Dolan Law Firm PC

Christopher B. Dolan keeps framed on his office wall a rejection letter from Georgetown University Law Center. It was the result of a transcript mix-up that led school officials to at first mistake him for someone else. He flew to Washington, badgered the director, gained admission and graduated magna cum laude with the Dean's Award and the Order of the Coif. The letter is a goad and a reminder, he said. "Sometimes no is the first step to yes."

Dolan founded The Dolan Law Firm PC in 1995 and won $2.495 million with his first case. He represented a man injured when his motorcycle crashed in western Marin County. The plaintiff sued CalTrans, alleging that untrimmed vegetation blocked his view of a road sign. The defense claimed iconoclastic Bolinas residents had removed the sign. Dolan called a member of the town's "border patrol" who denied it and let jurors know what he thought of the transportation agency. "What's orange and sleeps six," he said. "A CalTrans truck." Dolan claims the jibe was unprompted. "But that trial put me on the map, and I plowed every dollar into my new firm."

Dolan has a raconteur's way with a tale, plus a bit of a chip on his shoulder. "I was the youngest in a typical Irish household, with a rough childhood at the hands of my big brothers. I was voiceless, but I was smarter. I learned to think on my feet and turned my survival skills into a career." When his parents separated he sometimes slept in his father's law office, reading files and law books and attending trials. "He was a nice man with a modest small town practice, and he couldn't afford an apartment," Dolan said. "But he'd gone to Georgetown and I wanted to be like him."

Today, as founder and chief legal counsel, he oversees a staff of 15 lawyers, most of them women. "They were all the best candidates out there, and I have always promoted diversity," he said. "When one client objected to having a gay woman represent him, I said, 'Then you need a different law firm.'"

Dolan has won two of three trials over the last 12 months. In the case he lost at the trial level, he's appealing to a state appellate panel a ruling that the world's largest online marketplace cannot be held liable as a seller for a Chinese-made hoverboard with a defective battery that ignited and injured his client. Loomis v. Amazon.com LLC, B297995 (2 d DCA, filed Aug. 6, 2020).

In other cases, Jurors awarded more than $2 million to an unsympathetic client hit by a car while riding his bicycle. The man suffered brain damage that left him with a manifestly hostile attitude. Dolan said he decided to let "the raw truth" of the injury show. With the client on the stand Dolan said, "You told me even before you came over today that you--excuse my language, your honor--you fucking hate me and hate the fucking lawyers, correct?" "Correct," the man answered, according to a transcript. Vanderheyden v. Jayram, RG16841708 (Alameda Co. Super. Ct., filed Dec. 8, 2016).

"The jury didn't like him, but they understood," Dolan said.

Another difficult client had suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car crash, suffered a panic attack on the stand and began to cry uncontrollably, leading the judge to rule him unavailable. Dolan won a $4.459 million jury award despite having seated on the panel a deputy city attorney who answered a question about suing a government entity, "The king can do no wrong." Even so, Dolan felt the man would help the other jurors understand arcane principles of government tort law crucial to the case. The vote was 12-0. Castro v. City of Long Beach, BC604952 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Dec. 22, 2015).

Dolan called his decision to OK the deputy city attorney as a juror "a very risky and ballsy move." The lesson: "Trust your gut, and if you can't stomach the risk, then move over and let someone who can try the case."

-- John Roemer