The Top 100 - California Law Business Ranks the State's Most Influential Attorneys for 2000

California Law Business
October 30, 2000
Tanya Vince Rothman

The phone calls started at midnight.

"Hello," my husband growled into the phone. "No, no. You want my wife." He handed me the phone and there it was on the other end of the line: The Campaign.

The American public should be thankful they have only two (or so) candidates vying for one office. We have 170,000 lawyers – and they all want on the list.

This year, the process to pick the state’s most powerful attorneys got ugly.

"You must have Nelson Street on the list. He’s the finest lawyer in the state, everyone depends on him," said the caller. "And he’s a great dad."

"Call me at the office in the morning," I replied before hanging up. There were flowers when I arrived and a masseuse – ready to cater to my every need as I sorted through the dozens of e-mails and voice messages telling me Nelson was a great lawyer, a great counselor, a great golfer, a great pet owner and, of course, a great dad.

"But," I asked his daughter (we’ll call her Karenna) when she finally got hold of me, "what do I do about the fact no one has ever heard of your dad?"

Hmm. That was just one of our predicaments as we sorted through more than 850 votes you cast in this year’s Top 100 survey of the most influential lawyers in California. Our 12 tireless staff members spend the last month calling lawyers up and down the state and across a broad cross-section of legal profession. We called big law firms, law schools, public interest organizations. We rang up African-American attorneys and gay Irish lawyers, feminist Republicans from San Diego and the budding and budded entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley. We asked them to name the most "influential" California attorneys – who’s hot, who’s not. No votes for oneself or one’s partners were allowed.

Being friendly sorts and realizing our own limitations, we also accepted names from attorneys who contacted us. And, therein, we encountered a phenomenon that surfaced last year but this year took on a life of its own – stuffing of the ballot boxes.

Which is why we’ve turned the Top 100 selection process into something of an electoral college. As before, the list is essentially based on pure tabulation of votes. Again though, as in the past two years, we have exercised our editonal discretion when we reached the lower vote totals. We looked at who made the nomination, recent accomplishments and other factors – including whether the nomination passed the straight-faced test. We discounted those votes obviously inspired by ballot-box stuffing.

In the end, we came up with the 2000 edition of the Top 100, our third. Debate it, argue about it, have fun with it. Let us know what you think.

And Karenna, you can stop calling. At least until next year.

THE TOP 100

Brian J. Panish

The renowned litigator has procured more than 60 verdicts and settlements above $1 million. He’s also won seven jury verdicts in excess of $10 million. "He tends to be modest and very generous in sharing credit for his victories…Not a lot of great lawyers do that."

Product Defects Bus Accidents Business Litigation Aviation Disasters Pharmaceutical Litigation Corporate Fraud Government Liability General Personal Injury Wrongful Death Automotive / Tire Defects ATV/ Rhino Rollovers More Practice Areas

Latest Firm News

Tilton v. Sempra - $15 million verdict for brain injury to minor resulting from a power company truck hitting a family vehicle.

Dominguez v. San Francisco - $21 million settlement while case was on appeal. Wrongful death of 4 year-old girl. Largest settlement ever paid by San Francisco.

Contreras v. State of California - $9 million settlment for amputation caused by a damaged freeway guardrail.

Don Gino Dominguez v. South Central Los Angeles Regional Care Center - $2 million verdict for wrongful death of a mentally and physically disabled 39 year-old man. Health care center left man unsupervised and he choked to death.

Doe v. Driver - $5.5 million settlement for death of pedestrian in an auto accident.

Doe v. Oil Refinery - $6.2 Million settlement for wrongful death and personal injury caused by the collapse of tank floating roof.

Avila v. Dresick Farms - $5.64 million dollar jury verdict for girl injured in truck v. van collision. Believed to be the largest verdict in the history of Imperial County, California.

Konrad, et al. v. Hewlett-Packard - Lawsuit filed against Hewlett-Packard for pretexting journalists and their families

Chief Warrant Officers v. Boeing, et al. - $13.55 million settlement for Army maintenance officers severely injured in the crash of Apache Longbow helicopter on a maintenance test flight during Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq.

Does v. Doe Auto Manufacturer: confidential multimillion dollar settlement on behalf of a family involved in on-road rollover of sport utility vehicle.

Does v. Van Manufacturer and Rental Company - Confidential multi-million dollar settlement on behalf of the survivors and family members of 14 church group members involved in a fifteen passenger van rollover.

Hill v. Titan Tire - Confidential multi-million dollar settlement for a 42 year old man who sustained brain injuries following a tire failure on his vehicle.

Dominguez v. San Francisco - $27.4 Million Verdict - Mother and 6 others witnessed a city truck driver run over her daughter on a sidewalk. City completely denied responsibility. Largest verdict ever against the City of San Francisco.

Sherman v. Courrege - $25.5 Million Verdict - Wrongful death of mother, father, and son hit by a drunk driver.

Sorenson v. Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway - $2.8 Million Verdict - Plaintiffs were parents of a 48 year-old man killed when a freight train crashed into a commuter train.

Doe v. Auto Manufacturer - Major Confidential Settlement Fuel fed fire caused by defectively designed 15 passenger van rollover. Many occupants killed or severely burned.

Flores v. Continental Tire - Major Confidential Settlement - Woman sustained paraplegia when the right rear tire on the family's Ford Windstar van experienced a tread belt separation, causing the vehicle to roll over.

Panish, Shea & Boyle on TV - The trial attorneys at Panish, Shea & Boyle have been on numerous televisions shows because of their involvement in many high profile cases.