Michael O. Stephenson

Attorney Stephenson's legal skills have personally been praised in open court by both State and Federal judges, by opposing lawyers, and of course, his clients and their families. He is himself a skilled cyclist and is an expert at proving liability and damages in cases where a cyclist has been injured. He has recovered and/or saved over $10,000,000 in verdicts and settlements for his clients. In his spare time, he volunteers as a legal counsel for the Bay Area Bicycle Network and the Bicycle Coalition.

An expert trial lawyer, he also volunteers his time as a Trial Practice Coach, instructing law students in trial-lawyer techniques at the UC Berkeley School of Law, one of the Top 10 law schools in the United States.

All of the major insurance companies know that in 2007, the American Trial Lawyer's Association (ATLA) awarded Mr. Stephenson "Most Outstanding Trial Lawyer" at its annual trial competition. This simple fact pressures the insurance companies to "settle at all costs" to avoid having to fight head-on in a courtroom. The insurance companies know that if the case proceeds to trial, the insurance company will lose and be forced to pay all the additional court and attorney fees on top of the amounts paid to the injured cyclist.

Also in 2007, Mr. Stephenson was honored to receive an invitation to join Davis Wright Tremaine (DWT), one of the top 100 law firms in the United States at it office located in Portland, Oregon. During his time at DWT, he worked on many high-profile lawsuits involving some of the largest companies in the United States, but left DWT in January, 2010 to return to the San Francisco Bay Area to work exclusively on behalf of cyclists.

Mr. Stephenson's legal writings have been featured in the Portland Business Journal, the State Bar Litigation Journal, the State Bar Professional Liability Newsletter, Davis Wright Tremaine client advisories, and other publications.

Before joining DWT, Mr. Stephenson was a trial lawyer defending misdemeanor cases with the Public Defenders of Lane County. He then took a position with the Federal Courts conducting legal research and writing opinions and briefs for the Honorable Ann Aiken, the Chief Federal Judge of the United States District Court for the Oregon District.

Mr. Stephenson graduated from law school at the top of his class and with Honors and was a Managing Editor of the prestigious Law Review. Mr. Stephenson was also awarded the law school’s "Pro Bono Award" in recognition of his substantial volunteer legal work in defending low-income clients in hearings and jury trials in state court. Mr. Stephenson earned his Bachelor's degree in three years at Brown University, Rhode Island.