Mr. Hanson began his law career composing appellate court opinions clerking for Paul G. Summer on the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals. He also composed appellate court opinions for retired Appellate Court Judge and Senior Judge Paul R. Summers. His first boss, Paul G. Summers later served as the Attorney General of the State of Tennessee from 1999 to 2006 and Senior Judge from 2014 through 2018.
Mr. Hanson’s next lawyer role was serving as Judicial Law Clerk and Staff Attorney for Justice Janice Holder of the Tennessee Supreme Court from 1996 to 1999. During that time frame, Mr. Hanson composed Justice Janice Holder’s Supreme Court Decisions for print and publication.
Mr. Hanson entered private practice in 1999 with a top litigation firm. His areas of practice were professional liability, commercial litigation, class action, transportation and construction law. He represented doctors, lawyers, law firms, hospitals, accountants, dentists, airlines, defense contractors, medical device companies, pharmaceutical companies and large corporations in commercial litigation and class action defense.
His accomplishments at his first litigation firm included jury verdicts and settlements of over $45,000,000.00 while representing companies in commercial litigation and Plaintiff’s in class action lawsuits. He tried over 50 jury trials to verdict and handled 19 appellate cases in state and federal courts. He served as Regional Trial Counsel for AIG Health Care, Lloyds of London & CNA Health Pro for High Exposure and Malpractice claims and was a Member of Beverly Health Care Trial Team.
Mr. Hanson moved to Florida in 2008 and served as Of Counsel for Levin Papantonio and Michels & Booth in Pensacola, Fort Walton Beach, Crestview and Houston, Texas. Mr. Hanson worked with Rainey Booth trying bellwether jury trials for Plaintiffs opting out of HRT and defective drug class action settlements and assisted Rainey Booth in achieving multiple multimillion-dollar jury verdicts totaling over $230,000,000.00, all of which were affirmed on appeal. He served as co-counsel on the steering committee with Levin Papantonio lawyers for the BP oil spill multidistrict litigation in Houston, Texas, and tried numerous medical malpractice and nursing home malpractice cases throughout Florida.
In 2012, Mr. Hanson was recruited by a Nashville law firm to defend complex federal commercial litigation cases and serve as class action defense counsel for large hotel and resort chains, truck companies and airlines. There, Mr. Hanson tried and litigated complex commercial, entertainment, intellectual property, employment, non-compete, interference of business and class action cases across the US from New York to California typically ranging from $20,000,000.00 to $130,000,000.00 in exposure. He also handled entertainment law matters representing clients such as Madonna, Simon Cowel, Van Halen, BMI and was second chair in the largest copyright verdict in the US representing the Mavin Gaye estate against Robin Thicke, Pherrall and TI. Mr. Hanson served as second chair representing SNMP in the largest IP award in the US against a company in receivership totaling over $400,000,000.00. Mr. Hanson was offered inhouse general counsel positions for a trucking company, an airline staffing agency and one of the largest hotel/resorts chains in the US before deciding to take a hiatus to Bali, Indonesia during the pandemic.
Mr. Hanson spent several years during the pandemic living in Bali where he owned, operated and managed multiple businesses, but returned to the US in October 2024. He made a decision to no longer represent large companies which required him to be away from his family for 3 to 5 weeks at a time trying complex federal cases all over the US. He now focuses on helping individuals forge solutions for their small to medium business conflicts and domestic cases. He also assists professionals such as doctors, dentists, therapists and nurses in both civil litigation and board matters as he has done since the late 1990s.
