BRADFORD & BARTHEL - Key Persons
Practice Areas
California Workers' Compensation Insurance Defense,
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Partner / View Details
Practice Areas
California Workers' Compensation Insurance Defense,
Alba Hernandez was born and raised in Southern California. She attended the University of California in Riverside where she had a cooperative major of Law & Society and Sociology. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in this cooperative major, graduating with honors.
She studied law at California Western School of Law in San Diego where she received her JD. While attending California Western, she was a member of the Native American Law Society and was also a tutor in a program for diversity students at the law school. She passed the California State Bar and was admitted to practice law in California in January of 2000.
As part of her legal experience, Ms. Hernandez worked for the Bureau of Child Support Enforcement in San Diego. She then began the practice of workers' compensation law as defense counsel for Liberty Mutual Insurance Group for over 10 years where she specialized in the dedicated accounts for the national and commercial markets. Ms. Hernandez joined Bradford & Barthel in 2012. As a Partner in the Ontario office, she works closely with insurance carriers, employers, and self-insured entities to provide effective legal representation through all phases of litigation.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Equity Partner, Managing Attorney
Practice Areas
ADR / Collectively Bargained Work Comp Programs,
Alec Bradford was born and raised in Southern California. He received his Bachelor of Science in Political Science in 2007 from California State Polytechnical Institute at Pomona. He received his Juris Doctorate and graduated Cum Laude in 2010 from Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego.
While at Thomas Jefferson School of Law he received the Witkin Award for Academic Excellence, CALI Excellence for the Future Award, and the Jefferson Medal for Chinese Legal System & Recent Reforms for the 2009 China study-abroad program. In Spring, 2010, he received the same awards for European Union Law.
He is currently working at the San Diego office of Bradford & Barthel and enjoys sports, including surfing, sailing, and skiing. He also loves traveling.
Job Titles:
- Equity Partner, Managing Attorney
- Equity Partner, Managing Attorney / View Details
Practice Areas
California Workers' Compensation Insurance Defense,
Job Titles:
- Managing Attorney
- Partner
- Equity Partner, Executive Managing Partner, Attorney Training, Development & Procedures
Job Titles:
- Director of Project Management / Operations
Asheley Alexander has been with the Fresno office of Bradford & Barthel since August 2001, starting out as a legal assistant to Mr. Louis Larres. In 2006 she became office manager.
Since 2010, Ms. Alexander has been the Firm EAMS Administrator overseeing all EAMS filings and training for the 13 B&B offices. Her responsibilities in this area have included interfacing regularly with the DWC regarding proper filing protocols to ensure internal compliance with EAMS filing mandates. She continues to be instrumental in developing internal B&B tracking tools to ensure successful/proper filings. She has also trained and assisted various clients with preparation of EAMS documents/filings and at the request of the DWC she has assisted other firms as they have prepared to become e-filers. In 2010, she was invited by the DWC to speak at the 18th Annual DWC Educational Conference regarding EAMS and e-filing procedures.
Prior to coming to work for Bradford & Barthel, Ms. Alexander worked for 3 1/2 years as a workers' compensation underwriting assistant.
In her free time, Ms. Alexander enjoys spending time with her daughter and family.
Job Titles:
- Equity Partner
- Equity Partner, Managing Attorney
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Assistant Managing Attorney, Partner
Job Titles:
- Equity Partner, Assistant Managing Attorney
- Equity Partner, Chief Diversity Officer, Managing Partner, Recruitment, Hiring & Development, Managing Attorney / View Details
- Equity Partner, Director of the Appellate Division
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Equity Partner, Managing Attorney
Job Titles:
- Assistant Managing Attorney, Partner
Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law that would reinstate Covid sick pay for those who are infected or quarantining from Covid-19.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has vetoed a bill that would have prohibited apportionment to race, religion, color, national origin and other characteristics. The recently-re-elected
Governor Jerry Brown enacted numerous changes that will help carriers fight fraudulent lien claimants when he closed out the 2016 legislative session by
Job Titles:
- Managing Attorney
- Partner
- Assistant Managing Attorney, Partner
Job Titles:
- Equity Partner, Assistant Managing Attorney
- Equity Partner, Managing Attorney
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Member of the Nevada Bar
- Partner / View Details
Practice Areas
California Workers' Compensation Insurance Defense,
Jeannene Lafarga was born in Sacramento, California and raised in South Florida. She graduated from California State University, Los Angeles, with her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. She then returned to her birthplace of Sacramento and attended McGeorge School of Law. She earned her Juris Doctorate with distinction in 1996 along with a Certificate in Governmental Affairs.
