His career has included extensive experience on both sides of personal injury claims. Before establishing his own practice, he worked for an insurance company from 1993 until 2005 as an in-house insurance-defense attorney. That work gave him an inside view of how personal injury claims are investigated, evaluated, and defended.
The move to representing injured people was not something Robert planned. After opening his own practice, he focused first on estate planning because he wanted to step away from litigation. The recession of the late 2000s changed that, and personal injury work became a growing part of the practice. Today personal injury and estate planning are both part of his work.
In-house insurance defense
Robert began working for an insurance company in 1993, after graduating from Southwestern University School of Law and being admitted to the California Bar. He worked there as an in-house insurance-defense attorney. His job was to represent the company's insured clients when they faced personal injury claims.
For more than a decade, that meant seeing personal injury litigation from the other side of the table. He learned how claims were investigated, how liability and medical evidence were evaluated, how damages were assessed, and how insurance companies approached the risks and value of a claim.
Building an independent practice
After years inside the insurance-defense system, Robert wanted to build something of his own: his own clients, his own practice, and the freedom to make professional decisions without the obligations that come with working for an insurance company.
At about age 36, he asked himself a simple question. If he never tried to start his own practice, would he regret it? The answer was yes. In 2005 he left the insurance company and opened his own law practice. Looking back, the one thing he would change is starting sooner.
An unplanned return to personal injury
When Robert first went out on his own, he moved toward estate planning. After years of litigation, work centered on planning rather than conflict was appealing. Then the late-2000s recession reshaped the practice. Personal injury work grew, and Robert returned to an area of law he already knew well from the defense side. Eventually personal injury and estate planning became roughly equal parts of his practice.
Having seen claims from both directions, he has a practical sense of how insurance companies evaluate cases and what kinds of evidence can strengthen or weaken a claim.
A focus on explaining the law
One of the most important lessons Robert learned from his father has little to do with law. His father was a physician and was well liked by his patients. People often commented on how clearly he explained complicated medical concepts. He would sit across from a patient, sometimes drawing diagrams of human anatomy, and take the time to explain what was happening. The goal was not just to tell the patient what to do. It was to help the patient understand why.
That approach shaped Robert's philosophy of practicing law. Good legal advice starts with listening carefully, answering questions, and explaining things in plain language. Legal problems are complicated enough without unnecessary jargon or making people feel uncomfortable asking questions.
Still learning
More than three decades into his career, the learning has not stopped. Every client presents different circumstances, and every case raises different questions. Laws change, technology changes, and the way people interact with the legal system keeps evolving. The goal is not simply to know the law. It is to understand how the law applies to real people facing real decisions, and to make that process easier to understand.