List of PI Law Firms in California

Selecting the right personal injury attorney can determine whether your case results in life-changing compensation or disappointing settlement. California houses some of the nation's accomplished PI law firms—many securing billion-dollar recoveries and record-breaking verdicts for injured clients. The challenge isn't finding lawyers; it's identifying firms with the resources, track record, and specialization your specific case demands. Beyond attorney selection, successful PI cases depend on comprehensive medical documentation delivered quickly—which is why California firms increasingly partner with platforms like Codes Health to retrieve and organize medical records in 10-12 days rather than the 30-90 days typical of manual processes.

Key Takeaways

• California PI firms like Panish Shea Ravipudi have recovered over $10 billion for clients with verdicts including the $4.9 billion Anderson v. General Motors case
• Success rates matter: Some firms report 99% success rates (Bisnar Chase) and 98% success rates (Walkup) over recent periods
• Geographic specialization creates advantages—Northern California firms like Walkup dominate Bay Area courts, while Southern California powerhouses like Greene Broillet & Wheeler hold more million-dollar verdicts than any other CA firm
• Professional recognition from Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers, and Inner Circle of Advocates signals peer-validated excellence
• Pre-litigation efficiency increasingly separates winning firms from struggling practices—Codes Health delivers complete medical records for legal teams in 10–12 days on a flat fee basis, instead of relying on traditional 30–90 day manual workflows.
• Same-day competitors usually provide only partial records and require intensive client involvement, which often leads to frustration and churn when missing documents surface later in the case.
• Legal-specific AI vs. general AI – General-purpose AI tools (like ChatGPT) are not designed to safely or accurately interpret full medical records.
• Codes Health's domain-specific AI platform is built for PI and other legal use cases: it analyzes medical records with high precision, flags incomplete authorizations before submission, and helps firms build stronger, more defensible cases

Panish Shea Ravipudi LLP – Catastrophic injury & wrongful death

What makes Panish Shea Ravipudi LLP Stand Out

Panish Shea Ravipudi has obtained more verdicts over $10M than any law firm in California history. Founding partner Brian Panish earned recognition from fellow attorney John Morgan, who stated: "You don't bring a knife to a gunfight, you bring Brian Panish." The firm's Tier 1 ranking from Best Lawyers for Plaintiffs Personal Injury Litigation and designation of partners Panish and Ravipudi as Plaintiffs' Lawyer Trailblazers in 2020 demonstrate consistent peer recognition.

Founded

Established firm with decades of combined experience

Notable Verdicts

• $4.9 billion (Anderson v. General Motors)
• $160.5 million (brain injury from nightclub security assault)
• $135 million (Blair v. Moreno Valley USD child sexual abuse case)

Locations

• Los Angeles (main)
• Riverside
• San Bernardino
• Phoenix
• Las Vegas
• Orange County

Key Specializations

• Catastrophic injury
• Wrongful death
• Product defects
• Sexual abuse

Resources

Contingency fee basis, multilingual capabilities (English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean)

Greene Broillet & Wheeler LLP – High-stakes trial litigation

What makes Greene Broillet & Wheeler LLP Stand Out

Greene Broillet & Wheeler maintains 15 attorneys on Super Lawyers and Rising Stars lists—more than any other Southern California law firm. Two partners, Greene and Broillet, hold membership in the exclusive Inner Circle of Advocates (limited to top 100 plaintiff trial lawyers in America). The firm secured a $3.3 billion verdict from tobacco companies for the County of Los Angeles, demonstrating capabilities in massive institutional litigation.

Founded

Established El Segundo firm with decades of experience

Location

• El Segundo
• California (Southern California)

Notable Achievement

More million-dollar verdicts than any other California law firm.

Key Specializations

• Product liability, wrongful death
• catastrophic injury
• medical malpractice

Recognition

Best Lawyers rankings, Super Lawyers, Inner Circle of Advocates.

Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger – Northern California PI expertise

What makes Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger Stand Out

Walkup earned PI Firm in California ranking for five consecutive years from The Recorder's Best Of Awards. The firm reports more million-dollar verdicts than any Bay Area firm and maintains the most awarded Personal Injury designation in Northern California with more Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers listings than competing injury firms.