While studying for the Bar, Ms. Lafarga began working as a "paralegal" for an applicant's attorney in Sacramento. After passing the bar, the attorney invited her to join his firm as an associate attorney. Thus began her many years practicing workers' compensation law.
Jeannene became a member of the Nevada Bar in September 2018. She was instrumental in opening our Nevada office.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Equity Partner, Assistant Managing Attorney
- Equity Partner, Assistant Managing Attorney / View Details
Job Titles:
- Office Manager
- Director of Office Management Services
Jennifer Nino, Director of Office Management Services for Bradford & Barthel and Office Manager for the firm's flagship office in Ontario, California, has been one of its support pillars since inception. The Firm was a little over a month old in March, 1997 when Ms. Nino joined its Ontario office.
Despite the growing pains of a fledgling office which included having a small group of attorneys cover virtually every WCAB in Southern California, Ms. Nino provided the stable environment required by the attorneys to enhance the growth of the Firm. She began her career as a legal secretary at the age of 17. Within months of joining Bradford & Barthel she was elevated to the position of Assistant Office Manager. Within the next year, and because of her quick ability to study an issue and deliver results, she was soon selected to be Ontario's Office Manager and subsequently was promoted to Senior Office Manager and then Director of Office Management Services.
Currently, while serving as Office Manager of the Ontario office, she oversees the Nevada and the Santa Rosa offices, in addition to working closely with the office managers in the other offices.
Ms. Nino continues to be a key player in the growth of the firm, providing indispensable insight and guidance to all offices and upper management.
California born and bred, Ms. Nino and her family have always resided in the Southern California area. She is the proud mother of two and grandmother of four.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Attorney
- Diversity Officer, Partner
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Equity Partner, Director of the Editorial Board
- Equity Partner, Managing Attorney
Practice Areas
California Workers' Compensation Insurance Defense,
John P. Kamin was born and raised in Woodland Hills, California. He graduated from Chaminade College Preparatory in West Hills and attended the University of Arizona, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 2002 with a major in journalism and a minor in music.
After graduation, Mr. Kamin spent the next five years as an award-winning journalist at a handful of Arizona newspapers, including the Eastern Arizona Courier and the Prescott Daily Courier. During this time, Mr. Kamin covered politics, criminal proceedings, and real estate litigation. Mr. Kamin subsequently returned to California in 2007 to report on the latest developments in workers' compensation law at WorkCompCentral, a national workers' compensation news publication.
While covering the latest appellate decisions in workers' compensation law, Mr. Kamin quickly realized that he enjoyed the complexities of workers' compensation law and earned his juris doctorate at the Ventura College of Law. Mr. Kamin interned for John A. Futoran Sr., where he gained valuable insight into governmental workers' employment law disputes at the Merit Systems Protection Board. Later, Mr. Kamin interned at Creative Dispute Resolution, where he assisted a court-appointed discovery master and gained critical insight into abuses of the civil discovery system.
After being admitted to practice law in the State of California in 2013, Mr. Kamin quickly signed on with the firm of Bradford & Barthel because of its sterling reputation as a leader in California workers' compensation law.
In his spare time, Mr. Kamin enjoys spending time with his wife and children. He is also an avid sports fan who enjoys rooting for his Arizona Wildcats, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Los Angeles Lakers. Mr. Kamin also enjoys golfing and fishing in his spare time.
