Best Lawyers Near You in Santa Monica, California for Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Plaintiffs
Paul Kiesel received his Juris Doctorate from the Whittier College School of Law in Los Angeles in 1985. In 2005, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Law from Whittier Law School. His practice is devoted to representing consumers in personal injury, class action, environmental, and toxic tort litigation. Mr. Kiesel has repeatedly been selected as one of the top plaintiff attorneys in the State of California and the country. The Los Angeles Business Journal recognized Mr. Kiesel as one of ...
One of the country’s leading trial attorneys, Brian Panish has obtained some of the most significant jury verdicts in United States history on behalf of plaintiffs. His courtroom victories include a $4.9 billion verdict in the landmark products liability case Anderson v. General Motors, over 100 verdicts and settlements in excess of $10 million in personal injury and wrongful death cases and seven verdicts in excess of $50 million. Mr. Panish consistently serves in a leadership role in ...
Behram V. Parekh is an attorney at Wisner Baum in the firm’s Los Angeles office, where he focuses his practice on mass torts, products liability, and class action litigation. A seasoned attorney with over 30 years of experience litigating complex class action and mass tort cases, Behram has represented individuals and institutions in high-stakes litigation at the trial and appellate levels. He has earned appointments as lead or co-lead counsel in numerous cases involving consumer fraud,...
Lee Cirsch is a senior attorney at The Lanier Law Firm. He is an experienced trial lawyer who has handled a wide variety of personal injury, products liability, and business and commercial litigation matters for more than two decades. He primarily focuses on representing the firm’s clients in personal injury and product liability matters. Lee focuses on the needs of the firm’s clients and develops the best strategy to achieve those needs in the most creative, efficient, and econom...
Mr. Stang, a founding partner of the firm, has broad experience in bankruptcy reorganization. He has represented more than thirteen creditors' committees involving survivors of sexual abuse. Mr. Stang has lectured and written extensively on both bankruptcy and receivership issues. He is a graduate of UC Berkeley and received his J.D. from Hastings College of Law, where he was editor in chief of Hastings International and Comparative Law Review. He holds an AV Peer Preeminent Rating, Martindal...
Spencer Lucas is a partner and trial lawyer at Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP where he specializes in litigating complex catastrophic personal injury, products liability and wrongful death cases. He has extensive experience in cases involving traumatic brain injuries and spinal cord injuries and prides himself on helping injured people and their families. Mr. Lucas has successfully recovered over $600 million for his clients and has obtained numerous eight-figure verdicts and settlements in cas...
Peter L. Kaufman is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Plaintiffs, Personal Injury Litigation - Plaintiffs and Product Liability Litigation - Plaintiffs. Peter L., who practices law in Los Angeles, California, has been recognized since 2018. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Peter L. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Senior Lawyer Douglas Winter practices in all areas of civil litigation, including employment, personal injury, civil rights, business torts and disputes, consumer litigation, intellectual property and real estate. He has nearly 30 years of trial and appellate experience in both state and federal courts, and has successfully tried dozens of cases to verdict.In the last five years alone, Mr. Winter has obtained, along with Partner Matthew McNicholas, one eight-figure and multiple seven-figure ...
Rachel Lanier practices in the areas of toxic torts, pharmaceutical litigation, mass torts, and product liability. Prior to joining The Lanier Law Firm in 2016, Ms. Lanier was an associate at a mid-sized firm in Manhattan, where she focused on representing individuals suffering from asbestos-induced diseases, such as mesothelioma and lung cancer. Ms. Lanier earned her undergraduate degree from Pepperdine University in California, and her law degree from the St. John’s University School ...
Michael L. Baum is a senior partner of Wisner Baum (formerly Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman) based in Los Angeles. For 29 years, Michael was the managing partner of Baum Hedlund until he turned over the reins to R. Brent Wisner at the beginning of 2023. Under Michael’s stewardship, our firm grew from a small boutique law firm to one of the nation’s leading plaintiffs’ litigation firms that is now known for its cutting-edge, superior legal work. While running Baum Hedlund...
As one of the leading trial lawyers in California, Partner Matthew McNicholas represents victims in a range of areas, including catastrophic injury, wrongful death, employment law, maritime law, landlord-tenant habitability, product liability, sexual assault and other consumer-oriented matters, such as civil rights and aviation disasters. As Panel Counsel to the Los Angeles Police Protective League and the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City, Mr. McNicholas also has an emphasis in represe...
Erika Contreras is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Plaintiffs, Personal Injury Litigation - Plaintiffs and Product Liability Litigation - Plaintiffs. Erika, who practices law in Los Angeles, California, has been recognized since 2020. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Erika is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Bijan Esfandiari is a pharmaceutical product liability litigation attorney and senior partner at Wisner Baum in Los Angeles, where he focuses his practice on complex and multi-district litigation, including defective medical devices, pharmaceutical drug product liability, and consumer fraud. Since joining the firm in 2007, Bijan has worked as lead counsel on several cutting-edge pharmaceutical and medical device cases. His legal work has helped thousands of clients secure compensation for the...
With more than 25 years’ experience as a trial lawyer, Partner Patrick McNicholas exclusively represents victims in catastrophic injury, product liability, sexual assault and other consumer-oriented matters, such as civil rights and aviation disasters. Mr. McNicholas has tried and settled numerous noteworthy cases, including a $44 million settlement for air crash victims, a $10.8 million jury verdict awarded to a minor molested by a school teacher, a $10 million jury verdict to a constr...
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.