BARBARA LASKARIS-LORIGAN has held various risk and claims management positions in the construction and insurance industries and is currently the Vice President and Head of Claims for Golden State Claims Adjusters headquartered in Carlsbad, California.  Ms. Laskaris-Lorigan was previously an Assistant Vice President for the Construction Defect Specialty Unit at Arch Insurance; a Construction Claims Manager and Large Loss Specialist at Gallagher Bassett Services; the Regional Manager of Claims, Contracts and Credit for SelectBuild, a subsidiary of Building Materials Holding Corporation; Southwestern Regional Team Manager for construction defect claims for Zurich North America; and the Construction Liability Claim Manager for the former Arrowhead Claims organization. Ms. Laskaris-Lorigan has over twenty-six years of experience in the construction defect industry, including investigations, complex claims handling, and management of losses throughout the United States, and has lectured before various legal and trade organizations. Ms. Laskaris-Lorigan is currently the President of the San Diego Chapter of CLM.  In her spare time, she enjoys running and has captained a relay race team that has raised over $110,000 for Taking Control of Your Diabetes, a charity that promotes education for those suffering from diabetes.
 

Toncha is the Claims Director at McCarthy Building Company, Inc.  Toncha began her insurance career in 1991 as a Paralegal for house counsel of CNA where she assisted in the investigation, evaluation, settlement and defense of all types of litigated claims with an emphasis in construction defect litigation.

Subsequent to CNA, Toncha has served as Claims Manager for the Third Party Claims Administrator, Bowers & Associates. In this role she worked with numerous national insurance companies expanding the scope of her claims expertise.

In 1998, Toncha became Risk Manager for BSI/The Hill Companies, a specialty subcontractor with over 100 locations throughout the Western United States. As Risk Manager, she was responsible for claims management, safety, loss control, training and administration of the corporate insurance program.

Toncha joined the Wells Fargo team in 2006 where she is responsible for assisting property and casualty clients in the handling, management and mitigation of their non-workers compensation related claims.

Toncha attended the University of San Diego where she obtained certification through their paralegal program. She is currently working toward her ARM and CRM designations.
 

Mr. VonderHaar's practice is concentrated on insurance-related legal issues, and includes loss portfolio transfer triage review, contract drafting, opinion letters, policy limit demand letters, drafting of underwriting and manuscript forms, representation of General Insurance Agencies, representation of health care facilities, insureds and insurance companies in insurance coverage litigation, representation of insurance companies in first and third party extra-contractual litigation, and training of claims department personnel on insurance coverage and Fair Claims Practices Certification.

He has expertise in virtually all aspects of construction risk management, including builders risk, owner controlled insurance programs, contractor controlled insurance programs, and general liability forms currently available in the market place. He also assists national home developers with insurance regulatory issues and insurance captive programs.

Education:
University of Minnesota School of Law (JD, 1988)
Uppsala Univeritet Law Fakulten, Sweden (1987)
University of Minnesota (BA, 1984)

Professor Semitsu teaches and writes in the area of media law and mass communications, constitutional law, civil rights, privacy law, and criminal law and procedure.
Semitsu clerked for the Hon. James R. Browning of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He taught at the University of California, Berkeley in both the law school and in the Department of African American Studies. His essays have been published in the Chicago Tribune, the San Francisco Chronicle and on the front page of MSN.com. He created and hosts USD’s Battle of the Brains fundraiser, which pits students against faculty in a live trivia contest. He is a Board Member of Women of Color in Law, Inc. He is also a faculty member at USD School of Business Administration.
Semitsu received the American College Personnel Association’s Outstanding Undergraduate Student Staff Member Award while attending Berkeley. He won Best Individual Oral Advocate in the Kirkwood Moot Court Competition and served as Class President. He was senior editor and ombudsman on the Stanford Law Review. While teaching at Berkeley, he was placed on the Chancellor’s Faculty Heroes List and awarded the Asian Pacific Council’s Inspirational Faculty Member of the Year Award. He received the School of Law's Teacher of the Year Award in 2013 and USD’s Thorsnes Prize for Excellence in Teaching in 2011. He was also chosen as the USD School of Business Administration Master of Science in Global Leadership Program’s Professor of Impact in 2008 and 2011.

Peter M. Hughes is Of Counsel in the San Diego Office of Wilson Elser. He is an experienced trial attorney with more than 24 years in the defense of civil litigation matters. He has extensive experience in civil litigation with an emphasis in the defense of transportation, general liability and casualty, construction, professional liability and services, product liability, commercial and business litigation and employment matters. Peter has tried more than 50 cases to jury verdict.

Peter is known for providing exceptional legal services with early, accurate liability and damage assessments, predictability in fees and costs, efficient case management plans, focused discovery and prompt resolution. Although his clients appreciate Peter’s focused and reasoned approach to meeting their goal of prompt conflict resolution, his clients take great comfort in knowing that Peter never waivers or hesitates when his clients choose to go to trial.

He lectures extensively and advises and provides training to insurance companies, third-party administrators, commercial clients and industry groups.

Peter has been a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates since 2003 and an AV Preeminent rated lawyer by Martindale-Hubble since 1996. He was one of the initial members of the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance. Peter obtained his Certified Litigation Management Professional Designation from the Litigation Management Institute at Columbia Law School in 2011. Peter was selected for inclusion in Super Lawyers – California in 2012.

Peter graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration from the University of San Diego School of Business in 1984. He received his Juris Doctor Degree from the University of San Diego School of Law in 1987. In 1988 he was admitted to practice in all State and Federal Courts in California.

Dave Zehner is a founding partner of Zehner Trial Consulting. Zehner Trial Consulting is a provider of superior mock trials, focus groups and jury selection services. Zehner Trial Consulting uses the latest research in cognitive theory to design research exercises to test the essential elements of cases and determine what will shape the verdict of the jury. During his career, Dave has consulted on more than 800 cases in 42 states and over 180 venues in all areas of the law, specializing in professional negligence, employment, intellectual property, white collar criminal, capital crimes and complex commercial cases. Dave has also assisted clients in selecting over 120 juries in venues throughout the country. Before becoming a trial consultant, Dave taught high school history for five years and coached the freshman and JV basketball teams. Dave also coached the Academic Decathlon team to three San Diego County championships and one fourth place finish in the state of California. Dave also appeared on Jeopardy!, and his crushing defeat was made even more enjoyable by being called "evil" by Alex Trebek for working as a jury consultant. 

A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley with a degree in History and International Political Economies, Dave was a University Fellowship recipient while earning his master's degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago and ABD status for his PhD in the Public Policy Analysis Program.