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Peggy Smith Bush

Portrait of Peggy Smith Bush

Peggy is a shareholder in the Casualty Department and an accomplished litigator, advocate, and counselor with more than 23 years of experience. She focuses her practice on defending corporations, large self-insureds, and public entities in cases involving negligence, transportation and trucking liability, and premises liability. Born and raised in North Alabama, Peggy is known for pairing strategic, results-oriented litigation with professionalism, civility, and a practical approach to problem-solving.

Peggy routinely defends claims arising from motor vehicle accidents, premises liability, product liability, negligent security, and general liability. Her broad experience also extends to commercial matters—such as breach of contract and indemnification—as well as code compliance, environmental toxic torts, crisis management, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, negligent hiring and retention, and ADA accessibility claims, including complex website accessibility disputes. She also brings more than a decade of experience in public entity defense, with extensive knowledge of Florida’s Public Records Act, Sunshine Law, sovereign immunity, statutory limitations, fee-shifting provisions, and compliance and enforcement issues. She regularly works alongside risk management professionals on investigations, litigation, and risk avoidance strategies.

Peggy began her career at a respected Orlando defense firm, gaining valuable trial experience before becoming a founding shareholder of Southern Trial Counsel | PLC in 2010, where she also served as managing partner. Her legal career is rooted in a broader 40-year career working with and for businesses, which began in television and radio before moving into the financial industry, where she held Series 7, Series 6, and Series 63 licenses as a stockbroker. While working her way through law school, Peggy clerked for the in-house general counsel of an international restaurant company headquartered in Orlando. Today, she is recognized with Martindale-Hubbell’s highest rating (5.0/5.0 Preeminent©), and is also a Florida Supreme Court Certified Mediator and a Certified Claims and Litigation Management Professional.

Outside of the courtroom, Peggy has been married to her husband, Stephen, since 1985. They live in Orlando with their twin boys, Jack Hunter and Finn, and their calico cat, Harlie. Peggy treasures family time, enjoys music, cooking, and reading, and is dedicated to mentoring the next generation of attorneys.

    • Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law (J.D., cum laude, 2002)
    • University of North Alabama (B.S., 1984)
    • Florida
    • U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida
    • U.S. District Court Northern District of Florida
    • U.S. District Court Southern District of Florida
    • U.S. Court of Appeals 11th Circuit
    • Supreme Court of the United States
    • AV® Preeminent™ by Martindale-Hubbell®
    • The Best Lawyers in America®, Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants (2023-2026)
    • Florida Trend Legal Elite NOTABLE Women Leaders in Law (2024)
    • Barry University School of Law Outstanding Achievement Alumni Award, 2017
    • Florida Elite-Civil Trial by Florida Trend Magazine (2013)
    • Florida Super Lawyers Rising Star (2010-2012)
    • Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Court Mediator
    • Litigation Management Institute, Graduate 2013 (CLMP)
    • University of North Alabama 2023 Alumni Award for Public Service
    • WTS International Executive Signature Leadership Program
    • Alabama Federation of Women's Clubs (AFWC), 1992-Present
    • American Bar Association
    • Central Florida Association for Women Lawyers - Awards Chair (2019-2020)
    • Florida Association for Women Lawyers
    • Florida Bar Association - Standing Committee on Mental Health & Wellness of Florida Lawyers, Senior Lawyers Committee (2017-2025), Animal Law Section
    • The George C. Young First Central Florida American Inns of Court - Master Level
    • GFWC du Midi Woman's Club, 1992-Present
    • GFWC Oviedo Woman's Club, 2025-Present
    • International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) - In-House and Law Firm Management Committee; Product Liability Committee; Transport Committee
    • National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms
    • Orange County Bar Association - In-House and General Counsel Committee, Professionalism Committee, Mentorship Program
    • Public Risk Management Association (PRIMA)
    • Transportation Lawyers Association (TLA) - Co-Chair of Diversity and Inclusion Subcommittee; Executive Committee
    • WTS International, Central Florida
    • Mock Trial, Trial Run, Tabletop Role Playing – Guilty or Not Guilty?, Bus Industry Safety Council (BISC) Annual Summer Meeting, Orlando, FL, July 22, 2024
    • "Current Employment Law Issues in Trucking & Transportation Litigation," AM Best Insurance Law Podcast, June 4, 2024
    • Rules of the Trucking Industry: Staying on Track!, Transportation Lawyers Association (TLA) Annual Conference - Virtual, June 24th, 2021

Thought Leadership

Events

Firm Highlights

Thought Leadership

Appellate Division Affirms Dismissal of Legal Malpractice Counterclaim Against Martin Law Firm

In Martin v. Loury, 2026 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 1617 (App. Div. July 15, 2026), Martin Law Firm represented Kirk Loury in an employment matter Mr. Loury filed against his former employer, Concord Equity Group Advisors LLC (“Concord”). The allegations included, among other things, that Loury was not fairly compensated for his employment with Concord. After a bench trial finding in Loury’s favor, the Appellate Division remanded this matter in February 2016 for a second trial. During the second trial, Concord CEO, Lee Argush, testified to lower compensation estimate than first trial. On remand, the second trial judge awarded Mr. Loury the same damages as the first judge, finding Mr. Argush not credible. After the findings during the second trial, Martin Law Firm filed an action against Mr. Loury to recover legal fees and costs of representing Mr. Loury in a second bench trial and Mr. Loury filed a counterclaim against Martin Law Firm for legal malpractice, alleging he should have received an even higher award in the second bench trial. In this allegation, Mr. Loury, through his expert, claimed that Martin Law Firm should have recalled Mr. Loury to the stand to rebut Mr. Argush’s testimony to allege an alternative theory of damages. Mr. Loury’s expert admitted that the second judge already rejected Mr. Argush's theory and accepted Loury's damages theory. The trial court barred Mr. Loury’s expert and dismissed Loury's counterclaim with prejudice before convening the collection trial, and the jury ruled in Martin Law Firm’s favor. Mr. Loury appealed the trial court's pretrial rulings barring his liability expert from testifying in support of his legal malpractice counterclaim, denying his motion for summary judgment on that counterclaim, and denying his motion to amend his counterclaim by adding attorney Joseph A. Martin as a codefendant. In affirming the trial court’s decision, the Appellate Division held that the trial court properly excluded Loury’s expert testimony in the counterclaim against Martin Law Firm because the expert could not explain how calling Loury as a rebuttal witness would have increased damages when the second judge already rejected Mr. Argush's testimony and accepted Loury's damages theory, making the expert’s causation opinion speculative. The Appellate Division also held that the trial court properly denied Mr. Loury's summary judgment motion on his malpractice counterclaim because reasonable minds could differ on whether Mr. Martin's alleged failures would have changed the second judge's damages award, given the judge already found Mr. Argush not credible, creating genuine factual disputes precluding summary judgment. Also, the Appellate Division held that the trial court properly denied Loury's May 2023 motion to add Joseph Martin individually because the statute of limitations expired in February 2022, six years after the 2016 appellate remand when Mr. Loury incurred new legal costs, and relation back did not apply because Mr. Loury knew Mr. Martin's identity throughout and strategically chose to sue only Martin Law Firm in his 2019 counterclaim.