Gideon Cooper & Essary has added three newly minted attorneys to its ranks.

Mark Hammervold, Andrew Farrell and Matt Cline all are recent Vanderbilt University Law School graduates and will focus heavily on medical malpractice defense litigation. Hammervold’s practice also includes peer review and credentialing matters for the firm’s hospital clients.

Cline (left in our photo) attended VU Law after earning a bachelor’s degree from East Tennessee State University in 2009. In law school, he received a Vanderbilt Scholastic Excellence Award and was elected to the Honor Council every year by his classmates.

Farrell (center) earned a bachelor’s from Columbia University in 2008. While in law school, he was an articles editor for the Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law and completed Vanderbilt’s Law and Business Program.

Hammervold earned his bachelor’s from Northwestern University in 2008. At VU Law, he was a back-to-back intramural mock trial champion and placed third nationally in the Phillip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition.

Gideon Cooper & Essary, which runs offices in downtown Nashville and Atlanta, now is home to 16 attorneys. Among its clients are hospital chains HCA, Community Health Systems and Ascension Health.