Best Lawyers in California, United States for Medical Malpractice Law - Defendants
With nearly 200,000 licensed attorneys across a state known for its massive industries, progressive laws and regional differences, finding the right legal help in California can feel overwhelming. Whether you’re facing a business dispute in Silicon Valley or a custody battle in San Diego, it’s critical to find a lawyer in California who not only understands the law but understands how it works where you live.
That’s where Best Lawyers comes in. Our platform is more than just a directory. Every lawyer listed has been thoroughly vetted through a rigorous peer-review process, so you can search with confidence no matter what practice area you need.
Using the Best Lawyers Directory in California
The Best Lawyers directory makes it easy to find top-rated legal talent across California’s many regions and industries. You can search by:
- Practice area (e.g., environmental law, immigration, tech and IP, family law)
- Location (city or county)
- Lawyer name (if you’re researching someone specifically)
Each listed attorney has been recognized in the most recent edition of The Best Lawyers in America®, a distinction earned through extensive peer feedback and professional evaluation. That means every name you see has already earned the respect of their colleagues—and likely their adversaries, too.
If you need to find a lawyer in California without wasting time on unverified referrals or endless Google results, start here. Our listings provide clear, up-to-date profiles that help you narrow down your options quickly.
California-Specific Legal Needs and Practice Areas
California law can be tricky. You need someone who knows the ropes. The state is a national leader in tech innovation, environmental regulation and entertainment law—and its legal landscape reflects that. Attorneys here must stay up to date not only with federal law but with fast-evolving state statutes, administrative rulings and court precedents.
Some of the most common practice areas where Californians seek legal help include:
- Real estate law, especially in high-cost markets like Los Angeles, San Francisco and Orange County
- Family law, including divorce, child custody and support disputes, all governed by California’s unique family code
- Tech and IP law, a major concern for startups and established firms alike in the Bay Area and beyond
- Entertainment and media law, vital for clients in Los Angeles and surrounding creative hubs
- Environmental and land use law, which is especially important in light of California’s extensive regulations on development, conservation and climate compliance
California also has strict state bar licensing rules, making it essential to choose an attorney who is not just experienced in the area of law you need, but also well-versed in local procedures and precedent. That’s why using a trusted directory like Best Lawyers—where every listing has local context and professional vetting—can make the difference.
How to Find a Good Lawyer in California
Finding a good lawyer in California feels daunting. With so many billboards and online ads, don’t feel bad if you don’t know where to turn. The best results come from approaching your search with intention. Here are key things to consider:
- Know your legal issue. Attorneys often specialize. Make sure you’re looking within the right practice area.
- Check credentials. Always confirm that a lawyer is licensed and in good standing with the State Bar of California.
- Evaluate experience. Ask about similar cases the attorney has handled, especially in your city or county.
- Ask the right questions. When interviewing lawyers, consider asking:
- What is your experience with this specific type of case?
- How do you communicate with clients during the process?
- What outcomes have you achieved in similar matters?
- Read peer and client feedback. While reviews can be helpful, peer recognition carries additional weight. Lawyers know the strengths—and weaknesses—of their colleagues better than anyone else.
Choosing the right legal partner isn’t just about skill. It’s about trust, communication and shared expectations. That’s why using a curated directory that highlights attorneys recommended by their peers can help you filter out guesswork.
Why Peer Recognition Matters in Your Search
The Best Lawyers selection process is rooted in peer recognition—a factor that sets us apart from other platforms. Here’s how it works:
- Nominations come from fellow lawyers, clients and others familiar with a nominee’s work.
- Peer review follows, in which top attorneys confidentially assess the legal skill and professionalism of their peers.
- Analysis and vetting ensure lawyers meet strict ethical and professional standards before being listed.
This isn’t pay-to-play. Lawyers cannot buy their way into the directory and inclusion is never guaranteed. That’s why so many legal professionals and clients trust Best Lawyers as a reliable source of information.