Founded

1959 (65+ years)

Location

San Francisco (main office)

Total Recovered

Over $1 billion

Success Rate

98% success rate

Notable Results

• $1.35 billion (PG&E Northern CA Wildfire Litigation)
• $52 million (Wrongful Death/Propane Explosion)
• $47.5 million (Truck Driver Negligence)
• $26.3 million verdict (Yamaha Rollover Case—2024)

Unique Resource

Full-time physician attorney providing medical expertise other firms lack

Recognition

U.S. News rankings, rated SF personal injury firm on Yelp

Bisnar Chase Personal Injury Attorneys – Auto defect & product liability

What makes Bisnar Chase Personal Injury Attorneys Stand Out

Bisnar Chase earned 2025 Best Firm designation in California from Best Lawyers, with managing partner Brian Chase receiving both 2025 Litigator and 2025 Best Lawyers honors. Chase's specialized auto defect expertise includes authoring two books on dangerous auto defects, providing technical knowledge few PI attorneys possess.

Founded

1978 (46+ years)

Locations

• Newport Beach (HQ)
• Orange County
• Los Angeles
• Riverside
• San Bernardino
• San Diego

Total Recovered

Over $1 billion

Success Rate

99%

Notable Verdicts

• $117.5M Consumer Class Action
• $38.65M Motorcycle Accident
• $30M Motorcycle Accident
• $24.7M Auto Defect

Recognition

Super Lawyers 2025, Top 100 Attorneys, Lawyer of the Year

The Dominguez Firm – Statewide bilingual representation

What makes The Dominguez Firm Stand Out

The Dominguez Firm operates multiple office locations throughout California—more geographic coverage than any firm on this list. Offices span Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Long Beach, Orange, Riverside, Oxnard, Bakersfield, San Diego, San Jose, and Sacramento, enabling in-person client service across the state. The firm's bilingual capabilities serve California's diverse population effectively. Over 120 legal staff work at this firm.

Founded

1987 (38+ years)

Total Recovered

Over $1 billion

Success Rate

96%

Recognition

Named to Best Law Firms

Specializations

Personal injury, product liability, workers' compensation, employment law, premises liability

Chang Klein LLP – Social justice high-profile cases

What makes Chang Klein LLP Stand Out

Chang Klein achieved Tier 1 ranking (highest possible) among 2025 "Best Law Firms" by U.S. News — Best Lawyers®. Deborah Chang received Best Lawyers "Lawyer of the Year" designation for Personal Injury Litigation in Los Angeles, plus the 2025 Civility Award from the ABOTA LA Chapter.

Affiliated With

Athea Trial Lawyers LLP (founded by Deborah Chang)

Total Recovered

Over $1 billion in verdicts and settlements

Notable Verdicts/Settlements

• $160.5M Verdict (TBI from security guard assault in casino)
• $59.5M Catastrophic Injury
• $30.5M Elder Abuse
• $36.4M Verdict (Trucking accident)
• $32M Settlement (Dangerous condition of public property)

Key Specializations

Catastrophic injuries, wrongful death, traumatic brain injuries, amputations, sexual assault/harassment

Aitken Aitken Cohn – Established Southern California trial firm

What makes Aitken Aitken Cohn Stand Out

Aitken Aitken Cohn earned Tier 1 Ranking and designation as one of the firms in California. The firm's national reputation for quality personal injury trial lawyers spans over five decades of practice.

Founded

1972 (52+ years)

Location

Southern California

Notable Verdicts

• $15M Truck accident
• $17.5M Catastrophic injury

Wilshire Law Firm – High-volume settlements & negotiations

What makes Wilshire Law Firm Stand Out

Wilshire Law Firm achieved remarkable 2024 performance, securing 59 top settlements in California per TopVerdict. The firm earned "Best Law Firms" recognition from U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers® for seven consecutive years (2020-2026). Their $28.7M settlement represented the largest in Fresno County history and #1 Pedestrian Accident Settlement for Single-Plaintiff Cases in the U.S. in 2019.

