Newsletter

Liability Attorney Summit Held in August

The California JPIA held its annual Liability Attorney Summit on August 19, 2025, at the Authority campus in La Palma. Sixty-five participants attended the Summit, including representatives from Carl Warren & Company, Authority staff, and the Authority’s liability defense panel firms and business partners.

Paul Zeglovitch, chief operating officer, welcomed attendees and honored John P. McCormick, who passed away on August 16, 2025. John had a distinguished career as a trial attorney, having tried over 100 cases to verdict. He handled cases for the California JPIA for three decades and will be missed.

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Subsequent to the above recognition, an “Open Forum” was held, during which counsel chronicled their successes and experiences during the past year. This provided for a 60-minute discussion that shared valuable information.

Guest speakers included Dr. Ronald Heredia of Good Mood Legal, Benjamin Softness, Esq. of King & Spalding, and Daniel Barer of Pollak, Vida & Barer.

Dr. Heredia gave an overview of documenting alleged Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI). The discussion alerted defense counsel as to what to look for in a properly documented TBI.

Benjamin Softness, Esq., is a former Google in-house attorney and now partner at the international law firm of King & Spalding. Softness provided a comprehensive outline of the AI tools that are available to legal counsel today, how they operate, what security concerns exist, and how AI is most successfully applied by lawyers.

The Appellate Update touched on several cases that have affected public entities over the past year, including those related to police qualified immunity, dangerous condition of public property, release agreements, mandatory duty, employment law, and anti-SLAPP.

This year’s Summit proved once again to be a great opportunity for defense counsel and the Authority’s claims administrators to network, collaborate, and learn. Should you have any questions about the event or this article, please contact Chief Operating Officer Paul Zeglovitch.

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