The Florida Firm

Overview

<p>Colling Gilbert Wright — marketed publicly under the trade name The Florida Firm — is a plaintiff personal-injury practice headquartered in Orlando, Florida. Founded in 2005 by Stewart Colling, Ronald S. Gilbert, and Melvin B. Wright, the firm grew from the principals' earlier organization, Morgan Colling &amp; Gilbert, which the trio had built into one of Florida's largest plaintiff personal-injury firms. The current practice concentrates on motor vehicle and commercial truck collisions, medical malpractice, catastrophic and burn injuries, products liability, premises liability, nursing home neglect and abuse, wrongful death, and pharmaceutical mass torts, with representation extending statewide and, in appropriate matters, into federal courts.</p><p>Partner Ronald S. Gilbert has been a member of The Florida Bar since 1983 and holds Fellow status in the Litigation Counsel of America — an organization that caps membership at fewer than half of one percent of U.S. attorneys — and was admitted to the American Board of Trial Advocates in 2017. Orlando Magazine's 2025 Hall of Fame profile of the firm credited Gilbert with a Best Lawyers® 2023 'Lawyer of the Year' designation for Plaintiff's Personal Injury Law in the Orlando market. Partner Melvin B. Wright has held Florida Bar Board Certification in civil trial law since 1996 and carries a National Board of Trial Advocacy Civil Trial Advocate certification. The Central Florida chapter of ABOTA — of which Wright serves as past president — named him its 2025 Trial Lawyer of the Year, and Florida Super Lawyers placed him in its Top 10 statewide for 2025. Florida Trend Magazine has recognized Wright and partner Fermin Lopez as Florida Legal Elite, a designation conferred on fewer than 1.3 percent of actively practicing Florida Bar members. Best Law Firms (ranked by Best Lawyers) placed the firm in Tier 1 for both Personal Injury Litigation - Plaintiffs and Product Liability Litigation - Plaintiffs in the Orlando market in its 2026 edition.</p><p>The firm's public verdicts page documents a $200 million resolution in the 2015 New England Compounding Center (NECC) fungal meningitis mass tort — a pharmaceutical class action involving more than 700 injuries nationally — alongside a $20 million judgment for a quadriplegic client injured by an underinsured drunk driver and a $6.8 million tobacco verdict against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. that included $5 million in punitive damages. Past results carry no guarantee of similar outcomes in future matters.</p>

Source: www.thefloridafirm.com

Practice areas