FOX LAW APC - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Fox Law As a Senior Paralegal
- Senior Paralegal
Alicia Barlow joined Fox Law as a Senior Paralegal in 2023. She primarily works on firm's litigated cases for both personal injury and mass tort clients.
Before joining Fox Law, Alicia was a Senior Paralegal for Mattel, Inc., and spent five years as a litigation paralegal at Munger, Tolles & Olson, LLP.
Alicia has her Juris Doctor from the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University and her B.S. in Public Policy, Management and Development from the University of Southern California.
Brett Norris is an experienced trial lawyer who has dedicated his career to getting the best possible result for his clients.
Before joining Fox Law in 2023, Brett served over 14 years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California, where he diligently represented the federal government in a broad range of cases, including personal injury, employment discrimination, and eminent domain actions. In 2018, Brett was promoted to Deputy Chief of the Civil Division, and was responsible for supervising a team of Assistant U.S. Attorneys, paralegals, and support staff, in addition to carrying his own case load. During his time at the U.S. Attorney's Office, Brett consistently obtained favorable results for his clients and prevailed in nearly a dozen bench and jury trials. Brett received recognition for his work as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, receiving the John R. Neece Award for excellence, diligence, and integrity, and earning a Special Commendation from the Department of Justice.
Brett graduated from the University of San Diego School of Law in 2002, where he was a member of the National Mock Trial Team and was named to the Order of Barristers for his excellence in oral advocacy. Brett remains involved with the University of San Diego today, serving both as a Law Alumni Advisory Board Member and as an adjunct professor and guest lecturer. Brett received his Bachelor of Arts in History, with distinction, from the Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, where he was a member of the varsity soccer team and captain of the hockey team.
Chris is a seasoned litigator with a decade of experience working on complex cases for and against insurance companies, municipalities, and Fortune 500 companies. After gaining a deep knowledge of the insurance industry and the interworkings of his corporate clients, he decided to pursue his passion and fight for individuals who have been harmed. Now, he applies his unique knowledge of how insurance companies and corporations operate to help navigate his clients to extraordinary results. Chris has consistently prevailed for his clients in all aspects of a claim, from pre-litigation negotiation, to settlements, and through trial.
Chris is active in the San Diego legal community as the Vice Chair of the Civil Litigation Section of the San Diego County Bar Association and serves on the Education Committee of The Consumer Attorneys of San Diego.
Chris graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with Honors and as an All-American athlete. Chris earned his Juris Doctor from the University of San Diego School of Law, cum laude, and as a member of the Phi Delta Phi Legal Honor Society.
Chris is highly involved in philanthropic efforts in the community and currently sits on the board of The Nancy Amato Foundation, a non-profit corporation dedicated to helping families affected by pancreatic cancer.
Job Titles:
- Head Paralegal - Office Manager
- Lead Paralegal With Fox Law
Corinne Britt has been the lead paralegal with Fox Law since 2015. She is integral to Fox Law's practice, working with firm's personal injury and mass torts clients.
Corinne is a graduate of Wagner College, in New York where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. After graduating from Wagner College, Corinne worked in public relations and advertising as an assistant to the editor. She also worked for a surgical group dealing with the same billing and insurance issues she now sees in our personal injury practice. After taking time to raise her three sons, she then dedicated her career to paralegal work and has focused on personal injury. She now has ten years of experience. She thoroughly enjoys working with our clients, and brings a high level of professionalism and enthusiasm to the office. She is an integral part of our team and success.
In her free time, Corinne enjoys practicing yoga, hiking, biking and spending time with her family.
Dave is a former federal prosecutor and seasoned plaintiffs trial lawyer that has dedicated his career to helping ordinary people get through extraordinary circumstances. Dave has obtained over $500 million for his clients through outstanding settlements and verdicts in difficult cases involving wrongful death, catastrophic injuries, premises liability, and fraud. Dave was recognized by Best Lawyers as "Lawyer of the Year" for Mass Torts and Class Actions for 2023. He has also been recognized by his San Diego peers as a Super Lawyer, Outstanding Trial Lawyer, and Distinguished Alumni of the University of San Diego School of Law.
Dave's aggressive but pragmatic approach has also led to more than 100 seven- and eight-figure settlements for his clients, including a $33 million wrongful death settlement and a $19.5 million personal injury and property damage settlement.
