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Chris and Frank Accident Attorneys

20250 Birch Street

Newport Beach, CA 92660

(714) 882-5800

www.chrisandfrank.com

Dramatic Physical Growth Reflects Dramatic Corporate Growth for Accident Attorney Firm Chris and Frank

"Our success has led to us building our new corporate headquarters in Newport Beach. This new building is a reflection of our success—from the ground up,” says Co-Founding Partner Frank Fasel of Chris and Frank. 

Fasel and his partner, Christopher Guldjian, started their accident attorney firm ten years ago. Their case value, record of success, and list of satisfied clients has grown, and the new building is a direct response to that success and that growth. The structure, due for completion in 2022, occupies nearly an acre of land and the firm will occupy the entire building.

“It’s a clean, modern law building. It’s state-of-the-art green building. It’s solar powered and uses recycled materials, eco-friendly materials. We feel we’re not only stewards of our clients’ interests, but also stewards of our community and our environment,” Fasel says.

Like their new building, the Firm is built on a solid foundation of successful cases. One client wrote the following:

I’m a business professional with an extremely busy schedule. Anything that disrupts my daily routine can impact my life tremendously, and so it did. Thank God I was able to connect with Guldjian Law. They helped me with the team approach and got me back to living my life as they dealt with my case. They were very professional and made sure my best interest was a priority. They shy away from the typical PI lawyer routine ( Let’s get a settlement no matter what it is and move on to the next case). They utilize every option available to make sure you get your fair trial or settlement.

An example of how committed the firm’s attorneys are to client service is revealed by a recent case in which a client needed a spinal fusion. When he went in for the procedure his blood sugar levels were determined to be too high to do the surgery. During the past year it has been very difficult scheduling these types of surgeries, given the Covid situation. The attorneys approached the doctor in charge of the case and got a new surgery date a few months later. 

“Our goal was to help our client get healthy enough to undergo this necessary procedure. The surgeon said that getting blood sugar levels down would be very difficult because it requires changing someone’s eating habits. We found and retained a nutritionist for our client to make sure and to monitor his diet to get his blood sugar levels down within the allotted two-month period. It worked,” Fasel says. The client’s rescheduled surgery was a success and defendant tendered the entire policy. 

Additionally, due to working with the nutritionist, the client permanently changed his diet and eating habits, started eating better, and is currently leading a healthier and happier life.

Vetting Medical Providers. Serving Specialized Needs.

Fasel says the firm hits a lot of home runs with seemingly small cases with low property damage. Most firms are simply looking for a big easy case and don’t pay attention the rest, but Chris and Frank values all cases. They have resolved in pre-litigation and through litigation numerous cases over the past several years in the high six and in the seven figures that many other firms would have likely passed up. Personalized care beyond the norm is one of the reasons.

“A lot of firms will just find out where the client lives and then provide a medical provider from that area without vetting that medical provider. Oftentimes our clients will not have health insurance, or they won’t know where to go or what to do or what type of treatment they really need when they’ve been in an accident. We don’t just fire them off to a medical provider who we don’t know. We vet every provider we recommend. Chris and I go to providers’ offices to make sure we feel comfortable sending our clients there. Other firms are constantly following our lead, but we were the first to provide such comprehensive service,” Fasel says.

The firm has a policy of making sure the medical and related facilities are clean and state-of-the-art and that the medical provider is the best in their field in that area before they send any of their clients. The process does not stop with just vetting the provider. Once a client starts treatment, they make sure that the medical provider has all the documents and records he needs to do the medical treatment that the client needs without wasting any time on the case. If there are any issues with scheduling or referring out to MRI, for example, they work with the medical provider to get that done as well.

A recent case indicates the depth of the firm’s conviction to vetting providers and then continuing to provide additional services as needed by the individual client. Their client was rear ended on the freeway as traffic came to a stop. She was in her late fifties, single and had to work extremely hard to make ends meet. The damage to her vehicle was minimal, mostly a scratch to the rear bumper. But she believed the impact felt much more severe and that she felt the impact aggravated an old neck injury for which she had received treatment. 

The resulting pain meant she was having trouble working and having even more challenges making ends meet. The woman had been turned down by two other law firms.

Chris and Frank went to work ordering her prior records and investigating the defendant. They arranged sessions with the best doctors, most of whom were located near her house. When she needed transportation to specialists farther from her home, they provided rides. She had to take several weeks off work, so they assisted in obtaining cash advances so that she could pay rent and her other bills while she was recovering. 

During negotiations, the first offers were decent, but the attorneys felt they were not enough. The in-house litigation team filed a lawsuit and went to work taking depositions, hiring experts, and conducting extensive discovery. The hard work paid off, as they were able to show that the low impact did in fact injure her back. The defendant settled for $950,000. 

