John S. Hicks, shareholder in the Firm's Nashville office, serves as the Firm's Assistant General Counsel and, as Chair of the Firm's Conflicts and Ethics Committee, serves as the primary ethics counsel for the Firm. He currently serves on the Firm's Board of Directors and is the former Chair of the Health Law and Medical Professional Litigation Group. His trial practice is varied and includes health law litigation, business torts, shareholder and corporate governance disputes, professional liability defense, defense of class action cases including various consumer fraud and insurance claims, insurance coverage disputes and commercial and banking litigation.
Mr. Hicks regularly represents one of the nation's largest health insurance groups in a variety of disputes, both in court and in arbitration. He has represented a major health benefits provider in extensive arbitrations and related litigation regarding the enforceability of managed care agreements for a statewide health benefits network. He also has represented a trade association of managed care organizations in class action litigation relating to the operation of Tennessee's Medicaid managed care program as well as several of the individual managed care organizations in litigation and arbitration with providers and in regulatory matters. In addition, Mr. Hicks has represented health care providers in disputes with payors as well as both providers and payors in a variety of commercial disputes. Also, he has defended a series of consumer fraud cases in the life insurance industry. His experience includes the defense of a collection agency in a class action case alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act. He has also represented law firms in professional liability and breach of fiduciary duty claims as well as individual lawyers in disciplinary proceedings. He has past extensive experience in bankruptcy, creditors' rights and business reorganizations.
Mr. Hicks is on the approved panel of mediators for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee.
- Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® in the areas of Commercial Litigation since 2005; Professional Malpractice Law since 2008; and Medical Malpractice Law since 2010
- Listed since 2005 in Chambers USA: America's Leading Business Lawyers as a leading Litigation lawyer in Tennessee
- Listed in Mid-South Super Lawyers since 2006 and named among the top 100 attorneys in Tennessee in 2009
- Member – American (Litigation section), Tennessee (Litigation, Commercial and Bankruptcy and Banking sections) and Nashville Bar Associations
- Named "Best of the Bar," Nashville Business Journal, 2011
- Recipient – Baker Donelson's 2009 Nashville Office Pro Bono Award
- Member – American Health Lawyers Association
- Member – Tennessee Defense Lawyers Association
- Member – Defense Research Institute
- Member – American Bankruptcy Institute
- Fellow – Nashville Bar Foundation
- Member – Board of Directors, Attorneys Liability Assurance Society (Bermuda) Ltd. (ALAS) and its subsidiaries since 2008
- Tennessee, 1983
- United States District Court, Eastern District of Tennessee, 1984
- United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 1985
- United States District Court, Middle District of Tennessee, 1988
- United States District Court, Western District of Tennessee, 2004
- United States Supreme Court, 2008
- University of Memphis, J.D., 1983
- University of Mississippi, B.A., 1980