A Lake Success-based attorney has been named the 2016 Lawyer of the Year for Plaintiffs’ Medical Malpractice Actions, his law firm announced Wednesday.
Steven Pegalis, co-founder of law firm Pegalis & Erickson, said receiving the award came as a surprise to him.
“I’m not sure how I won that honor because I didn’t announce my candidacy or participate in any televised debate and I didn’t submit any data to support that election,” he said. “But somehow or another they get feedback from others, I imagine including our adversaries. It’s nice to win such an honor.”
Best Lawyers, a peer-review law publication, lists attorneys and law firms for various honors and achievements in law practice.
Pegalis’ career in representing patients in medical malpractice cases began in the 1960s when he began to practice law.
In what he called the “medical malpractice crisis” in the early 1970s, Pegalis said there were not many attorneys who would handle such cases.
“In the early 1970s, there were not that many attorneys who were capable or comfortable in handling medical malpractice cases for the patient,” he said. “There weren’t that many medical malpractice cases at the time, but after the so-called malpractice crisis, many more people began to inquire as to why was there a bad outcome.”
Pegalis, a Kings Point resident, said practicing an aspect of law that was generally unknown helped increase his publicity and eventually led to an increase in medical malpractice lawyers.
In 1972, he and Stephen Erickson founded Pegalis & Erickson, which is located at 1 Hollow Lane in Lake Success.
Pegalis also teaches at New York Law School, he said.
In July, he was named co-director with Dr. Irwin R. Merkatz of the school’s Patient Safety Project initiative, which aims to improve and promote safer health care practices.
Pegalis said it is the only law school in the country to partner a physician and attorney to promote safer health care.
He also authored a three-volume text book called “American Law of Medical Malpractice,” now in its third edition.
Pegalis is married, has three children and seven grandchildren.
He said during his free time he likes to spend as much time with his family and grandchildren as he can.