“This was a case that other firms would not even take. Such cases are honestly a regular occurrence for us. It happens all the time for our deserving clients. We want to let the client recover from the accident without having to worry about the logistics and administrative side of the claim,” Fasel says.

Coping With Covid

As might be expected considering the firm’s experience with the medical fields, the Covid pandemic had a surprisingly small effect on the firm’s day-to-day operations. “It really didn’t affect the office at all,” Fasel says.

Initially, the staff worked from home during the peak, but they missed the positive office environment. They wanted badly to return. Safety protocols were put in place, which returned everyone back to the office as quickly as possible while making sure it was safe to do so. Everyone working at the firm is vaccinated. The team worked swiftly and carefully to create a safe, clean office environment where everyone feels safe. “We feel it’s completely safe for clients to come visit us in the office if they want to, and they do.” Fasel says.

The Best of Two Worlds—Referrals

Fasel says, “Often when an attorney refers a personal injury case to us, they often earn more money from referring the case than they would had they handled it themselves. It’s because we pay more in referral fees and resolve the cases for much more money.”

Referrals from attorneys and prior clients account for approximately 50 percent of the firm’s business. A primary reason is that the referring attorneys know their client or clients are in good hands. 

Chris and Frank pay generous referral fees. They are meticulous in keeping the referring attorney up to date with the progress of the case. They are fast and efficient litigators; the referring attorney knows from experience and track record examples that the case will not drag on and the client they are referring will be taken care of.

Teamwork. Aggressive Representation. Satisfied Clients.

Immediate, aggressive, and effective response to client needs is the number-one priority. When a client calls, he speaks immediately to a live representative that day. Dedicated case managers and attorneys are assigned to handle the case from start to finish. Fasel says, “Our firm is customer-service oriented. That’s our primary focus. We look to make sure the client’s questions are answered immediately, that their cases move along quickly. When they’re done with treatment, their demands are sent out immediately. If we need to file a lawsuit, we do those in-house as well. A lot of firms, if they have to file lawsuits, send the case to a different law firm to litigate whereas we handle all our cases in house.”

Clients agree with their personalized approach and attention to the smallest details. 

I am a small business owner, and I cannot tell you how impressed I was with attorney Christopher Guldjian. Mr. Guldjian comes to the table with a great deal of knowledge and integrity. He literally takes the time to break things down and explain things and gets to the heart of the matter and then puts an action plan together.

He and his staff were always courteous and treated me
with professionalism, which is rare for many attorneys. I have used him twice, once for a small issue and once with a larger one and both times he protected my business and personal assets.

I highly recommend Mr. Guldjian and his law group and as my business grows, I will rely more on his wise counsel.—Kevork 

The hiring policy is to find the best people, place them where they best serve the client and to pay them what they are worth. Chris and Frank maintain an open-door policy. It’s one big team.

The policies have served the firm well since Chris and Frank founded the firm ten years ago.

Christopher Guldjian trained clerking for the Los Angeles Superior Court in Long Beach and the Huntington Beach City Attorney’s office. His trial experience grew while working for major private firms and renowned plaintiff trial attorneys. He has successfully brought several cases to verdict and has aggressively advocated major plaintiff settlements emulating in the millions of dollars. Recently, he was featured on the front page of the Orange County Register after suing a mental health facility related to his client being raped by another patient.

Guldjian received his B.A. in Political Science and International Relations at California State University, Long Beach. He earned his J.D. from Whittier Law School. Guldjian has achieved top ratings by Super Lawyer, Nolo, Best Lawyers, and Avvo. He is a member of the Orange County Trial Lawyers Association (OCTLA), Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC), and Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (CAALA). 

Co-Founding Partner Frank Fasel has represented thousands of clients and has won millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements. He is dedicated to helping those in need and who have been injured in any kind of accident, from a simple rear-end auto accident to a complex multi-vehicle collision involving multiple parties. He has been nominated by his peers as a Super Lawyer and a top ten lawyer in California, two of the highest and most prestigious awards in the State. He is licensed to practice law in California and Washington.

Other important members of the firm include, Kaaveh Zargar—Pre litigation managing attorney.

Chad Irvin—managing litigation attorney/chief trial counsel; and Yan Li—CFO and HR manager and attorney

“We are always looking to grow, especially when we move into our new corporate headquarters, however we want to retain a small boutique firm feel for our clients. It will be balancing that to ensure as we take on more clients, they will receive the same personalized treatment and focus as we are known in the industry for now,” Fasel says.