California license and practice

Brian Doster Chase is admitted to practice law in California and is a member of the State Bar of California in good standing (State Bar of California #164109). Verify the current individual Bar record at apps.calbar.ca.gov/attorney/Licensee/Detail/164109 before hiring an attorney.

Brian Chase is the managing partner and senior trial lawyer at Bisnar Chase Personal Injury Attorneys, LLP in Newport Beach, where he heads the firm’s litigation department. The firm is a nine-attorney, AV-rated national law firm founded in 1978 in Newport Beach, with a practice focus on automotive defect cases, catastrophic personal injury, mass torts (pharmaceutical and medical devices), employment, and consumer class actions. He is nationally known for auto-defect and California personal-injury work. His stated motivation, quoted on the bio page: “I specifically went to law school to become a personal injury trial attorney. It is what I love, what I do, and what I am.” He is in-house certified to teach the MCLE course “How to Identify Auto Defect Cases” (1.5-hour credit) and lectures nationwide on litigation topics. His specializations, per the firm, are auto-defect and vehicle design litigation, catastrophic injury cases, wrongful death, consumer class actions, complex liability and product-failure cases, and trial strategy and jury advocacy. He was lead attorney on four precedent-setting appellate opinions: Martinez-Mazon v. Ford Motor Company (forum non conveniens), Romine v. Johnson Controls (consumer expectation test), Schreiber v. Estate of Kiser (California Supreme Court, expert witness designations), and Hernandez v. State of California (governmental design immunity). The firm’s published case results include a $117.5 million consumer class action, a $38.65 million motorcycle accident, a $24.7 million auto defect seatback failure verdict for a client paralyzed in a seat-back case, and a $23.091 million auto defect seatback failure and motor vehicle accident case; the firm states it has recovered “hundreds of millions of dollars” and, in a November 2026 press release, “more than $1 billion for clients” across the firm’s history — the firm’s own claims. He is the author of Still Unsafe at Any Speed (auto industry and defective vehicles) and its 2019 follow-up The Second Collision, and co-author of The Next Big Thing. His recognition includes Litigator of the Year, Top 1% (National Association of Distinguished Counsel); Litigator of the Year (AIOTL); Top Plaintiff Lawyer (Daily Journal); Lawyer of the Year; Million Dollar Advocate; American Academy of Attorneys $500M Club; Best Law Firm; LA Times “Top Executive in Orange County” (August 2025); 2023 Orange County Bar Association Tort and Trial Section Chair; former president of Consumer Attorneys of California; past president of Orange County Trial Lawyers Association; 2014 OCTLA Trial Lawyer of the Year in Products Liability; listed among the top 100 trial lawyers by the American Trial Lawyers Association since 2007; 2025 Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America; Southern California Super Lawyer since 2006; Top 50 Orange County Super Lawyer for the past 20 years; Best Lawyers in America 2014–2026 (Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs and Product Liability Litigation – Plaintiffs); and 2026 Haute Lawyer (Haute Living). His memberships include ABOTA, the Brain Society of California (board member), the Trial Lawyer Institute and the Diversity Law Institute.

Matters this legal field covers

Personal injury legal work may cover auto-defect and vehicle design litigation, catastrophic injury, wrongful death, consumer class actions, and complex liability and product-failure cases.

Questions to ask

Ask which type of personal injury matter the lawyer handles, the relevant California county, potential filing deadlines, and the scope of legal fees. Confirm whether the firm can handle your location, matter type and timing.

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This independently compiled information does not imply attorney participation, referral, approval, current case availability or authenticated individual client reviews.