John W. Nielsen

Damian Dolin is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Personal Injury Litigation - Plaintiffs. Damian, who practices law in San Diego, California, has been recognized since 2025. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Damian is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

David Sanford is the Chairman and co-founder of Sanford Heisler Sharp LLP. He has recovered more than one billion dollars for individual clients and the United States government since 2004. David represents C-suite executives and non-managerial hourly employees throughout the US. He has served as lead counsel in more than 50 class actions and numerous qui tam cases around the country and represented more than 100 general counsel and attorneys (in-house and outside counsel) in contract dispute...

In his three decades of legal practice, Sean Coughlin has focused his practice on complex business and real estate litigation, representing commercial real estate lenders and bankruptcy litigation matters. Coughlin approaches each matter with the goal of achieving the best possible business result. Coughlin has successfully litigated, arbitrated and tried hundreds of complex disputes in state court, federal court and bankruptcy court. He is admitted to all California Courts, several U.S. Dist...

Frederick Schenk, managing partner of the Schenk Law Firm, achieved the largest verdict ever in San Diego against an asbestos manufacturer – Owens Corning Fiberglass – obtaining a $2.4 million verdict in punitive damages as well as economic losses.In addition, he is a specialist in auto collision litigation and co-author of the LexisNexis California Automobile Litigation Handbook. Over the years, Schenk has received numerous awards and honors for his work – including recogni...

Amy L. Lessa is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Employment Law - Management and Litigation - Labor and Employment. Amy L., who practices law in San Diego, California, has been recognized since 2023. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Amy L. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Nancy L. Stagg is a partner with Foley & Lardner LLP and vice chair of the Litigation Department for the San Diego office. Her practice emphasizes the defense of consumer class actions, unfair competition and false advertising litigation, as well as a wide variety of business and intellectual property litigation, including trade secret litigation. Ms. Stagg also has a background in product liability litigation. She has represented numerous publicly-held and private companies in nationwide...

Josh Franklin is a business trial lawyer who has tried nearly fifty jury trials in his career. His practice focuses on insurance coverage/bad faith litigation and business litigation. In the area of insurance coverage, Josh regularly represents policyholders in matters arising out of an array of insurance policies, including directors and officers liability (D&O), errors and omissions (E&O), employment practices liability (EPL), commercial general liability (CGL), and cyber. Josh has ...

A National Practice Devoted To Complex Federal Criminal Defense, Federal and State Habeas Litigation And Other Federal Matters. Ezekiel E. Cortez is a Board Certified Criminal Law Specialist, California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization after passing the federal specialist examination. As a devoted career criminal defense attorney, Mr. Cortez has unwaveringly devoted his practice to the defense of federal criminal cases and other federal matters since 1984. Since 1988 Mr. Cortez has als...

Aaron M. Olsen is a partner at Haeggquist & Eck, LLP, and a trial lawyer standing up for employees who have experienced retaliation, discrimination, sexual harassment, and sexual assault. Aaron has resolved hundreds of individual labor and employment law cases on behalf of employees. He has recovered millions of dollars in damages. Notably, Aaron was on the trial team in a unique associational disability discrimination matter against Kaiser Permanente that resulted in one of the top 50 la...

Mike Hird is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Corporate Law, Leveraged Buyouts and Private Equity Law, Securities / Capital Markets Law and Venture Capital Law. Mike, who practices law in San Diego, California, has been recognized since 2010. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Mike is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.