approach includes:
- Offering representation to plaintiffs and defendants, appellants and appellees alike, whether they are businesses or individuals
- Bringing our appellate experience to a wide range of cases and legal issues, ranging from complex business torts or commercial cases to personal injury claims
- Recruiting top-quality attorneys with appellant experience to join our team, including former federal appellate law clerks
- Providing analysis of post-trial motions, including cases in where we were not the trial counsel, and briefing
- Seeking a JNOV (judgment notwithstanding verdict) or new trial whenever appropriate
- Putting the client’s best interests and goals first, whether we are serving as lead appellate counsel or as consultants
- Leveraging the issue-specific experience and insight of Parker Hudson’s other practice groups
In addition to handling all aspects of appellate advocacy for parties to appeals, Parker Hudson appellate lawyers are often engaged to prepare amicus curiae briefs on behalf of clients (including associations) that have policy concerns about pending cases. Amicus briefs can help clients who are concerned about a case they are watching but not a party to, and can give a vehicle for providing crucial additional analysis or perspective for the appellate court that the parties themselves may overlook or insufficiently develop. Clients do not always have to sit back and watch other parties make law that they will then have to live with, and, in certain instances, may be able to materially impact the rulings of appellate courts through strategic amicus filings.
Experience includes:
- Appeals from state trial court
- Georgia Court of Appeals appeals
- Georgia Supreme Court appeals
- U.S. Appeals Court appeals (Eleventh Circuit and other Federal appeals)
- Appeals outside of Georgia
- Post-trial briefing & analysis (post-trial counsel)
- JNOV / New trial
- Lead appellate counsel representation
- Appeals consulting
Experience
- Represented a major regional healthcare system in a long-running business tort action by a physician seeking to maximize patient referrals to his own physician practice based on contested language in certain hospital inpatient-admission operating procedures. In an affirming summary judgment favor of the client’s defense, the Georgia Court of Appeals reaffirmed that hospitals have broad power to control the administrative, operational, and managerial functions of their facilities and staff. The decision marks an important win for Georgia hospitals and health systems in the landscape of physician-hospital disputes involving challenges to hospitals’ administrative authority.
- Represented a hospital with a trauma center that sought to challenge the State’s grant of a provisional trauma center license to a nearby competitor. The Florida appellate court reversed the agency’s dismissal of the hospital’s challenge for lack of standing, holding that the economic interests and operational impacts faced by existing trauma centers fell within the zone of interests protected by the trauma statutes and that the agency decision was reviewable. The decision paved the way for existing trauma centers have the right to challenge the licensing of new competitors through formal administrative proceedings.
- Represented a horse racing wagering permit holder that was fined by a state regulatory agency for allegedly failing to conduct a valid horse race. The Florida appellate court reversed, holding that the race at issue satisfied the statutory and regulatory definition of a “race” and that the agency was equitably estopped from prosecuting the operator based on prior representations by its own officials. The decision eliminated the fine and vindicated the client’s operating practices.
- Represented hospitals challenging the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration’s Medicaid outpatient reimbursement rates for the 2016–2017 fiscal year, after the agency dismissed their petitions for administrative hearings as premature. The Florida appellate court reversed, holding that the agency’s announced reimbursement rates became final agency action when published and that the hospitals had a right to challenge them. The decision allowed the hospitals to proceed with their administrative hearings to contest the rates.
- Represented a claimant’s representative seeking to recover escheated estate funds on behalf of identified beneficiaries after a Florida probate court had already determined their entitlement. The Florida appellate court reversed the Department of Financial Services’ denial of the claim, holding that the Department overstepped its authority by conducting an independent re-adjudication of entitlement in contravention of the probate court’s valid order. The favorable decision vindicated the client’s claim and recovery of funds.
- Represented an online services provider that successfully challenged a Florida Department of Health memorandum warning medical marijuana treatment centers against contracting with third-party online ordering platforms. The Florida appellate court affirmed, holding that the provider had standing because the memorandum directly targeted its business and that the memorandum went beyond the statutory text, constituting an unpromulgated rule requiring formal rulemaking. The decision preserved the client’s ability to continue providing online ordering services to licensed medical marijuana treatment centers.
- Represented a major Level I trauma center and critical access hospital in opposing a competing health system’s attempt to develop a freestanding emergency department in a location that would threaten the viability of multiple existing hospitals. Following a complex procedural history, the Team ultimately obtained two favorable Georgia Court of Appeals decisions reversing the state agency’s approval of the competitor’s proposed project despite the level of deference historically afforded to the agency head’s final decisions.
- Obtained a favorable, unanimous Georgia Supreme Court decision on behalf of a major Georgia health system reversing an adverse agency decision in a highly contested regulatory litigation matter. The decision established the standard of review in certain state administrative proceedings and constrained the agency’s authority going forward. The decision led to vacatur and remand in multiple cases before the Court of Appeals and also informs Georgia’s body of caselaw on principles of statutory interpretation.
- Obtained a unanimous Georgia Supreme Court decision on behalf of a major Georgia health system establishing the constitutionally protected status of certificate of need rights. The arguments and decision turned on, and further clarified, Georgia’s expanding body of private-versus-public rights analysis. This important distinction controls whether state action can impair an existing legal right and is thus critical for any party challenging newly enacted law or regulations.
- Represented a hospital that had been granted a certificate of need to develop an ambulatory surgery center, which a competitor sought to overturn through judicial review. The Georgia Court of Appeals restored the favorable agency decision after a state Superior court reversed it. The decision turned on the loss of jurisdiction by the Superior court prior to its issuance of the reversing decision. The decision preserved the client’s certificate of need and ability to proceed with developing its surgery center.
- Represented a major hospital appealing a trial court’s upholding a judicial review challenge by a competitor of a state agency’s determination that the client’s acquisition of diagnostic imaging equipment did not require a certificate of need. On appeal, the Georgia Court of Appeals held that the agency did not exceed its statutory authority in finding that the outpatient imaging center was part of a hospital and thus exempt from further regulatory review. The favorable decision enabled the client to proceed with its imaging services.
- Represented a hospital that had received a certificate of need for an ambulatory surgery service, which a competitor challenged on the grounds that the governing regulation was unconstitutionally vague. The Georgia Supreme Court reversed the lower courts, holding that the regulation was not unconstitutionally vague when read in the context of the statutory framework. The decision preserved the client’s certificate of need and upheld the regulatory framework governing CON reviews.
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