Richard H. Schoenberger

Richard H. Schoenberger is one of Northern California's top trial lawyers. He has been named one of The Best Lawyers In America for each of the past six years, a Super Lawyer every year since 2004 (including being named as one of the Top 100 for Northern California in 2010 and 2011) and has twice been nominated by the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association as its Trial Lawyer of the Year.

He is an invited member of the most prestigious trial lawyer organizations in the country: the American College of Trial Lawyers, a fellowship extended only to a select group of experienced trial lawyers who have mastered the art of advocacy and whose professional careers have been marked by the highest standards; the International Society of Barristers, an honor society of trial lawyers chosen by their peers on the basis of excellence and integrity in advocacy; and, the American Board of Trial Advocates, where he serves as an officer and chaired the San Francisco Chapter's 2009 Masters In Trial program. He is "AV" peer review rated by Martindale-Hubbell.

Among his many trial successes, Rich recently spent four weeks in trial in San Mateo County Superior Court where he and his law partner Doug Saeltzer obtained a $12.2 million jury verdict against the State of California on behalf of a severely brain damaged 17 year old high school senior. This marked his eighth million or multi-million dollar jury verdict, and his second in excess of $10 million. In the past seven years alone, Rich has achieved trial or pre-trial results of greater than $1 million in more than 40 different cases.

After graduating from Santa Clara University in 1982, Rich attended the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. He began practice in 1985 as a Deputy District Attorney in the Alameda County District Attorney's Office, where he prosecuted serious felonies. He joined the Walkup office in August of 1987 and became a partner in 1995. With Walkup, he has tried dozens of cases in more than ten counties throughout the state of California.

Rich has taught trial advocacy on a national and international level since the early 1990's. In California, he teaches Advanced Trial Practice as an adjunct professor at UC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall). He has also served as a faculty member for the Judicial Council of California's Judicial Studies Program. As a highly rated member of the faculty for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy, Rich has been invited to teach advocacy at NITA's rigorous National, Midwestern, Northwestern, Western and Pacific Regional programs; as well as for private firms throughout the country. Rich has also served frequently as a team leader at Emory Law School's renowned Kessler-Eidson Trial Techniques Program in Atlanta, Georgia.

In June of 2004, The American Bar Association, in concert with the Department of Justice's Central European Eurasian Law Initiative, invited Rich to the Republic of Georgia where he taught advocacy to 24 selected attorneys whose government had only recently allowed the right to a jury trial. In 2005, he was invited to lead a similar program in Sarajevo.

Rich is experienced in a wide variety of case types including traumatic brain injury, paralysis, workplace accidents, vehicular and bicycle negligence, medical malpractice, product liability, government liability, aviation disasters and wrongful death claims.

In an article printed in the Los Angeles Daily Journal, an opponent was quoted as follows: "Schoenberger is everything that a good plaintiff's lawyer should be: ethical, professional and smart, and he works hard."

For years, Rich served as CYO Athletic Director at St. Patrick's in Larkspur and as Minor League Rep for the Twin Cities' Little League Board of Directors. Rich also used to be found on some field or court, having coached more than 30 of his three kids' teams over the last decade. Now he just watches silently from the stands in full recognition that each of his kids is finally being coached by someone who knows what he or she is talking about.

Exemplar Verdicts and Settlements

Goodloe v. Bell Sports, Inc. Jury verdict - defective consumer product - $17,000,000

Liou v. State of California Jury verdict- dangerous condition of public property - $12,200,000

Perry v. Budget Jury verdict - automobile accident - $8,765,000

Quackenbush v. CSAA Jury verdict - general negligence - $2,500,000

Lown v. Mildenberger Jury verdict - premises liability - $1,072,000

Chu v. Bay Area Community Services Jury verdict - psychiatric malpractice/premises liability - $1,000,000

O'Cain v. Basu Jury verdict - medical malpractice - $1,000,000

Bertram v. City and County of San Francisco Jury verdict - public transit liability - $567,000

Loh v. County of Alameda Settlement - bicycle accident - $9,500,000

Wrongful Death Heirs v. Car Company Settlement - negligent operation of a vehicle - $6,500,000

Window Contractor v. Scoffolding Company Settlement - dangerous workplace - $6,000,000

Minor v. Valley Unified School District Settlement - negligent school supervision - $4,500,000

Machinist v. Industrial Machine Design Settlement - product liability - $4,000,000

Thornburgh v. City of Auburn Settlement - dangerous condition of public property - $3,000,000

Perez v. CCSF Settlement - public transit liability - $3,000,000

Richard H. Schoenberger

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