Description
Christopher B. Dolan, founder of the Dolan Law Firm, shares his inspiring journey from humble beginnings to becoming one of California’s top trial lawyers. He is dedicated to fighting for the vulnerable and holding powerful corporations and governments accountable. With a proven history of changing laws and securing justice, he leads the Dolan Law Firm with passion and purpose.
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I don't come from a family
that had a lot of accomplishment.
I was a landscaper and a tree surgeon,
and I plowed snow
and I blew leaves on the East Coast
to help pay my way through school.
From that, I learned hard work,
and I've always enjoyed hard work.
My background went from a community
college in Norwalk, Connecticut,
to where I got my master's degree
in business in London, England
as the first scholar.
Then I graduated
from Georgetown University Law Center,
magna cum laude with high honors
and gave the graduation speech.
Why did I become a lawyer?
People ask me that all the time.
Quite honestly, when I was younger,
I grew up in an environment
that was very unstable.
As a young child,
I felt like I didn't have a voice,
and I got to see a lot of injustice.
What I developed
was a skill to rationalize, to verbalize.
I didn't have muscles,
but I had a sharp wit and a sharp tongue.
As I got older, I always felt a great deal
of empathy for people who had been placed
into a time in a place
in which they were vulnerable.
They didn't have power.
As a lawyer,
I get to help them balance that power,
to be their champion,
to fight immense corporations,
governments, insurance companies,
to try to make it right for them.
My specialty is in the area of trial law.
I do a number of different cases,
but I do them all very well.
Courtroom is my operating theater.
I bring my skills to bear with a number
of different areas of influence
that I enjoy being varied that way
and not necessarily
doing the same thing every day.
I've been very blessed in terms
of my ability and my dedication
to the change in the law
where I have changed the law.
I was the lawyer who brought
the case that held Amazon responsible
for the products
that sold over the Internet.
What I find most rewarding
about my work as an attorney—
sometimes happens
in the middle of the night—
it's when you're working on something,
and you're just looking for that answer,
you're looking
for that way to make it work,
and there's an aha moment
where all just comes together.
The other thing
I really love about it is if I'm in trial
and I'm cross-examining somebody
and I catch them in a lie.
At the end of a case,
I want my client to feel
that someone has stood up for them
and they've been given
the best opportunity to have justice.
It's a difficult job,
but it's the most rewarding thing
I've ever done.
