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Attorney Profile

    Terry M. Word

Terry Word was born in south Texas on December 30, 1943. Following graduation from high school, he attended the University of Texas at Austin and obtained his BA in economics and mathematics in 1966. He attended U.S. Naval Officer Training School in Newport, Rhode Island, graduating in 1967. He served as a deck officer in the United States Navy until his discharge in 1970 with the rank of Lieutenant. His services included three and a half years of sea duty and extensive duty in Vietnam in the United States Naval Amphibious Forces. He was awarded the Navy Achievement Medal. After leaving the Navy, he attended the University of Texas School of Law in Austin and graduated in 1973. Upon graduation, he moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and has been practicing law there continuously since that time. Mr. Word's first four years were spent largely in criminal law (two years as a state public defender), during which time he gained extensive trial experience. In November of 1977, he was hired by Richard E. Ransom as an associate and began practicing medical malpractice, product liability and personal injury law for plaintiffs. He remained an employee of Richard E. Ransom, P.A. until the formation of Terry M. Word, P.C., and continued to share office space with the Ransom Firm until Richard Ransom was elected to the New Mexico Supreme Court in 1986.

In 36 years of trial practice, Mr. Word has handled many medical malpractice, product liability and personal injury cases in state and federal courts throughout New Mexico as well as in other states. These cases include the landmark decision of Sears v. Nissan, 117 N.M. 422, 872 P.2d 840 (1994) in which the New Mexico Supreme Court recognized that plaintiffs are entitled to recover the value of life itself ("hedonic damages") in wrongful death cases. Mr. Word also tried the first medical malpractice case in New Mexico to exceed the (then) $500,000 damage limitations in medical malpractice actions. He has obtained numerous multi-million dollar awards for his clients.

Mr. Word has served on the Board of Directors of the New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association for 27 years and is a past president of that organization. He has served as a member of the New Mexico Supreme Court Rules of Civil Procedure, the State Bar and State Medical Society Liaison Committee, and the New Mexico State Legislature's Medical Malpractice Study Committee. He has also been a member of the American Association for Justice (formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America) for 27 years, and has served on the Board of Governors of AAJ. He is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates and previously was president of the New Mexico Chapter. In addition, he is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He has fulfilled extensive speaking engagements with both the New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association and the American Association for Justice and has taught both basic and advanced courses for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy. He is listed in the second and every subsequent addition of The Best Lawyers in America. He is also licensed to practice in Texas.

Mr. Word is married to Mary Ann Garcia-Word, a former prosecutor, and has five children and two grand-children. In addition, he is an active member of St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church where he has served as a vestry member and as the Senior Warden of his parish. Part of the motivation for Mr. Word's move to New Mexico after law school was the state's great natural beauty and the accessibility of numerous outdoor activities. He continues to enjoy climbing and hiking in the mountains of New Mexico, Colorado, California (the Sierras), South America and Africa. The pictures contained in this website are a few examples of the scenic beauty of the Albuquerque area.