About Our Law Firm

PANISH | SHEA | RAVIPUDI LLP IS HERE TO HELP – ONCE AND FOR ALL^®

When a tragedy happens, you want an experienced trial attorney to navigate you through the complex world of personal injury, wrongful death litigation and business litigation. Choosing the right firm is critical in recovering all of the damages you are entitled to receive. The attorneys at Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP are here to be the Strength By Your Side^®.

Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP has extensive experience with the often complicated lawsuits that arise after an injury or death caused by another’s negligence or misconduct. Our attorneys have been repeatedly recognized for excellence by other trial attorneys, legal organizations and publications nationwide. The firm has been ranked by U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers® as a “Tier 1” Firm in the areas of Plaintiffs Personal Injury Litigation, Plaintiffs Product Liability Litigation and Plaintiffs Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – the highest ranking a firm can receive – and is recognized as being among the top Plaintiff’s law firms in the country by the National Law Journal.

Once we accept a case, we commit to you and your cause and take the steps necessary to get you the compensation you deserve. Because we limit the number of cases we accept, our attorneys and staff are able to focus their efforts on you and your case and put in the time and resources it takes to achieve the best possible result. We understand that dealing with a life-altering injury, the death or injury of a family member or other challenges caused by the wrongful act of another is difficult emotionally and financially. Your case will be handled with compassion and integrity while your legal team provides you with personal attention and support throughout the process.

We handle cases nationwide, as well as statewide in California, Arizona & Nevada.

Our California personal injury attorneys are based in our main office in Los Angeles and serve communities throughout the state including those in Kern, Marin, Orange, Riverside, Sacramento Santa Barbara, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura counties, among others. Nevada cases, including those in Clark and Washoe counties, are handled by our personal injury attorneys in our Las Vegas office. We also have an office in Phoenix, Arizona, and handle cases throughout the state, including in Maricopa, Pima and Pinal counties.

The History of Our Firm

Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP was founded in 2005 by three trial attorneys who vowed to fight corporate greed and protect consumers from corporations that strive for profits over the safety of their customers. The founding partners worked together previously and found their shared advocacy for the consumer a driving force behind founding a new firm dedicated to working for you. Since then, the firm has grown to over forty attorneys and four offices in three states. The firm’s attorneys handle cases throughout the United States and have attorneys licensed in 8 states and the District of Columbia.

Our Partners

Brian Panish

Founding partner Brian Panish is a Los Angeles personal injury lawyer and one of the leading trial attorneys in the United States. He has obtained seven verdicts over $50 million in personal injury cases, more than 100 verdicts and settlements over $10 million, and over 500 verdicts and settlements over $1 million.

Mr. Panish’s recent awards include, but are not limited to:

2024 Leading Commercial Litigators – Daily Journal
2023 Top Plaintiff Lawyers in California – Daily Journal
2023 Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers
2022 Titan of the Plaintiff Bar – Law360
2021 Best Lawyers® Lawyer of the Year – Mass Tort Litigation / Class Action – Plaintiffs – Los Angeles
2020 Top 100 Plaintiff Lawyers in California – Daily Journal
2020 Plaintiffs Lawyer Trailblazer – National Law Journal
2020 Top Plaintiff Lawyers in California – Daily Journal
2020 Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers
2019 Top 100 Lawyers in California by Daily Journal
2019 Top Plaintiff Lawyers in California by Daily Journal
2019 Plaintiffs Lawyer Trailblazer by National Law Journal
2019 California Lawyer Attorney of the Year Award in the area of Personal Injury
2019 Best Lawyers® Lawyer of the Year in Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs
2019 Titan of the Plaintiffs Bar by Law360
2018 Top 100 Lawyers in California by Daily Journal
2018 Top Plaintiff Lawyers in California by Daily Journal
2018 Daniel O’Connell Award – by Irish American Bar Association-Los Angeles
2018 Lawyer of the Year in Aviation Law by Best Lawyers© in Los Angeles
2017 Top 100 Lawyers in California by the Daily Journal
2017 Top Plaintiff Lawyers in California by the Daily Journal
2017 Civil Advocate Award by the Association of Southern California Defense Council

You can read more about Brian Panish on his main bio page here .

Adam K. Shea

Adam Shea is a founding partner and personal injury and wrongful death lawyer who specializes in product defects and negligence, including automotive and tire defects. He has obtained more than 200 verdicts and settlements over $1 million for his clients, as well as the largest jury verdict in history for a tire defect case – the case resulted in a $55.6 million dollar settlement for his client.

