Stephen J. Estey

Stephen J. Estey, founding partner of Estey Bomberger, is known for his competitive spirit and his warm, compassionate nature. Relaxed in the office and a cool customer in the courtroom, Steve has a proven ability to synthesize large amounts of information and couch it in simple terms for the jury. Though a competent and independent trial lawyer, Steve points to his hardworking powerhouse legal team as the reason for the law firm’s notable success.  Estey Bomberger has grown from its 1994 inception (with partner and law school friend Mike Bomberger) into one of the most formidable trial firms in California.

Part of Steve’s unique legal approach is to limit himself to only a few cases per year. This allows him to personally invest himself in every case and devote himself wholly to the client’s outcome. This approach lets Steve tackle cases which other attorneys consider “unwinnable” and come away with record-breaking verdicts and settlements. In a recent case against the Los Angeles County Unified School District, which other lawyers had shied away from, an undaunted Steve went in and secured a record-setting $23 million verdict for his client.

With an eye on the future, Steve enjoys teaching trial skills to other attorneys, and does so at various seminars throughout the country.

Steve enjoys helping victims and their families when they’ve suffered childhood sexual abuse, catastrophic personal injury, automobile, bicycle, motorcycle and truck accidents and injuries, construction and slip and fall accidents, product liability and defects, brain and birth injuries, airplane crash litigation, elder law including nursing home abuse and neglect, insurance bad faith and wrongful death.

AWARDS AND DISTINCTIONS

• Steve is one of the few San Diego Board Certified Trial Attorneys.  In 2017 he was selected a Top Plaintiff Attorney by the Daily Journal.  Consumer Attorneys of San Diego named him Trial Attorney of the Year in 2011 and again in 2013 — these awards were based in no small part on his record-setting verdicts and settlements, many of which are in the 8-figures.  CASD has also presented Steve with three Outstanding Trial Lawyer Awards.
• Steve was also lead counsel in the California Supreme Court Case of Morris v. De La Torre (2005) 36 Cal 4th 260.
• Steve is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, ABOTA, and has an AV-Preeminent Rating with Martindale-Hubbell, their highest peer rating standard.  Not surprisingly, Steve has also been dubbed a Super Lawyer for nine straight years, 2008-2016, and been included in the The National Trial Lawyers: Top 100 list since 2010 and The Best Lawyers in America since 2011.
• Steve and his wife have been married for two decades and have two beautiful children. In his spare time, Steve can be found enjoying the company of his large extended family.  It is no coincidence that this successful, results-oriented attorney has such a strong family connection; it’s Steve’s strong sense of family values that allows him to place a high premium on justice for victims.