Merkel & Cocke, P.A. Congratulates Partners for Being Selected for 2023 Best Lawyers®
Merkel & Cocke, P.A. is proud to have four of its partners recognized by Best Lawyers® in 2023 in America. Every year, the Best Lawyers list recognizes leading attorneys in particular regions and practices, based on peer reviews.
Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. Best Lawyers lists are compiled based on an exhaustive peer-review evaluation. More than 116,000 industry leading lawyers are eligible to vote (from around the world), and have received more than 17 million evaluations on the legal abilities of other lawyers based on their specific practice areas around the world.
For the 2023 edition of The Best Lawyers in America, more than 12.2 million votes were analyzed, which resulted in more than 71,000 leading lawyers honored in the new edition.
Lawyers are not required nor allowed to pay a fee to be listed; therefore, inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor.
About our award-winning attorneys
Charles M. “Charlie” Merkel, Jr. was first recognized by Best Lawyers in 1989 and has received over 30 honors since – for his work in personal injury defense, personal injury litigation, product liability, and medical malpractice plaintiffs. He is a two-time Lawyer of the Year for product liability (2012) and for personal injury litigation (2010). Mr. Merkel has also been recognized by Mid-South Super Lawyers and is rated AV Preeminent® by Martindale-Hubbell®.
John Hartwell Cocke has been consistently recognized by Best Lawyers since 2007 for his work in medical malpractice and personal injury litigation on behalf of plaintiffs. He is a four-time Lawyer of the Year for personal injury litigation (2016) and three times for medical malpractice (2013, 2019, and 2021). Mr. Cocke has also been recognized by Mid-South Super Lawyers and is rated AV Preeminent® by Martindale-Hubbell®.
Charles M. Merkel III has been recognized by Best Lawyers since 2012 for his work in medical malpractice on behalf of plaintiffs. He was also named a 2020 Lawyer of the Year for his work in this area. Mr. Merkel has also been recognized by MidSouth Super Lawyers and Rising Stars, and has been named to The National Trial Lawyers: Top 100 Trial Lawyers since 2014.
Edward P. “Ted” Connell, Jr. was recognized by Best Lawyers for the first time in 2022 and now in 2023 for his work in Workers’ Compensation Law on behalf of claimants. Mr. Connell has also been recognized by Mid-South Super Lawyers, as well as Rising Stars.
The entire team at Merkel & Cocke, P.A. wants to congratulate our attorneys for being named to the 2023 list of Best Lawyers in America. We are proud of their hard work and hope to continue serving the good people of Mississippi throughout 2023!
After graduating from the University of Virginia Law School in 1975, Mr. Cocke and Mr. Merkel established Merkel & Cocke, P.A. in 1982. Since that time the emphasis of Mr. Cocke’s practice has progressed toward medical malpractice. At the present time his practice is exclusively devoted to handling medical negligence cases for the plaintiff, either as a result of direct contact by the client or on referral from other attorneys who are not familiar with the handling of medical negligence cases. Mr. Cocke was selected Best Lawyer of the year for 2012 and 2014 in The Memphis area in the field of Medical Malpractice and has been selected a Best Lawyer and Super Lawyer every year since 2006. Learn more about John Hartwell Cocke here.