A number of publications and organizations have recognized Mr. Shea as one of America’s top lawyers:

Lawdragon 500
National Trial Lawyers’ Top 100 Trial Lawyers
Best Lawyers of America
Super Lawyers
Martindale-Hubbell rating of A-V, the highest possible rating
2011 Finalist for Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles

You can read more about Adam Shea here.

Rahul Ravipudi

Rahul Ravipudi is a partner and trial lawyer who specializes in wrongful death and personal injury cases involving commercial vehicles, construction accidents, and dangerous property conditions in both California and Nevada. He also specializes in representing plaintiffs in class action lawsuits against businesses who engage in unfair practices. Mr. Ravipudi has won numerous eight-figure and nine-figure settlements for plaintiffs in his specialty areas and has helped change the laws regarding school bus safety in California.

Rahul Ravipudi earned a number of recent awards including:

2024 Leader of Influence: Minority Attorneys – Los Angeles Business Journal
2023 Top Plaintiffs Lawyer in California – Daily Journal
2020 Top Plaintiffs Lawyer in California – Daily Journal
2020 Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiffs Consumer Lawyers
2020 Plaintiffs Lawyer Trailblazer – National Law Journal
2020 Consumer Attorney of the Year Finalist by CAOC
2019 Plaintiffs Lawyer Trailblazer by National Law Journal
2019 Trailblazer Award from South Asian Bar Association of Southern California
2018 & 2017 CAOC Consumer Attorney of the Year finalist
2017 Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles
2017 Top Plaintiff’s Lawyers of California by the Daily Journal
2017 Top 100 Lawyers of California by the Daily Journal

You can find more information about Rahul Ravipudi here.

Peter J. Polos

The Honorable Peter J. Polos (retired) is a partner at Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP and also serves as the firm’s Director of Litigation. In that role, he assists in overseeing the firm’s entire litigation practice, providing a unique perspective as both an experienced trial lawyer and as a judge who understands effective case presentation. Licensed in California and Nevada, Judge Polos frequently attends case mediations with other firm attorneys, provides guidance on trial strategy and works closely with the firm’s referral attorneys to ensure a smooth transition and oversight of cases brought to the firm by other lawyers. Over the years, he has effectively screened the viability of thousands of potential cases. As a judge and private mediator, he has successfully mediated hundreds of complex cases to successful resolution.

Recognized among the Best Lawyers in America®, Judge Polos practiced with David M. Harney in Los Angeles from 1990 to 1996 and was a partner at Lopez, Hodes, Restaino, Milman, Skikos & Polos in Newport Beach from 1996 to December 2001.

Erika Contreras

Erika Contreras is a partner at Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP and focuses her practice on catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, and motor carrier liability cases. Licensed in California and Nevada, Ms. Contreras has obtained millions of dollars in awards for her clients, including many seven-figure and eight-figure verdicts and settlements.

Born and raised in Los Angeles to Mexican immigrants, Ms. Contreras uses her background to connect with her Spanish speaking clients and help them navigate the legal system with trust and confidence. She and her husband have four children and reside in Cerritos, California.

Ms, Contreras serves on the Latina Lawyers Bar Association Board of Directors and is recognized among Los Angeles Magazine‘s Top Women Attorneys in Southern California. She has also been named to the list of Southern California Super Lawyers since 2020 and named among the Best Lawyers in America since 2020.

In 2022, Ms. Contreras received the Trailblazer Award from the Latina Lawyers Bar Association and was honored among other Latina Trailblazers including the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court, the Hon. Patricia Guerrero.

In 2023, Ms. Contreras was the recipient of the California Lawyer’s Attorney of the Year Award (“CLAY”) by the Daily Journal for her work on Sepulveda v. Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District. The CLAY Awards is awarded annually to a select group of attorneys throughout the state “for achievements with a significant impact on public policy, the law, the profession, or a particular practice area.”

Robert S. Glassman

Robert Glassman is a partner at Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP where he represents plaintiffs in large and complex personal injury cases and is a recognized leader in the Los Angeles legal community. His work on two high-profile school injury cases – Lee v. Pupil Transportation Cooperative and Pierce v. Murrieta Valley Unified School District– led to significant reforms at the school districts where the tragedies occurred and helped to establish new child safety laws in California. The Consumer Attorneys of California selected Mr. Glassman as a Consumer Attorney of the Year finalist for his work on each of these cases. Mr. Glassman also represents victims and survivors of sexual abuse, including ‘Jane’ who filed suit against her abusers in the high-profile case against Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

In 2023, Mr. Glassman was named among the “Top 40 Under 40” by Daily Journal and received the California Lawyer Attorney of the Year Award. He has been named a 2018 “Rising Star” in Personal Injury litigation by Law360 and recognized as a “Rising Star” by the Super Lawyers publication since 2013 where he has been consistently selected as one of the “Up-and-Coming 100 Southern California Rising Stars”, the list of lawyers who rank at the top of the Super Lawyers’ Rising Stars list.