Team Size

Over 600 professionals

Locations

Multiple California locations

Notable Recent Verdicts

• $38.5M (Motor vehicle accident settlement)
• $35.2M (Bus accident verdict)
• $14M (Wrongful death)

Robinson Calcagnie, Inc. – Complex personal injury litigation

What makes Robinson Calcagnie, Inc. Stand Out

Mark P. Robinson Jr. earned placement among Top 100 Attorneys, while the firm achieved Tier 1 ranking for Personal Injury Litigation - Plaintiffs. The firm maintains strong peer recognition in Southern California.

Location

Newport Beach, California

Recognition

Multiple Best Lawyers awards

Dolan Law Firm PC – Bay Area personal injury & civil rights

What makes Dolan Law Firm PC Stand Out

Dolan Law Firm achieved back-to-back Best Personal Injury Attorney designations, earning BEST PI ATTORNEY in Bay Area from SFGATE's 2025 awards (second consecutive year for PI Attorney). The recognition came from over 156,000 votes cast in SFGATE 2025 awards.

Locations

• San Francisco (main)
• Oakland, Los Angeles
• Redondo Beach

Recognition

U.S. News rankings, Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, Martindale Hubbell.

Specializations

• Personal injury
• Civil rights
• Employment law

How to Find and Vet Personal Injury Attorneys in California

Selecting from California's thousands of licensed PI attorneys requires systematic evaluation beyond marketing claims and billboard presence.

Using the California State Bar Attorney Search

The California State Bar maintains the official attorney database showing:

• Current license status and bar number
• Admission date and law school
• Disciplinary actions and public records
• Practice areas (self-reported)
• Office address and contact information

Critical verification steps:

1. Confirm active license status (not suspended or inactive)
2. Review disciplinary history for ethics violations
3. Check admission date to verify experience claims
4. Verify listed practice areas match firm marketing

Questions to Ask During Initial Consultations

Experience assessment:

• How many cases similar to mine have you handled in the past 12 months?
• What percentage of your practice focuses on personal injury vs. other areas?
• Have you taken cases like mine to trial, or do you typically settle?
• What were the results of your three most recent similar cases?

Resource evaluation:

• Who will handle my case day-to-day (partner, associate, paralegal)?
• What experts do you use for medical review and testimony?
• How many active cases does your firm currently manage?
• Do you have the financial resources to advance case costs through trial?

Fee structure clarification:

• What percentage contingency fee do you charge?
• Does the percentage increase if the case goes to trial?
• What case costs am I responsible for regardless of outcome?
• Do you deduct costs before or after calculating your percentage?

Communication expectations:

• How often will I receive case updates?
• Who should I contact with questions between updates?
• How quickly do you typically respond to client calls/emails?
• Will I receive copies of all case documents?

Warning Signs of Problematic Representation

Red flags requiring immediate concern:

• Guarantees of specific settlement amounts or case outcomes
• Pressure to sign representation agreement during initial consultation
• Unwillingness to provide client references or case results
• Requests for upfront fees beyond reasonable case costs
• Vague answers about trial experience or case results
• No written fee agreement or unclear fee terms
• Poor online reviews mentioning communication issues or unethical behavior
• Reluctance to explain case strategy or answer questions

How Codes Health Transforms Pre-Litigation Workflows

Traditional medical record retrieval consuming 30-90 days creates critical path bottlenecks delaying settlement demands and trial preparation. Codes Health eliminates this bottleneck through:

AI-powered error prevention: Incomplete authorizations are the #1 cause of denied medical record requests—missing patient signatures, unclear expiration dates, or unchecked boxes for sensitive records will restart your 15-day HIPAA response clock. Codes Health's AI reviews every authorization before submission and automatically flags misspellings, missing dates of service, and signature issues that would otherwise trigger provider rejections. Legal teams fix these items upfront instead of losing weeks to avoidable denials.

Automated daily follow-ups: Rather than sporadic manual follow-ups when staff remembers, Codes Health maintains daily provider contact automatically, maintaining pressure without consuming staff time.

Missing Record Review: The system cross-references patient medical history to identify documentation gaps before trial, ensuring complete case evidence and preventing opposing counsel from exploiting missing records.

