The San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association is the largest and oldest Association of consumer attorneys in the San Francisco Bay area. Every year they honor a member as the Trial Lawyer of The Year, the Judge of The Year, and a New Lawyer of the Year. The Association’s past presidents include some of the best American trial lawyers to have ever practiced in the courtroom.

Dan Veroff believes he was nominated and won the award, in part, for his work with United Policyholders. Following the California Wildfires, Dan volunteered his time with numerous legal aid workshops in wine country and with wild fire survivors. He also worked on important litigation recovering a substantial amount of money for wildfire survivors with their insurance claims. The following picture is of Dan Veroff with CAPIA and NAPIA members giving advice during a United Policyholder’s sponsored workshop:

I asked Dan about his legal work since he joined us at Merlin Law Group and this is what he told me:

I really love what I do. I have been practicing insurance law since before I graduated law school when I was interning for United policyholders. I have always felt a drive towards being a consumer advocate. I learned early in my career that insurance companies have so much power and often take so much advantage over their insureds. There are not enough dedicated policyholder consumer advocates limiting their practice to what we do here, who are willing, have the resources and are experienced enough to take on these financial Goliaths. So, it is really special working at Merlin Law Group with similar minded attorneys and with the support to practice law the right way. The challenge of taking on such a large adversary gives me energy and drive. The work is tiring and long; but eventually when we win for the clients, that treasured feeling of helping and working so closely with our clients in such a victory makes it all worthwhile.

Dan Veroff grew up in Fresno, California. He played hockey growing up, until he joined the debate team in high school which then eventually lead him to the life of a litigator. Dan placed third place in the state high school debate championship then fourth place in the national championship. He went on to coach high school debate in college. He has not stopped debating at a high level ever since.

Dan had a unique experience by interning at the consumer protection unit of the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office. When he was in law school at UC Hastings, he volunteered to help insurance policyholders with Amy Bach at United Policyholders. Dan credits his love for insurance law starting with United Policyholders. He has never stopped working for policyholder rights ever since his first involvement with United Policyholders.

Since becoming a licensed attorney, Dan has represented policyholders in property damage claims and life, health, and disability insurance claim disputes. Dan joined Merlin Law Group in 2019 where he claims to “have been given the resources and support to take my practice to the next level.”

Dan lives in Berkeley, California with his wife, Danielle. She is a psychologist and keeps him very balanced. They enjoy hiking and spending time with their pets and traveling when they can get the opportunity. All of us are better for having Dan as a colleague and friend fighting the good fight.

Thought For The Day

There may be better lawyers than I, but so far I haven’t come across any of them in court.
—Melvin Belli
First President, San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association