Partner John Kamin describes in detail the bills that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law in 2022 that will take effect in the
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Attorney
- Associate Attorney / View Details
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Partner / View Details
Practice Areas
California Workers' Compensation Insurance Defense,
Jose Sanchez was born in Southern California. He graduated from the University of California, Riverside in 2011 earning a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology. Following College, he attended Whittier Law School where he graduated Cum Laude with a Juris Doctorate Degree in May 2014. During his second and third year at Whittier Law School he served on the board of the Hispanic-American Law Student Association. He was admitted to the State Bar of California in November 2014. In additiona to handling workers' compensation claims, he has handled civil claims, including subrogation, 132(a) claims, serious and willful claims.
In his spare time, Jose likes to run, exercise, and play sports. Jose also enjoys watching sports and spending time with his family and friends.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Partner / View Details
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Attorney
- Partner / View Details
Job Titles:
- Student Bar Association President, Paul S. Jordan Achievement Award, Appellate Advocacy Competition Best Oralist Fall 2002
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Attorney
- Associate Attorney / View Details
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Attorney
- Associate Attorney / View Details
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Equity Partner, Managing Attorney
Practice Areas
California Workers' Compensation Insurance Defense,
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Attorney
- Partner
- Associate Attorney / Oakland, View Details
Practice Areas
California Workers' Compensation Insurance Defense,
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Attorney
- Associate Attorney / View Details
Job Titles:
- Equity Partner, Director of the Appellate Division / View Details
- Equity Partner, Managing Partner, Business Research, Development & Sustainability
Mallory Cortez joined Bradford & Barthel's Woodland Hills office office in May 2016 as a Legal Secretary. In February 2020 she was promoted to Office Manager. She oversees 13 attorneys and 12 members.
Ms. Cortez was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley. She is currently expecting her first child. In her free time she enjoys spending time baking, camping and spending time with her family.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Equity Partner, Director of the Editorial Board
- Equity Partner, Managing Attorney / View Details
Job Titles:
- Equity Partner, Chief Marketing Officer, Executive Managing Partner, Client Relations
- Equity Partner, Director of the Appellate Division
- Equity Partner, Firm Executive Managing Partner / View Details
Job Titles:
- Office Manager
- Office Manager to Our Anaheim
Melissa was hired at Bradford & Barthel's Ontario office in January, 2004. She was hired as a Subrogation/Civil Law secretary. She worked with Peter J. Fitzpatrick from 2009 to 2014. Her work also focused on Employment and Labor Law. Eventually, Melissa started handling Workers' Compensation Law as well.
In 2014, Melissa was promoted to Office Manager to our Anaheim office. She oversees 11 attorneys and 10 staff members.
Ms. Gorski also works with our Process Management Team, overseeing Lean Management classes, lean training and other firm rollouts.
Melissa was born and raised in San Gabriel Valley, she has two grown boys and three grandchildren.
Mia Hipkins, Office Manager of the firm's Sacramento Office since 10/10/11, oversees a staff of 15, and 8 attorneys. Ms. Hipkins has been with Bradford & Barthel since 2010. Prior to her debut as the Office Manager of a multi-operational office, she set up the entire Firm's storage filing system for closed files during her first 2 years.
She brings many years of retail management experience with her. She has also owned her own business and has used that expertise in her position as Office Manager for the Sacramento office and more recently Bradford & Barthel's Redding office.
She was raised in California, Guam and Taiwan in a military family. In her free time, she enjoys reading and is a member of the ladies Oriental Shrine of North America, supporting the Shriner's hospital here in Sacramento and throughout the United States. She also volunteers with her local Moose Lodge running the Chaper's Women of the Moose and fundraising for local and Moose charities. Her children Tom and Susan are grown and she enjoys most traveling with them and her husband Richard to whom she has been married since 1995.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Managing Attorney, Partner
Job Titles:
- Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Attorney
- Associate Attorney / View Details
Michelle A. Newman, a long-time resident of Ventura, California, began her tenure of employment with the firm in June 1999 as a Legal Assistant in the Tarzana office of Bradford & Barthel. With the opening of Bradford & Barthel Ventura In December of 2000, Mrs. Newman was promoted to Office Manager. She has since taken over the day to day management of both the San Diego Office and the Los Angeles Office.