Dave has had remarkable success as a trial lawyer representing plaintiffs who have been injured. In November 2021, Dave received a $9.5 million dollar judgment after jury verdict on a back injury disputed liability case where the highest offer from the defense was $220,000. Dave took a zero-offer wrongful death motorcycle accident case to trial against the United States, prevailed, and obtained $5 million for his clients. Dave also tried a case involving a slip and fall on water at a supermarket that aggravated his client's shoulder arthritis, and the jury returned a verdict for $1.43 million dollars. In another case, Dave and his client rejected a small settlement offer for a broken ankle after an auto accident, prevailed at trial, and obtained $1.1 million dollars.
Dave is also adept at successfully prosecuting complex mass tort fire claims and as a result was asked to try the Powerhouse Fire case against the City of Los Angeles, Department of Water and Power. The case resolved days before trial was set to start, and ultimately the victims received a payout of approximately $103 million dollars. Dave sat on the Plaintiffs' Executive Committee for the 2015 Butte Fire that was litigated against PG&E in Sacramento, and currently sits on the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee in San Francisco for the 2017 North Bay wildfire litigation, and the Plaintiffs' Executive Committees for the 2017/2018 Thomas Fire and Montecito Mudslide litigation and the 2018 Woolsey Fire in Los Angeles.
Dave began his legal career by clerking for the Honorable Janis L. Sammartino, a federal district court judge in San Diego. After that, he joined a top international law firm, Cooley LLP, where he represented Fortune 500 companies in high stakes litigation and class actions. He was later honored to serve the public as a federal prosecutor in the United States Attorney's Office, Southern District of California. There, he successfully investigated, prosecuted and tried numerous cases involving public corruption, weapons trafficking, drug trafficking, and bank robbery. Dave successfully tried over 12 cases to verdict, including a high profile 5-week trial against corrupt United States Border Patrol agents. The jury found the "Villareal Brothers" guilty of taking bribes, alien smuggling, and money laundering. They were later sentenced to thirty years in prison.
Dave is highly involved in the San Diego legal community. He serves on the federal Magistrate Judicial Selection Committee and as a Lawyer Representative to the Ninth Circuit. He has served on the Board of Directors of the San Diego County Bar Association and the Association of Business Trial Lawyers ("ABTL"). He also taught as an Adjunct Professor of Trial Practice at the University of San Diego School of Law, and has been on the faculty for the National Institute of Trial Advocates ("NITA").
Jessica Teevan spent nearly ten years litigating complex cases in Los Angeles with the highly regarded defense litigation firm Quinn Emanuel. She has handled both business and personal matters, including tort, breach of contract, insurance, and employer disputes. Jessica graduated in 2007 from top-ranked University of Michigan Law School, where she was named champion of the Henry M. Campbell Moot Court Competition and received multiple awards of merit for her legal advocacy. Prior to joining Fox Law she also held a position as a law school professor, teaching written and oral advocacy. As a defense lawyer, Jessica took multiple cases to trial and remains undefeated in verdicts. She has now put her decade of defense experience to work for plaintiffs that have suffered losses and injures from catastrophic wildfires. She is passionate about helping individuals who have been harmed by wildfires achieve the best outcome possible.
Joanna Fox has spent her career litigating and successfully resolving some of the largest mass tort, wrongful death, and personal injury cases of the past decade. Since 2017, Joanna has facilitated more than $400 million in settlements for the firm's clients. Because of this work, she was selected by her peers as a "Rising Star Super Lawyer" for San Diego in 2017-2022. Joanna takes a thoughtful approach to maximizing recoveries for her clients, whether that be through negotiations, mediation, or trial. Joanna's client-focused approach has earned her a perfect "10 out of 10" AVVO rating and resulted in her being named to America's "Best Lawyers" by U.S. News and World Report.
Before joining Fox Law, Joanna was an attorney at top international law firm Morrison & Foerster LLP. There, she specialized in large scale product liability and aviation disaster cases. She regularly obtained outstanding results for her clients, which included pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, consumer product manufacturers, and airlines, airports and drone startups. Joanna has now taken the skills she gained and dedicated her practice to fighting for individuals who have been harmed.
