An experienced civil and criminal trial attorney, Brian Lafferty has represented thousands of plaintiffs in personal injury cases. Brian regularly handles all types of motor vehicle accidents, premises liability, workers’ compensation, social security disability, and insurance bad faith cases. His reputation as a proactive, aggressive and unrelenting courtroom lawyer is the result of his extensive experience litigating and taking many cases to jury verdict for clients throughout the region

Gustavo D. Lage focuses his practice in the areas of criminal litigation, civil litigation, and commercial litigation. Mr. Lage, a former prosecutor, has extensive experience in the litigation of disputes through trial. He has tried in excess of 25 cases to verdict and represented a variety of clients ranging from large multi-national corporations such as Ford Motor Company and General Motors, to professional athletes such as former Major Leaguer Jose Canseco and former NFL player Wesley Carroll, and individuals and families in wide range of litigation matters. Prior to becoming a member of SMGQ, Mr. Lage was a prosecutor at The Miami-Dade County State Attorney's Office before he joined the insurance and civil litigation firm of Rumberger, Kirk & Caldwell, P.A. Mr. Lage left Rumberger, Kirk & Caldwell to become a partner in the firm of Salas, Ede, Peterson & Lage, LLC, where he practiced from 1998 until 2007. In 2007, Mr. Lage left Salas, Ede, Peterson & Lage, LLC to form his own firm, The Lage Law Firm, P.A., where he successfully managed his own practice until joining SMGQ in 2009. Mr. Lage is admitted to practice law in all Florida state courts, as well as the U.S. District Courts for the Southern, Middle and Northern Districts of Florida. He earned both his B.A. and his J.D. from Florida State University.

Her practice concentration is complex civil litigation, principally high exposure medical malpractice defense. For over 30 years, she has defended hundreds of medical malpractice cases in all venues in Connecticut on behalf of physicians, hospitals, nurses, PAs, nursing homes and community health organizations. She also regularly represents medical practitioners and institutions in administrative proceedings before the Connecticut Department of Public Health. Ms. Lagnese has extensive trial experience in high exposure medical malpractice cases including wrongful death and permanent injury following surgical complications; hypoxic induced brain injury and Erb’s palsy during labor and delivery; delayed diagnosis of cancer and cardiovascular disease; permanent neurologic injury and death following general anesthesia; patient suicide in the psychiatric and primary care settings; catastrophic outcomes in the Emergency Department; blindness following ophthalmologic treatment; limb amputation in the vascular surgery setting among many others. Her track record at trial is impeccable as she has achieved defense verdicts in all of the dozens of jury cases she has tried to date. Ms. Lagnese has also been active over the past decade in advocating for tort reform to benefit the medical profession in Connecticut and has assisted in drafting reform legislation for presentation to the State legislature. She also devotes a significant portion of her professional time lecturing to medical professionals and working with hospital risk managers and quality officers on strategies to improve patient safety and mitigate medico-legal risk.

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