The Medical Professional Liability Association named five defense attorneys as recipients of its 2026 MPL Industry Defender Award, recognizing their longtime contributions to defending healthcare providers and supporting medical professional liability insurers.

The association announced today that Raymond L. Blessey, Mariam T. Hopkins, Derek M. Stikeleather, Leigh Ann Smith and Bobbie S. Sprader will receive the annual award honoring defense attorneys for “exceptional and outstanding lifelong contributions” to the medical professional liability industry.

Blessey, a senior partner at Reback, McAndrews & Blessey LLP, has spent his legal career defending healthcare professionals throughout Southern California. According to the association, he has tried more than 85 cases involving medical malpractice, elder abuse and dependent adult abuse claims. Before becoming an attorney, Blessey worked for 18 years as a licensed physical therapist.

Hopkins, a senior partner with Anderson, Murphy & Hopkins LLP in Little Rock, Ark., has defended physicians, healthcare providers and healthcare facilities since entering private practice in 1991. The association said she has tried more than 50 cases during her career and helped build her firm’s medical malpractice and nursing home defense practice.

Stikeleather, a partner at Baltimore-based Goodell DeVries and chair of the firm’s Appellate and Critical Motions Practice Group, focuses on appellate advocacy and complex litigation. The association said he often serves as national appellate counsel in cases involving nuclear verdicts and is leading the appellate team that persuaded a Florida appeals court to vacate a $213 million judgment stemming from a $261 million verdict against a children’s hospital.

Smith, a partner at Batten, McLamb and Smith PLLC in Raleigh, N.C., represents both corporate defendants and healthcare providers. The association cited her experience handling cases involving perinatal injury and death and described her as a frequent educator within the healthcare risk management profession.

Sprader, a partner in the Columbus, Ohio, office of Dinsmore, has spent 30 years defending physicians and hospitals in medical malpractice, wrongful death and personal injury litigation. The association said she has represented major healthcare systems and professional liability insurers and has argued cases before appellate courts at the local, state and federal levels in Ohio.

“We are pleased to honor these outstanding defense attorneys who have served as important partners with medical professional liability organizations,” said MPL Association president and chief executive officer Eric R. Anderson in a statement. “Their successful representation of healthcare professionals and institutions embodies excellence in the claims defense field. On behalf of our members and those they insure, the MPL Association thanks these individuals for their years of dedicated work.”