The Attorneys Who Will Handle Your Case

Before you make the call, you deserve to know who picks up. Our attorneys bring more than 150 years of combined legal experience to workers' compensation, personal injury, labor and employment, Social Security disability, and estate planning claims. No anonymous team pages. No case managers posing as counsel. These are the people who will handle your case.

Kristen Emerson

Associate Attorney | Workers' Compensation | Social Security Disability | Estate Planning | Personal Injury  | Law Degree

Kristen Emerson practiced in the medical field before she practiced law. That sequence is unusual — and it is the foundation of what makes her approach to workers' compensation and disability cases different from any other attorney at this firm or most firms in Florida.

The difference shows up most clearly in IME disputes. Independent medical examinations are one of the most contested battlegrounds in Florida workers' compensation — the carrier selects the physician, pays the physician, and receives a report that almost always supports reducing or denying benefits. Most attorneys challenge that report legally. Kristen challenges it clinically. She reviews IME reports the way a clinician would — evaluating the methodology, the conclusions, and whether the findings are consistent with the nature and mechanism of the injury. She identifies where the IME physician's opinion departs from established medical standards, where it conflicts with the objective diagnostic record, and where treating physician documentation can be strengthened to address those gaps directly.

The IME doctor has a client. So does Kristen — and she comes to that dispute with both a law degree and a clinical background the IME physician didn't account for.

She has been with Barbas Nunez Sanders Butler & Hovsepian for more than 18 years. Her practice spans workers' compensation, Social Security disability, personal injury and estate planning — a combination that reflects the full arc of what many injured and disabled clients need. Workers' compensation benefits are not permanent. For clients with serious injuries or long-term disabilities, the question of what comes after a workers' comp claim is often as important as the claim itself.

Kristen handles Social Security disability claims and appeals for clients whose conditions prevent substantial gainful activity — building the medical record that SSDI evaluators need to see, preparing clients for ALJ hearings, and coordinating SSDI strategy with any ongoing workers' comp claim to manage the statutory offset between the two programs. She also handles estate planning for clients who want to protect their families during a period of medical and financial uncertainty — wills, powers of attorney, healthcare directives, and revocable living trusts prepared by an attorney who understands the full picture of what her clients are navigating.

Background & Credentials

Kristen earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Colorado in 2001 and a Doctor of Jurisprudence, cum laude, from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 2007. She was admitted to the Florida Bar in 2008 and has been with Barbas Nunez Sanders Butler & Hovsepian for more than 18 years.

• Admitted: Florida Bar, 2008
• Education: University of Colorado, B.A. 2001 | University of Florida Levin College of Law, J.D. cum laude, 2007
  
  

Recognition & Professional Memberships

• Florida Bar — active member, admitted 2008
• American Bar Association — active member
• Hillsborough County Bar Association — active member
• Hillsborough Association for Women Lawyers — active member
• Tampa Gator Club — active member