Christopher J. Beeman leads the firm’s Personal Injury, Products Liability, and Business Litigation Groups. A Fellow of the prestigious American College of Trial Lawyers, he is also a member of American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) and the elite International Society of Barristers. Chris is an AV rated trial attorney who has been with Clapp, Moroney his entire legal career, and was named a partner in 1991. His practice emphasizes the representation of individual and corporate parties in a wide variety of cases ranging from catastrophic injury and wrongful death claims (including complex, multi-party matters arising out of construction site accidents, and defective products) to business litigation and professional liability matters.

Chris is a seasoned trial lawyer who has successfully represented clients before arbitrators, judges, and juries in Northern California State and Federal Courts, resulting in more than thirty five favorable jury verdicts. He has also been lead counsel in hundreds of arbitrations and mediations and is very familiar with and respected by the most widely-utilized public and private arbitrators and mediators in the Greater San Francisco Bay area and Central Valley.

In the personal injury arena, Chris has particular expertise in handling sports and recreational activity lawsuits, as well as the defense of traumatic brain injury cases, including knowledge of the medical nuances and litigation tactics best suited to addressing sensitive damages issues at trial. He has additional experience and skill in the handling of severe orthopedic, internal injury and traumatic amputation claims.

A regularly featured speaker before private and public groups of clients and other attorneys, Chris has recently given presentations on topics including the retention and use of experts at trial, trial techniques, the assumption of risk doctrine, and cost-effective handling and defense of serious injury matters. Among his published opinions is Dilger v Moyles (1997) 54 Cal.App.4th 1452, 63 Cal.Rptr.2d 591, a First District Appellate Court decision which was petitioned to the Supreme Court for review. A sports enthusiast himself, Chris was pleased to handle the Dilger case, which holds that golfers assume the risk of injury when they are on the golf course, and have no legal duty to yell “FORE” after striking an errant shot!

David McMahon is the Managing Partner in Barger & Wolen LLP’s San Francisco office. His practice focuses on large complex litigation. He has worked on numerous high-profile litigation matters involving life settlements, multi-million dollar insurance coverage disputes relating to intellectual property matters, wage and hour litigation, environmental claims, directors and officers liability insurance, maritime matters, and cases involving alleged insurer bad faith.

His expertise also includes international marine transactional work with experience in negotiating shipbuilding contracts. He also has experience in appellate litigation, reinsurance litigation and counseling clients on attorney fee disputes and ethical issues relating to the practice of law.

Mr. McMahon has extensive experience in matters relating to computer-related discovery, large case document management, and the efficient use of technology to streamline the handling of large cases.

He is a co-editor of the firm’s Litigation Management & Attorney Fee Analysis blog.

Steven C. Testan, Esq., is the Founder of the Law Offices of Adelson, Testan, Brundo & Jimenez. He founded the firm in 1996, and since then the firm has grown from two offices in Southern California to 22 offices nationwide covering 12 states.

Mr. Testan was admitted to practice before all state courts in California in 1980 and has been an active member in good standing since then. He was admitted to practice before The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and The U.S. District Court, Central District of California in 1981. He was appointed as Judge Pro Tem for the Los Angeles and Santa Monica Workers' Compensation Appeals Board. Mr. Testan is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of The United States of America.

During his years in the workers' compensation industry he has lectured on a wide range of topics. Notably, he presented as a guest faculty member at the Harvard School of Public Health as part of their symposium "The Impact of Mold on Human Health."

On June 14th, 2007 Mr. Testan was appointed to the 13-member California Insurance Guarantee Association, Board of Governors. The Speaker's press release noted: "Steven Testan's firm legal background in workers' compensation law will make him a useful addition to the California Insurance Guarantee Association, Board of Governors. His commitment to justice and the rule of law will be of valuable service to the Board that oversees many of the state's largest insurers."

Most recently, Mr. Testan was appointed to serve as a State Chair of California for The Claims & Litigation Management Alliance (CLM).

Vern is a twenty year insurance industry veteran with experience in managed care, self insurance, and multi-line insurance carriers. Working for Health Net in the mid 1990s Vern was part of a product development team that created an integrated Intake, Network, Case Management and Bill Review product. Vern returned to claims and served a nine year tour with AIG serving in roles of progressive responsibility, ultimately as Regional Vice President of a multi-line claim operation for a 13 state territory. After leaving AIG and joining CNA Vern was charged with responsibility for CNA’s national workers’ compensation operations which encompassed responsibility for more than 50,000 open claims, oversight of WC Excess Lines policies, and medical management programs. Currently Vern is Senior Vice President of Zenith Insurance’s national claim operation.