Marjorie is a personal injury trial attorney with nearly 30 years of combined medical and legal experience. Prior to becoming an attorney, she worked as a critical care Registered Nurse in numerous hospitals and nursing homes in Central Florida. She also worked at most of the major hospitals in the Seattle area, including Harborview, which is one of the top emergency/trauma centers in the nation. Her nursing expertise focused on emergency room, intensive care, and cardiac care nursing.
Since graduating from law school in 1991, Marjorie has applied her extensive nursing experience to her law practice. She specializes in wrongful death and catastrophic injury cases, representing patients and their surviving family members in medical negligence and severe auto accident cases.
A summary of Marjorie Chalfant’s nursing background:
After graduating from high school at the age of 16 she attended nursing school and was Vice-President of her nursing class (at the age of 17). Throughout nursing school she worked as a Nursing Assistant in many Florida hospitals and nursing homes. After graduating from nursing school at the age of 18 she continued her college education at the University of Central Florida while working as a critical care nurse. While obtaining pre-requisites for law school Marjorie managed a cardiac rehabilitation and wellness program for Winter Park Memorial Hospital (now part of the Florida Hospital organization), and started a very innovative pulmonary rehabilitation program for patients suffering with COPD and other respiratory disabilities.
While attending Seattle University School of Law, Marjorie worked at Harborview, a Level I Trauma Center. After graduating from law school, Marjorie continued to work as a Trauma Nurse at Harborview while building her own specialty medical malpractice and serious injury law firm in the Seattle area.
Marjorie keeps her nursing license active and stays informed on the latest medical practices. She knows the standards of care and what is expected of nurses, physicians and other healthcare providers. As an experienced Registered Nurse, she knows what goes on “behind the scenes” in hospitals and nursing homes, and she is extremely comfortable with reviewing and understanding medical records and complex medical issues.
A summary of Marjorie Chalfant’s litigation background:
Although Marjorie has experience with a wide variety of legal matters, her most outstanding talent is representing clients in medical malpractice and serious injury cases. Her exceptional results with difficult and complex cases have demonstrated her advantage in having combined careers in nursing and law. In addition to the satisfaction of getting justice for her clients, Marjorie enjoys the intellectual challenge and complexity of medical-legal cases.
Marjorie has won and settled several multi-million dollar cases, including a $3,000,000 jury verdict in a post-operative infection case where the defendant lawyers and doctors refused to pay more than $100,000. Similarly, Marjorie won a $500,000 jury verdict in a misdiagnosis of chest pain case where the defendant physicians and their lawyers refused to pay a dime and expressed their confidence in getting a defense verdict.
She is best known for her medical expertise, aggressive representation of her clients and attention to detail. In addition to practicing law, Marjorie provides lectures to other lawyers on trial techniques and medical issues. Before co-founding Hensley│Chalfant, she was selected by her peers as one of the best lawyers in the State of Washington, earning prestigious Super Lawyer awards in 2000, 2001 and 2002.
A summary of Marjorie Chalfant’s personal background:
Marjorie has lived in Florida since she was 5 years old (before Disney World and in the days when Busch Gardens was just a garden and a brewery) and attended public schools in the Central Florida area. She relocated to the Seattle area to live with family in the Pacific Northwest and attend law school, but desired to return to the Sunshine State after 15 years of “less-than-sunny” weather.
In addition to her successful careers in law and nursing, Marjorie has been blessed with 4 beautiful children ranging in ages from elementary school through college. She and her daughters are avid equestrians and enjoy trail riding and hunter/jumper competitions.