After 20+ years Michelle has been instrumental in the success of all three offices and is always looking for ways to improve firm processes and procedures. In her free time Michelle enjoys camping, crafting, country music and spending time with her family and friends.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Attorney
- Associate Attorney / View Details / Mina M. Jafary
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Attorney
- Assistant Managing Attorney, Partner
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Equity Partner, Assistant Managing Attorney
- Equity Partner, Managing Attorney
Practice Areas
ADR / Collectively Bargained Work Comp Programs,
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Diversity Officer, Partner
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Attorney
- Associate Attorney / View Details
Job Titles:
- Equity Partner, Director of the Editorial Board
- Equity Partner, Managing Attorney
- Equity Partner, Managing Attorney / View Details
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
- Partner / View Details
Practice Areas
ADR / Collectively Bargained Work Comp Programs,
Peter V. Fitzpatrick attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science. He received his Juris Doctorate from Glendale University College of Law in Glendale, California.
Thereafter, Mr. Fitzpatrick worked as a staff attorney for the Los Angeles County Superior Court. While working for superior court judges, he became intimately familiar with procedural and substantive civil litigation.
In private practice, he has extensive experience with subrogation, personal injury law, products liability, employment law, Labor Code §132(a) defense and Labor Code §4553 defense.
Prior to his legal career, Mr. Fitzpatrick was a firefighter stationed in Santa Barbara, California. His love of the outdoors remains-he is an avid hiker, golfer, and dirt bike rider.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Attorney
- Partner
- Partner / View Details
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Attorney
- Associate Attorney / View Details
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Partner / View Details
Job Titles:
- Workers' Compensation Administrative Director
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Equity Partner, Managing Attorney
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Partner / View Details
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Equity Partner, Managing Attorney
Job Titles:
- Certified Paralegal and Nurse
- Director of Client Development and Relations
Sherri Dozier is a life-long Southern California resident. She earned her Bachelors of Science in business and marketing through Kaplan University Florida.
Ms. Dozier started in workers' compensation in 1987. Her journey has taken her from insurance companies such Fireman's Fund, Pacific States Casualty, Heath Cal, Ulico/USA Casualty, and Cal Comp/Superior National to working at Bradford & Barthel in 1999.
Ms. Dozier is a certified paralegal and nurse. She also earned a Workers' Compensation Specialist Certificate through the University of California Riverside. Ms. Dozier has a Self Insurance license and has her WCCA, WCCP. She also has IEA certificates as well as many other educational seminars related to our field.
After many years both working on a claims desk, supervising and managing in the insurance field, at Bradford & Barthel she has helped to bridge the gap between legal and claims practices. Ms. Dozier provides training on a variety of workers' compensation and employment law topics, development of programs, is a specialist in Health Care Organizations (HCO), Medical Provider Networks (MPN), State Audit Defenses and Preparation, and Large loss settlement review and analysis. She is very active in participating in client file reviews and meetings with a focus on client service and relationship development.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Partner / View Details
Practice Areas
California Workers' Compensation Insurance Defense,
Sophia Martinez earned her B.A. at UCLA and her law degree at the University of San Francisco School of Law. Immediately thereafter worked as a Deputy Public Defender for the Orange County Public Defender's Office. Shortly thereafter she found workers' compensation and has never looked back.
Although always preparing as if a matter will go to trial, Ms. Martinez settles many claims at deposition. Her record includes take-nothing awards on continuous trauma claims of high exposure and numerous nuisance-value settlements. She has deposed many doctors, including internists, orthopedists and psychologists. She enjoys this aggressive tact and regularly obtains favorable testimony and reduces her clients' exposure. She takes a proactive approach on each case and is unafraid to be creative in finding ways to minimize exposure. Her many years of handling different types of workers' compensation cases allows her to think several steps ahead and handle each case with a lense unique to each case. She has collaborated with many SIU investigators with cases referred for workers' compensation fraud.
