Neither, really. Jim Wilkes is just a lawyer who has found a way to achieve great financial reward through use of the justice system. Wilkes — way is to sue nursing homes, which gives him an angelic cast in the eyes of plaintiffs and makes him rather a demon to defendants. Pictures of Wilkes are shown at nursing home conventions; Know your enemy.

Wilkes — firm, Wilkes & McHugh, has an unusually active and well-funded public relations arm. A journalist who expresses interest will find himself the recipient of baskets of information on Wilkes and McHugh's greatest cases, on continuing deficiencies of nursing homes, on the economics of the insurance industry, on the folly of “tort reform,” and on Jim Wilkes the man. (Tim McHugh, described by the Wall Street Journal as “more subdued,” manages the law firm. Wilkes is the front man and lead attorney.) It was a Wilkes and McHugh biography of the founder that said, “He has been called everything from an Avenging Angel to the Anti-Christ.” Quoting further:

“Mr. Wilkes, along with his partner and best friend, Tim McHugh, founded the law firm of Wilkes & McHugh in 1984. In the years since, they have had landmark verdicts in the area of nursing home abuse and are widely regarded as pioneers in the field…Mr. Wilkes is a regular fixture in the halls of government…He is regularly asked to testify on behalf of residents and against those who want to remove their legal protections…Mr. Wilkes believes our primary reliance on institutional care is a failed concept. He strongly advocates for a new system that gives families real options, like small adult-family homes, adult day care, adult respite care, custodial home help…

“Under Mr. Wilkes — stewardship, the firm has grown from a single office in Tampa to seven offices in six states…” The Little Rock office opened in September 1998. Since then, it has won several big verdicts. Wilkes himself has tried one or two, though his participation in Arkansas is uncommon. The office has a very good but not quite perfect record, losing a case in Russellville.

Wilkes and McHugh provides a sampling of pity quotes from the founder that have appeared in the news media: “There are no good nursing homes.” “If care is sucky, you don't get paid. It's a little concept called capitalism.” “If you take away residents and their families — access to the courts, the nursing home industry will have a green light to continue ignoring the neglect and abuse they commit and the deaths they cause.

Wilkes, 51, is a Tampa native. After three years in the Army, and failure to find success as lounge singer or stand-up comic, he earned a law degree at Stetson University College of Law in St. Petersburg. McHugh was a law school classmate. Wilkes and McHugh won its first big nursing home case in 1989. Wilkes is on his fourth marriage, and reportedly still talks of becoming a country-and-western singer in Nashville. He says he does not consider himself a great humanitarian. Many would agree.

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