In a field where reputation is everything, recognition from fellow attorneys carries exceptional value. It tells you a lawyer is respected not just by clients, but by those who face them in court or collaborate with them on deals.
Start Your Search with Confidence
Whether you’re seeking representation for a business dispute, criminal matter, estate plan or high-asset divorce, California’s legal market offers no shortage of options. But knowing how to find a lawyer in California—one who brings both credibility and local expertise—is the key to moving forward with clarity.
At Best Lawyers, we make it easier to connect with attorneys who have already earned the respect of their peers. You can explore by practice area, browse by city or search for a specific lawyer using our intuitive filters. No matter where you are in the Golden State, trusted legal help is just a click away.
Find a lawyer in California today and move forward with confidence—backed by a directory built on excellence and trust.
Practice Area Overview
In simple terms, the standard of care is the legal duty that a health care provider (physician, nurse, medical technician, hospital, clinic, etc.) owes to the patient. That duty or obligation arises from the professional relationship established with the patient. It is axiomatic that without such a relationship the obligation to treat or provide care could not exist. The professional relationship, however, does not always require direct communication between the health care provider and patient may be established indirectly. For example, in addition to a physician who accepts a patient directly, lab technicians, pathologists, and radiologists may not encounter a patient personally but have the legal duty to comply with applicable standards of care.
Most states have enacted legislation which controls this area of specialized litigation and the legal duty of health care providers is largely defined by statute. It is now universally accepted that the duty and, thus, the standard of care, requires a health care provider to exercise the degree of reasonable care, skill, and diligence as would ordinarily be exercised by a similarly situated health care provider for a similar patient under the same or similar circumstances. The primary emphasis in this definition is necessarily placed on the requirement of "reasonable" care.
Frequently the defense of these cases will focus on the fact that the law does not require a physician or health care provider to be infallible in the exercise of his/her clinical judgments for a patient. Indeed, the law does not require perfection on the part of anyone. Important emphasis is also given to the recognition by medical science that there are often unexpected, unfortunate, and even tragic outcomes that will occur, despite reasonable care. So long as the care is found to be reasonable, there is no malpractice.
In a medical malpractice case, the burden is on the plaintiff to prove the following elements in order to be entitled to a verdict:
- A duty owed by the health care provider.
- A breach of that duty, i.e., a failure by the health care provider to meet the standard of care.
- Injury or death caused by the breach of duty by the health care provider.
While the law generally imposes no burden of proof on the defendant, the defense, where appropriate, will seek to discredit the plaintiff's theory of liability by a showing of the reasonableness of the care provided & contradictions to evidence offered by the plaintiff. This is done through testimony from the defendant with emphasis on her/his training, education and experience and the basis for the clinical judgment at issue. Additionally, pertinent medical literature may be presented along with qualified expert testimony to further demonstrate the appropriateness of the care provided and, in many cases, to show that the outcome was not produced by negligence, but may be the result of an inherent risk associated with the condition of the patient or the treatment, despite good and proper care.
The law also recognizes that, within the standard of care, there are often alternative methods of treatment which may be employed for a given medical condition and that a physician, for example, must be free to choose and follow the method he deems best for his patient, even though some other physician may later argue in favor of another method. As long as the method selected to diagnose or treat was reasonable within the standard of care and implemented with due care, there would be no liability (even if the diagnosis is later shown to be incorrect or the treatment resulted in an injurious complication).
In selecting counsel for the defense of medical malpractice claims, the health care provider and his/her representative will want to ask a number of important questions such as:
- What is the experience of the attorney/law firm in defending these highly specialized cases?
- What is the rate of successful defense for the attorney/law firm?
- What resources does the firm possess for investigation, medical/legal research, qualified support staff, development of demonstrative evidence, etc.?
- What is the expected time frame to conclusion of the litigation in the jurisdiction/venue?
- What involvement will the defendant have in assistance and preparation of her/his defense?
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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.