Case Manager: Lisha Shanholtzer
Michael P. Maguire, Esq. is a highly successful and accomplished trial attorney with over 100 jury trials and numerous bench trials in his 44 years of experience handling a wide range of criminal and civil litigation matters. Well regarded nationwide, Mr. Maguire was admitted to the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) in 1994 and elected as the National President of ABOTA for 2019 and President of the ABOTA Foundation in 2014.
As Managing Attorney for a major insurance carrier, Mr. Maguire was directly responsible for the legal representation of clients, litigation, evaluation and results of more than 20,000 lawsuits and 1,000 civil jury trials. He has extensive experience in all areas of personal injury and property damage, including wrongful death, catastrophic injury, traumatic brain injury (TBI), spinal injuries, fractures, loss of hearing, sense of smell, electrocutions, burn and crush injuries, mold exposure, loss of consortium; fire losses, water losses, property damage, and remediations.
For 30 years, Mr. Maguire served as a settlement officer at Mandatory Settlement Conferences for the Orange County Superior Court, successfully resolving lawsuits in a wide range of civil matters including innumerable business torts, breach of contract, fraud, construction defect and CLRA actions. His breadth of legal knowledge and extensive trial experience have enabled him to credibly impart a range of potential trial outcomes to the parties at mediation and assist them in reaching full resolution of their matters.
Managing Attorney, Michael Maguire & Associates (State Farm), 1994-2021
Mr. Maguire was Managing Attorney of State Farm’s staff counsel trial office, known as Michael Maguire & Associates. At various times over the years, he also managed the State Farm staff counsel offices in San Diego, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
Founding Partner, Nyman, Johnson & Maguire, 1989-1994
Mr. Maguire was a founding partner of Nyman, Johnson & Maguire, an insurance defense litigation and trial firm practicing throughout Southern California.
Associate, Tuverson & Hillyard, 1986-1989
After leaving the District Attorney’s Office, Mr. Maguire began practicing civil litigation as a trial attorney with Tuverson & Hillyard, with an emphasis on insurance defense.
Deputy District Attorney, Office of the District Attorney, 1978-1986
Mr. Maguire began his legal career in the Office of the District Attorney, Orange County, prosecuting misdemeanors and felonies. He helped create a specialized prosecution team solely handling sexual assault and child molestation cases. He was later elevated to the homicide panel and was responsible for prosecuting all gang-related murders and homicides committed by juveniles in Orange County, California.
“Mr. Maguire was excellent. He was able to resolve the primary plaintiff’s case with good follow up on the remaining smaller claim. I would recommend Mr. Maguire and use him again.”
“Mike McGuire was great at getting this matter resolved. At mediation, he was patient and detailed oriented and was able to effectively communicate the strengths and weakness of each party’s case. After mediation, I appreciated that he reached out several times to ensure that this matter would resolve. I will use Mr. McGuire for mediation in the future.”
“All parties appreciated Mediator Maguire’s patience, insight and hard work.”
“Mike Maguire is the epitome of professionalism and civility. I’ve used him as a mediator to settle personal injury disputes over the past year. His experience working for a major insurance carrier is a definite strong suit. Mike is a real straight shooter. Of course, there are always problems with a plaintiff’s case one way or another, and I think he’s upfront about those, and he’s able to discuss that with you as a peer, having been in the trenches. But he gets to the bottom line really quick and gives you his impressions and gives you an honest read of the other side.”
“I’ve known Mike for years, and I’ve used him recently to successfully mediate a personal injury matter. He developed a reputation for fairness and honesty during his time representing clients, two character attributes he’s making good use of in his mediation practice. Because of that reputation he developed, I think his opinions are respected by both sides. And he has a warmth and sincerity to him that I think makes your clients feel comfortable, and really helps him to gain their trust, which leads to them respecting his opinions.”
“I used Mike recently to successfully settle an auto accident case. He was a formidable opponent as a trial attorney. I had some initial concerns about him having a bias toward the defense in mediation, but I quickly found while using him as a mediator that he was able to give me insight and tools and strategies to overcome the defense’s efforts to poke holes in my case that only a former defense lawyer could share with me. Thanks to that background, he really helped me overcome some of the challenges in my case, and he just knew what the defense was going to think. Because he’d worked so long with them, he understood the defense attorney and the adjuster’s language and what they needed to hear to get the case resolved.”
