Lawyers for Health Care and Mental Health Professionals / Providers

Representing clients
for over 25 years
with skill,
compassion and
integrity.

HEALTH CARE AND MENTAL HEALTH PRACTICE

The law firm of Drake & Associates continues a long and
proud tradition of serving the litigation needs of the
health care and mental health industries, which began
with DeForrest Home. Mr. Home, who began practicing
law in 1925, was a pioneering practitioner in the field of
medical negligence defense in California. Mr. Home's
law firm, Home & Clifford, produced a remarkable legacy
of success in malpractice litigation. Upon Mr. Home's
retirement, two attorneys from Home & Clifford formed
the law firm of Rushfeldt and Shelley, which soon
became Rushfeldt, Shelley & Drake LLP ("RSD"). For over
25 years, RSD continued to apply the lessons learned
from Mr. Home: excellence through training and
aggressive advocacy. This philosophy produced a
notable record of success and attracted a group of
talented litigators.

Though Messrs. Rushfeldt and Shelley are now retired,
Mr. Drake and his group of talented litigators continue
the tradition of excellence and commitment to providing
the highest caliber of representation to those in the
health care and mental health fields.

PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY DEFENSE
By far the most common claim we defend against is for
professional negligence (i.e., malpractice). However,
plaintiffs' attorneys continually search for alternative
claims in an effort to avoid the various limitations
imposed by MICRA. We are experienced handling
professional negligence claims and any of the various
alternate claims that plaintiffs' attorney may plead, such
as elder abuse, statutory violations (e.g., HIPAA , the
ADA, FEHA, the Unruh Act, etc.), and intentional torts
(e.g., assault, battery, false imprisonment, intentional
infliction of emotional distress, etc.).

ADMINISTRATIVE REPRESENTATION
As a nature adjunct to our professional liability defense,
we represent health care and mental health providers, as
well as those in related fields (e.g., clinical social
workers), in administrative and disciplinary proceedings.
We also provide consultation and assistance in
responding to inquiries by professional associations, and
represent clients in hearings before such associations.

APPELLATE REPRESENTATION
Historically, we handle our own cases at the appellate
level and are experienced both with appellate procedure
following litigation as well as appellate procedure from
administrative decisions (which normally begins with a
petition for writ of administrative mandamus, but can
involve subsequent levels of appeal). We presently offer
these appellate services even if we have not handled the
underlying matter prior to appeal. As with our
representation at the administrative or trial court level,
we pride ourselves on offering the highest quality
representation to our clients.

MEDIATION SERVICES
Our attorneys are available to serve as private
mediators. Most commonly we offer these services in
cases involving professional negligence claims against
health care or mental health practitioners. Though our
legacy is defense-oriented, we strive in these cases to
bring an objective and experience eye to evaluating and
valuing potential claims.

OTHER LEGAL SERVICES
Providing health care and mental health services is, in
part, a business. Due to demand from our health care
and mental health clients, Drake & Associates now
employs litigators with significant experience in general
business litigation who can handle disputes unrelated to
professional liability including partnership disputes,
employment disputes, leasing disputes, defamation
claims, sexual harassment claims, trademark disputes
and all manner of contract disputes.

FOR INSURERS
Thanks to our long tradition in this area of law, Drake &
Associates has a time-tested methodology for defending
health care and mental health professionals that is both
aggressive and still cost-effective. As a result, Drake &
Associates is able to offer the highest caliber of
representation at reasonable and competitive rates.
Further, Drake & Associates offers discounted rates for
insurers who refer a significant volume of business.
Finally, Drake & Associates offers the following
additional services to insurers:

- Consultations or seminars. We can speak to you or
your insureds on emerging issues in the field of
professional liability for health care and mental health
providers, and on proactive measures that can be taken
to avoid such liability.

- Provider Reviews. We can inspect and review a
provider's policies and procedures for patient care and
complaint resolution and recommend changes that may
help reduce exposure and ensure the material facts are
properly documented when claims arise.

- Case Audits. If an insurer believes one of its law firms
may not be providing adequate representation, or may
be over-billing, we can offer a review of one case or a
sampling of cases and provide our evaluation of the
quality and cost-effectiveness of the representation
being provided. In addition, there may be cases where
the potential exposure is high enough to make it
worthwhile to employ us as an additional level of
oversight to ensure all potential issues have been
spotted and are being addressed.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, OR TO SPEAK WITH MR.
DRAKE PERSONALLY, PLEASE CALL:
(818) 906-1441 (Los Angeles)
(805) 560-6918 (Santa Barbara)
(800) 435-2130 (Toll Free)

Injury victims see our other website, here.

SIDE BAR

LAW OFFICES OF
KENNETH W. DRAKE & ASSOCIATES, INC.

21241 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 288
Woodland Hills, CA 91364
(818) 906-1441 / Fax (818) 906-2532

LAW OFFICES OF
KENNETH W. DRAKE & ASSOCIATES, INC.

655 Del Parque Drive, Suite A
Santa Barbara, CA 93103
(805) 560-6918 / Fax (805) 899-3937