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Fox Law, APC

201 Lomas Santa Fe Drive
Suite 420

Solana Beach, CA 92075

(858) 256-7616

www.foxlawapc.com

How a Compassionate, Client-Centered Firm Achieved Over $1 Billion in Verdicts and Settlements

"We focus on catastrophic injury cases and wildfire litigation. Clients come to us usually for three reasons: they lost a close family member, are suffering through a life altering injury, or have lost their home in a wildfire. We can’t effectively tell our clients’ story until we know them inside and out, so our attorneys invest tremendous time, one-on-one, to counsel clients on the process so we can fight for them in and out of court,” says Dave Fox, Founder Fox Law.

First profiled in San Diego Attorney Journals, Fox Law has become an elite plaintiffs’ personal injury and wildfire trial firm. The firm has achieved more than $1 billion in verdicts and settlements and resolved more than 250 cases for $1 million or more. In 2024 alone, Fox Law recovered more than $250 million for clients that suffered property damage and injuries in northern California wildfires and resolved a wrongful death case for $40 million. This doesn’t include dozens of other seven- and eight-figure results the firm obtained for its clients.

The firm’s practice focuses on wildfire litigation, aviation litigation, and other catastrophic personal injury cases. Fox was awarded the 2023 “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers, and the firm as whole has consistently been recognized by Best Lawyers as a “Tier 1” California plaintiffs’ firm. Before plaintiffs’ civil work, he was a federal prosecutor for the United States Department of Justice where he honed his trial practice.

“We’ve grown quite a bit since we first met with you in 2019. Now, we have more than 20 people under the Fox Law umbrella. The key to our ongoing success has been sticking to our underlying philosophy of client service beyond anything else. That means not ever turning into a ‘mill firm’ - taking so many clients that you lose a close connection with the people who are depending on you to handle difficult life and legal challenges,” Fox says. 

Fox Law Core Competency—Wildfire Litigation

Fox Law has developed an expansive practice dedicated to serving clients who have been impacted by wildfires, in California and across the nation. To do so, the firm is extremely careful in selecting clients and building a strong liability case against utility defendants. The team has handled challenging cases representing the owners of multi-million-dollar homes to people who have lost their small cabin home in rural California, and virtually everyone in between. One notable case involved a woman who lost her husband, her high school sweetheart, in 2020. He was trapped and killed in his house during a wildfire in northern California. 

Sadly, the couple had a child who was severely disabled. The father had been the breadwinner, and his wife was suddenly without income or financial support. “We hit the ground running and earned her a massive, multi-eight-figure settlement that will more than take care of her, her disabled child, and future generations for the rest of their lives.”

Much of Fox Law’s workload is dedicated to these types of cases. In wildfire cases, Fox Law recovers for its clients their underinsured or uninsured losses after a wildfire. These complicated cases require a firm with special expertise and the resources to work with a multitude of engineers and experts to successfully take on massive utility companies. In the past few years, Fox Law has successfully represented clients against Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, PacifiCorp in California, utilities in New Mexico, and has active cases in Maui and Colorado as well. 

Fox says, “People usually get paid out full policy limits on their homeowners insurance because they paid premiums for that. But what we focus on is the underinsured or uninsured amounts, and we have been really successful in that. Given our background over the last decade, courts have appointed us to leadership positions in nearly all the major California wildfire cases. We take a lot of pride in that kind of work.”

The firm is positioned to handle the volume and the intensity of legal battles that will inevitably arise from the most recent devastating California wildfires in Pasadena and Altadena. Fox Law lawyers already represented over 1000 people across Southern California, including in the 2017 Thomas/Ventura Fire in Ventura and Woolsey Fire in Malibu back in 2019, and many others. They are representing people now in these fires and will be focusing on the most serious cases, including home losses and serious injuries.

“The sheer size of this mirrors the 2017 North Bay/PG&E Fires we handled and so we are ready to take on the challenge,” Fox says.

How? Teamwork

“I was a teacher before becoming a lawyer. Many of our employees come from vastly different backgrounds. That’s a tremendous advantage because our lawyers work closely as a team with people from all walks of life at all economic levels,” Fox says.

Fox Law employs ten attorneys, many of them recruited from top international defense firms (Cooley LLP, Morrison & Foerster, Quinn Emanuel, etc.) and from the DOJ. As a result, our attorneys consistently earn extraordinary results for our clients,” says Fox.

In 2017, as Fox Law became busier, Fox’s wife and attorney Joanna Fox became his partner in the business, after spending nearly a decade building her own significant track record at Morrison Foerster—one of the top international firms in the country. Since joining Fox Law, she has facilitated hundreds of millions of dollars in wildfire-related settlements for the firm’s clients, has been selected as a Rising Star Super Lawyer, and named to America’s “Best Lawyers” each year since 2018. Because of her extraordinary work, in 2023 she was selected as a National Rising Star of the Plaintiffs’ Bar by the National Law Journal and Law.com.