Joanna is also dedicated to pro bono work and community involvement. She has received the Wiley W. Manuel Award for pro bono work from the California State Bar every year from 2011 - 2016. She is on the Board of Directors for Legal Aid, San Diego, and is an active member of the San Diego County Bar, Athena San Diego, and the Association of Business Trial Lawyers, San Diego Chapter.
Joanna received her J.D. magna cum laude in 2010 from the University of San Diego School of Law, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif. During law school, she was the chief student comments editor of the San Diego International Law Journal, and a member of the San Diego Appellate Moot Court Executive Board. Joanna also worked as a judicial extern for the Honorable Thomas J. Whelan in the Southern District of California, and the Honorable Lawrence E. Kahn in the Northern District of New York. She received her B.A. magna cum laude from Northeastern University in 2007.
Job Titles:
- Legal Assistant
- Law 's Legal Assistant
Marina De La Cruz is Fox Law's legal assistant focusing on assisting the firm's attorneys, taking intake calls from potential clients, and filing documents. She recently graduated from San Diego State University where she earned her Bachelor's of Science in Criminal Justice. Marina is bilingual, speaking both fluent English and Spanish.
Marina has more than 10 years of work experience in a variety of fields, including tech, banking, and retail, prior to joining Fox Law. She previously served as the executive assistant for a tech start-up completing tasks in the payroll, accounting, and HR departments, among others.
In her spare time, Marina enjoys spending time with family, beach days, weekend hikes and thoroughly loves to travel.
Job Titles:
- Fox Law in 2023 As a Paralegal
- Litigation Paralegal
Megan Abercrombie joined Fox Law in 2023 as a paralegal specializing in civil litigation, with a primary focus on personal injury cases. Megan obtained her Bachelor of Laws from the Nelson Mandela University of South Africa in 2019 before moving to the United States. Megan is passionate about helping individuals impacted by corporate negligence.
Before joining Fox Law, Megan was a Senior Paralegal at a civil litigation firm in San Diego providing litigation and high-end case management support to attorneys.
In her free time, Megan enjoys reading, crafting and spending time with her friends and family.
Russ Gold is a trial lawyer honored with an "AV Pre-Eminent" rating by his peers (the highest rating) through Martindale Hubbell, a national, independent, lawyer rating service. Russ focuses on the firm's high-value and complex cases.
Before joining Fox Law, Russ began his legal career at Luce Forward Hamilton & Scripps LLP in San Diego and he became a partner at the firm. At Luce Forward, Russ's practice focused on complex business litigation cases including securities fraud class actions, derivative actions, and unfair competition cases.
Russ then became a founding partner of the litigation boutique firm, Pestotnik + Gold LLP. There, Russ continued to focused on securities class actions, derivative cases, business torts, and other complex business litigation cases. At Pestotnik + Gold LLP, Russ broadened his practice to include wrongful death, products liability and serious injury cases. Today, Russ's practice focuses on trial work for injured individuals and harmed consumers.
Russ has tried a variety of cases involving complex business disputes, business torts, fraud, financial elder abuse, personal injury, products liability, civil rights / excessive force, and wrongful death.
Before he became a lawyer, Russ had a successful career as a sports physical therapist in San Diego. Russ is a graduate of LEAD San Diego and has been active in a variety of community activities. Presently, Russ serves as the Advocacy Chair for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network's San Diego Affiliate. Russ is an avid swimmer and cyclist, and he enjoys wakeboarding, wake surfing, and snowboarding.
Russ graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of San Diego School of Law, where he was a Comments Editor for the Law Review.
Samantha Baldwin specializes in representing individuals in cases involving personal injuries, wrongful death, and property damage from wildfires. Prior to joining Fox Law, she was a partner at a boutique personal injury firm in Santa Barbara representing injured clients across California. She has recovered millions for her clients and has been recognized by Super Lawyers as a Rising Star for multiple years. This honor recognizes the top 2.5% of all attorneys under 40. She has also served as the president of several women lawyers' associations throughout California.
Sam is an active supporter of youth sports, specifically San Diego Shores Water Polo Club.
Job Titles:
- Mass Tort Paralegal
- Paralegal
Valerie Bright is a dedicated paralegal working primarily on Fox Law's mass tort cases and specializing in wildfire litigation. Valerie is skilled and compassionate, focusing on each clients' individual needs.
Before joining Fox Law, Valerie was a paralegal working on personal injury and employment cases for a firm in San Diego.