Damian Fletcher

Tyson & Mendes, a law firm with eight offices in the western United States, opened its first east coast firm in Fort Lauderdale this week.

The firm has hired former Hinshaw & Culbertson Fort Lauderdale office partner Damian Fletcher as the new office's managing partner. Two additional lawyers transferred from Tyson's San Diego and San Francisco office—senior counsel Tracey Angelopoulos and associate Craig Cox—to provide support, Fletcher said.

Fletcher said the team is a skeleton crew now, although he expects it will expand over the next few months. The goal is to hit full stride by January.

Fletcher, who had been at Hinshaw for 11 years and focuses on casualty defense, has defended clients in a variety of complex personal injury cases. He has more than 20 years of experience managing liability risks and investigating accidents resulting in catastrophic losses. He defends tort claims involving industrial accidents, contaminated drugs, products liability, environmental contamination, medical malpractice, trucking and other vehicular accidents, negligent security, and discrimination.

Fletcher and Tyson & Mendes had a number of mutual clients, including a casualty insurance company, he said.

“They've [Tyson & Mendes] always wanted to expand into the east coast and clients in common brought us together,” Fletcher said. “Our business interests were aligned and it provided a good opportunity for me to expand my client base.”