“Truly, I decided to leave my existing, big firm job and join Dave in building Fox Law because I wanted to help people. I was tired of using my law degree for the benefit of big corporations and wanted to make a tangible difference in people’s lives. I can say—without any doubt—that I see that difference every day,” Joanna explained. 

She is serious about that mission— at the firm and through pro bono efforts. This year, after five years on the Board of Directors for Legal Aid Society of San Diego, she was elected as Chairperson. “Legal Aid is my second passion. We are so fortunate to be able to give access to justice for Fox Law’s clients, and Legal Aid does that for thousands of San Diegans every year. It is inspiring—personally and professionally.”

The rest of the team is driven by that same core value—people first. Jessica Teevan, who has been with Fox Law since 2020, worked for nearly a decade at the top defense firm Quinn Emanuel before joining Fox Law. There, she developed a significant amount of trial experience. Teevan now uses that experience to supervise and manage many of the firm’s largest wildfire clients and cases. Her focus is on truly complex civil litigation, utility-caused wildfire lawsuits, and other mass torts. Teevan is licensed to practice in California and Washington State, and she handles matters seamlessly nationwide. “Nothing is more rewarding in this profession than changing someone’s life for the better,” Teevan says.

Attorney Chris Hendricks focuses on the firm’s single incident catastrophic personal injury and trial matters. He has achieved unparalleled results in and out of the courtroom, and has built a reputation for being one of the best personal injury attorneys in San Diego. He is also a go-to resource for other attorneys in the area, selflessly sharing his experience and expertise.

In 2023, attorney Brett Norris joined the team. Norris served more than 14 years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, where he represented the federal government in a broad range of cases, including personal injury. Fox says, “Years ago, I tried a case against Brett when he was at the U.S. Attorney’s Office on the defense. We fought hard against each other but built and kept a great relationship based on trust, civility and mutual respect. We are excited he decided to join the firm.” 

Attorney Samantha Baldwin has nearly a decade of experience handling serious personal injury cases up and down California. She has been a key asset on the personal injury side and has also been instrumental in the wildfire practice.

Keeping It All Together

Fox believes one of the key elements of their success from then to now is the quality of his team and their teamwork. “I think because of the people that we’ve hired and the fact that we are very selective on cases, the clients who come to us are getting the same level of attention as they were when it was just me, and our results and reviews prove it.”

One of the prerequisites for working at Fox Law is to truly enjoy working with people. The firm works with people from all backgrounds, people who have next to nothing to the very well off. “On the fire side, whether a family loses a mansion or a small cinder block residence, a home is a home. The loss is major and a tragedy, so it’s important that all our folks working here are happy working with people from all walks of life,” Fox says.

Their personal injury clients typically are dealing with the loss of a loved one, someone who has lost a limb, who is paralyzed, or is suffering horribly. The ability to be good listeners in dealing with people facing the worst moments of their lives is essential, Fox says. “You can’t tell a client’s story unless you really know all its details and emotional ramifications. You can’t explain it to a jury, a judge or a mediator if you’re just going through the motions, checking things off in a more mechanical way—it’s just not going to work or resonate.”

He says that the key to the cohesion that has maintained such a strong team for so long is simple: treating everybody well, making sure that everyone’s invested in the firm, and that they have room to grow. Fox encourages his attorneys to think of themselves as a business within the business and to recruit people who have the same commitment to excellence and the entrepreneurial spirit that breeds success. 

“We share the same values and the same work ethic balanced by a desire to be autonomous, having our personal freedom, and leading a balanced life with home and family. Waking up each day knowing that you’re making a difference in someone’s life really binds everyone at the firm into a powerful and committed unit.”

Empathy and Community

The firm’s commitment to empathy extends to the community at large as well as to their clients. Each year they host a “Sunset Happy Hour For a Cause” held at the top of the Del Mar Plaza and also host a fundraiser and charity raffle for two deserving non-profit organizations. They have donated to and raised tens of thousands of dollars yearly to various community organizations such as the Boys & Girls Club, San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program, Rancho Coastal Humane Society, Casa Conelia, Free to Thrive, and others. In 2024 alone, they raised more than $35,000 for multiple causes.

Individual members of the firm are also committed to personal civic action. For example, Dave Fox has served on the Federal Magistrate Judicial Selection Committee as a Lawyer Representative to the Ninth Circuit, on the boards of the San Diego County bar Association, ABTL, has taught as an Adjunct Professor of Trial Practice at USD School of Law, and for the National Institute of Trial Advocates (“NITA”). 

Fox says, “With the help of our wonderful client base and referring attorneys, we look forward to growing and making an even bigger impact on our community this year.”