Mr. Glassman is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) Los Angeles Chapter and has secured numerous seven-figure verdicts as lead counsel.

Spencer Lucas

Spencer Lucas is a trial lawyer and partner at Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP specializing in litigating complex catastrophic personal injury, products liability, wrongful death, and sexual abuse cases. A member of the firm since 2007, he has extensive experience in cases involving traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, amputations and has successfully recovered over $500 million for his clients. Mr. Lucas prides himself on not only helping survivors of trauma and their families recover from tragic situations but by implementing institutional safeguards for the community.

Ranked among the Top 100 Southern California Super Lawyers in 2022, Mr. Lucas is recognized as a leading trial lawyer in California trying cases in venues across the state resulting in eight-figure verdicts. He has been the recipient of numerous awards for his work in the courtroom including nominations as Consumer Attorney of the Year by Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC) and Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (CAALA). Mr. Lucas is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) with an elevated rank of Associate due to the number of lengthy trials to verdict he has completed and is annually recognized as a Best Lawyer in America® .

Some of Mr. Rudorfer’s Results

Over the course of his career, Mr. Rudorfer has recovered over $500 million for his clients, resolving over 100 cases with seven-figures results, and over 13 cases with eight-figure results, including but not limited to:

$39,500,000 settlement for a family devastated by a vehicle collision that caused the death of two adult sons in front of their mother and sister.
$27,100,000 settlement or a man who suffered a below the knee leg amputation as a result of a big rig collision with a disputed motor carrier sub haul.
$26,000,000 verdict for a special needs minor who was sexually assaulted by other special needs students due to negligent supervision.
$24,300,000 for an adult who suffered partial paralysis from rear-end collision in a disputed going-and-coming required vehicle exception to course and scope.
$20,000,000 settlement for two families who each lost their beloved 20-year-old sons as a result of a negligent commercial vehicle driver.
$19,150,000 settlement for a family who lost a mother and grandmother when a big rig truck caused a high-speed freeway collision.
$19,100,000 settlement involving a man who became a quadriplegic due to a public utility company’s negligence violating power line clearance requirements.
$15,000,000 settlement for a school employer who suffer a traumatic brain injury and burns from an electrical arc flash explosion.

Accomplishments - Verdicts and Settlements

Firm attorneys together have secured more than $10 billion in verdicts and settlements for clients over the years. Below are just a few examples of the landmark cases won by the attorneys of Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP:

A $4.9 billion auto product liability jury verdict against General Motors involving a defective fuel tank.
A $800 million settlement for the victims of the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival mass shooting in Las Vegas.
A $160.5 million jury verdict for a man who suffered a brain injury after he was beaten by nightclub security.
A $135 million jury verdict for two men who were sexually abused as children by their teacher.
A $58 million jury verdict for a man burned when his construction vehicle caught on fire.
A $55.4 million jury verdict in a tire tread separation case.
A $39 million settlement against a company that maliciously prosecuted a violation of trade secrets case against two men, resulting in the collapse of their business.
A $36.5 million jury verdict for a woman who was catastrophically injured in a big-rig truck crash.
A $34.5 million jury verdict for a young man who suffered a lower leg amputation after being hit by a truck.
A $27.4 million jury verdict in the death of a 4-year-old girl and injuries to three pedestrians after a city of San Francisco truck ran a red light, jumped the curb, struck and injured the victims.
A $21 million jury verdict for an Iraq War veteran who suffered a brain injury when the car in which he was a passenger was rear-ended by a commercial vehicle.
A $19.8 million jury verdict for a man who suffered severe burn and traumatic brain injuries when his rental home exploded.
A $17.45 million bench award for a man whose family was killed when a military jet crashed into his home.
A $17 million jury verdict for a woman whose visually impaired son was killed when he fell between railway cars because of the lack of protective barriers and was crushed when the train moved.
A $13.55 million settlement from the makers of the Apache helicopter that crashed in Iraq and injured two soldiers.

View of our verdicts & settlements by practice area here.