Sophia was a social worker for abused and neglected children before becoming an attorney.
A native of Seoul, Ms. Martinez lived in South Korea for twelve years. She is fluent in Korean, and she also speaks a little Russian and Spanish.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Partner / View Details
Practice Areas
ADR / Collectively Bargained Work Comp Programs,
Stephanie Rosil is a Southern California Native. She graduated from the University of California, Riverside in 2011 earning a Bachelor of Arts Degree. Following College, she attended Whittier Law School on an Admission's Merit Scholarship where she graduated Cum Laude with a Juris Doctorate Degree in May 2014. She was admitted to the State Bar of California in November 2014. She started working as a law clerk for a workers' compensation firm while completing her undergraduate studies. She has handled Alternative Dispute Resolution workers' compensation cases within the ironworkers', laborers', and construction workers' ADR programs.
In her spare time, Ms. Rosil enjoys spending time with her family and dog, watching films, cooking, and traveling.
Job Titles:
- Equity Partner, Chief Diversity Officer, Managing Partner, Recruitment, Hiring & Development
- Equity Partner, Chief Marketing Officer, Executive Managing Partner, Client Relations / View Details
- Equity Partner, Managing Attorney
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Partner / View Details
Job Titles:
- Equity Partner, Chief Diversity Officer, Managing Partner, Recruitment, Hiring & Development
- Founding Partner / Ontario, View Details
- Founding Partner / View Details
Job Titles:
- B & B Senior Rating Specialist
- Director, AMA Analysis and Indemnity Valuations
- Instructor of Permanent Disability
Tim Mussack began working for Bradford & Barthel in 2008 as a Permanent Disability Rater.
He has been in the workers' compensation industry since 1988. His background includes claims management, training, auditing, and expert consultant for claims handling and reserving in over 30 jurisdictions, with most of his experience in California.
Tim has been an Instructor of Permanent Disability rating since 1991, teaching rating using the 1988, 1997, and 2005 PD rating schedules. He is designated as a Master Instructor with the Insurance Education Association.
He has been Certified as proficient with the AMA Guides 5th Edition (CAMAG) through ABIME.
William "Bill" Bartels graduated with a degree in psychology from California State University, Fullerton. He went on to obtain his Juris Doctor from Western State Law School in 2002 where he graduated Magna Cum Laude.
Starting his career in workers' compensation 2001, Mr. Bartels found immediate success in drafting successful Petitions for Reconsideration, preparing trial briefs, and working on other complicated legal issues. Mr. Bartels worked "in house" for Liberty Mutual Insurance Company where he first began as a Hearing Representative, and then later as an attorney.
Throughout his legal career, he has handled many different types of litigation, including trials in criminal law, civil law, family law, as well as in his chosen field of workers' compensation. He has also written several articles on evidentiary law and civil case law management. Mr. Bartels has also conducted a number of trainings for insurance adjusters and employers regarding workers' compensation law and procedures.
During an absence from workers' compensation, Mr. Bartels opened a private practice where he gained experience in several areas of law including copyright infringement, civil law, and criminal law where he handled several serious felony cases.
Mr. Bartels also worked for a number of years as an in-house attorney for Travelers Insurance Company. Wanting more variety and challenges, he moved to the Law Office of Bradford & Barthel as an attorney where he is currently working. He prides himself in maintaining regular communication with the insurance adjusters, and aggressively moving his cases on to resolution and closure, or on to trial, depending on the facts of the case.
When he is not spending time with his two daughters, Mr. Bartels enjoys playing music and is a loyal L.A. Kings fan.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Assistant Managing Attorney, Partner
Practice Areas
California Workers' Compensation Insurance Defense,
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Partner / View Details
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Partner / View Details
Practice Areas
California Workers' Compensation Insurance Defense,