Scott Ritsema became a California personal injury lawyer because he wanted to represent people, not corporations.
Scott is a Partner of Bisnar Chase and has been with the firm since 2008. He gleans maximum satisfaction from the fact that he is fighting every single day to protect the rights of catastrophically injured individuals and is helping them obtain the only form of justice that is available to them.
Nations’ top 1% National Association of Distinguished Counsel
For the first decade of his career, Ritsema worked as a defense lawyer representing the interests of large corporations and insurance companies. Over time, he found that while winning cases for those types of clients gave him some professional satisfaction, he got very little personal satisfaction.
Although he did his job well, he was not passionate about his victories. Thus, in 2001, he decided it was time to switch sides and to start representing injured individuals.
His experience doing over 10 years of defense work gave him a unique understanding of how to win cases against corporations and insurance companies. Scott has won millions of dollars in compensation for his clients and has been recognized with several prestigious awards. He is ranked as a National Trial Lawyer in the Top 100 and is among America’s Top 100 Personal Injury Attorneys for 2022.
Early Life & Education
Scott was born in Michigan but grew up primarily in Newport Beach. He moved back to Michigan in his teens and graduated from Grandville High School in 1979 near the top of his class and as a two-year member of the National Honor Society.
He got his bachelor’s degree in psychology from UCLA in 1984 and his law degree from UC Davis in 1988, graduating in the top 10% of his class and receiving the prestigious Order of the Coif Award. He was admitted to the State Bar of California that same year.
Ritsema has brought over 20 trials to verdict and conducted more than 50 arbitrations to conclusion. He has handled more than 25 cases with over $100,000,000 in total recoveries and judgments for our clients. Some of Scott’s top case results are listed below, including settlements, judgments, and verdicts.
Career & Accomplishments
Scott Ritsema belongs to a number of professional organizations including:
- Orange County Trial Lawyers Association American
- Association for Justice and Consumer Attorneys of California
Mr. Ritsema has been recognized as one of the Best Lawyers in America. The national publication award is based on peer recognition and Scott has been selected for it every year from 2015-2022, demonstrating his outstanding reputation and track record in the legal field.
Mr. Ritsema has also been named a Super Lawyer every year since 2011 and named the Best Attorney each year since 2015 by publications that rank skill levels within the legal profession. He is also a 2019, 2020, and 2021 Top 100 Injury Lawyer in the country.
He was recently named Lawyer of the Year for the State of California by a prestigious legal publication. In 2012, Scott Ritsema and Brian Chase were named Consumer Attorneys of the Year in all of California by the Consumer Attorney of California (CAOC), a professional association for attorneys who represent plaintiffs who seek to hold wrongdoers accountable.
Despite his extremely busy schedule, Ritsema is committed to giving back to his community. He actively supports Mothers Against Drunk Driving and participates in the Susan G. Komen Walk for the Cure to help raise awareness and generate funds for breast cancer research.