AI-driven insights extraction: The platform automatically identifies pre-existing conditions, missed appointments, and hidden case facts from medical records, allowing California injury lawyers to proactively address weaknesses and strengthen settlement positioning. General-purpose AI tools like ChatGPT are not tuned to reliably interpret clinical documentation at this level; Codes Health's domain-specific AI is built for medical-legal analysis and is combined with human review for high-precision insights that hold up in litigation.

Organized chronological delivery: Records arrive in chronological order across all providers, immediately ready for expert review or demand package preparation without hours of manual sorting.

Enterprise integrations and evolving workflows: For high-volume PI firms, Codes Health can build custom integrations with CRM platforms and other medical software so requests, statuses, and chronologies flow directly into existing systems. The company's MIT-educated engineering team continuously builds out additional workflows and products, ensuring the platform keeps evolving to meet the changing demands of modern legal practices.

10-12 day average turnaround: What traditionally consumed months reduces to days, accelerating case progression toward settlement or trial while reducing staff administrative burden by 85-90%.

For California PI firms managing 50+ active cases simultaneously, Codes Health's centralized platform enables submitting all requests through one interface, tracking all statuses in real time, and receiving organized, complete records without manually managing dozens of provider relationships. The time savings compound across caseloads, enabling higher case velocity without proportional staff growth—all on a predictable flat fee model that removes guesswork from retrieval costs.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I verify a California personal injury attorney's credentials?

Use the California State Bar Attorney Search to verify current license status, admission date, disciplinary history, and practice areas. Cross-reference with Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers, and Martindale-Hubbell ratings for peer recognition. Review California Superior Court records for recent trial results and settlement achievements. Check Google reviews and Avvo ratings for client satisfaction patterns, but verify review authenticity.

What percentage do most California PI lawyers charge?

California personal injury attorneys typically charge 33-40% contingency fees depending on case complexity and trial requirements. Standard structures include 33% for settlement before trial, 40% if trial required. Some firms negotiate lower percentages for high-value cases or clients with strong liability. Always request written fee agreements specifying percentage, cost deductions, and whether costs are deducted before or after percentage calculation.

What's the difference between large firms like Panish Shea Ravipudi vs. boutique practices like Chang Klein?

Large firms like Panish Shea Ravipudi (over $10 billion recovered) offer extensive resources including multiple office locations, large attorney teams, and capacity to handle numerous simultaneous cases. Boutique firms like Chang Klein provide more personalized attention with selective caseloads while still achieving major firm results (over $1 billion recovered). Neither approach is inherently superior—match firm size to case complexity and personal preference for attorney accessibility.

When should I hire a personal injury lawyer after a California accident?

Contact PI attorneys within 7-14 days of accident for several reasons: preserving evidence before witnesses forget or disappear, securing medical records while treatment is fresh, meeting insurance company deadlines, and avoiding inadvertent statements that damage claims. California's 2-year statute of limitations creates ultimate deadline, but earlier attorney involvement typically increases settlement values through proper case development.

How long does a personal injury case take in California?

California PI cases average 12–24 months from accident to settlement, though complex cases may extend 3–5 years. Timeline factors include: medical treatment completion (cases shouldn't settle until maximum medical improvement is reached), medical record retrieval (traditional methods require 30–90 days; same-day competitors often deliver only partial records and lean on clients to chase missing documents), settlement negotiations (30–90 days after the demand letter), and trial preparation if settlement fails (adds 12–18 months).

Platforms like Codes Health help shorten the critical records phase by delivering complete medical records for legal teams in 10–12 days on a flat fee basis. Its AI reviews authorizations to prevent denials and structures records into litigation-ready chronologies, which can accelerate overall case timelines by months while improving case quality.

How do I find specialized attorneys for specific injury types in California?

Use state bar specialty certifications, professional associations (California Medical Malpractice Attorneys, Consumer Attorneys of California), and peer recognition systems. For auto defects, seek firms like Bisnar Chase where attorneys have authored books on vehicle defects. For catastrophic injuries, target firms with physician attorneys like Walkup. For medical malpractice, prioritize firms with Inner Circle of Advocates members and health care liability experience. Review recent case results in your specific injury category rather than general personal injury track records.