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Tom Paoli is a native San Franciscan who received his college and law school education in San Francisco, from San Francisco State University (B.A., Political Science, 1977) and University of San Francisco (JD, 1982).

Tom has been a civil trial lawyer representing injured plaintiffs only since 1986 when he went to work representing workers suffering from asbestos injuries. Since then, Tom has tried several dozen jury trials, resulting in the recovery of millions of dollars in compensation for his clients. Tom's thorough knowledge of pre-trial and trial procedures and protocol enable him to handle a wide variety of injury and civil rights cases with a creative innovative approach. Tom's extensive jury trial training and experience has also allowed him to assist other law firms as lead trial counsel in their cases.

Tom's expertise in trial advocacy is complemented by his extensive experience in settling complex cases. He has received formal negotiation and mediation training for the purpose of representing his clients more effectively in the settlement process. He is well schooled in obtaining the best possible results for his clients, whether through cooperation or litigation.

Tom's successes as a civil trial lawyer have also allowed him to commit significant time to providing pro bono legal services to people who otherwise would have no voice in the courts. He has recently represented for free several foster parents and prospective adoptive parents who were trying to help foster children in the juvenile dependency court. He has also participated in the Bar Association of San Francisco's Free Legal Advice Clinic, and serves as a mediator and arbitrator for the San Francisco Superior Court.

Tom lives in San Francisco with his wife Margaret, who he met at USF Law School, and their two daughters, Alanna and Tessa. Tom's love for San Francisco extends to the Bay, where he swims almost every day at the South End Rowing Club, and where he is a member of the board of directors.

 

Chuck Geerhart is a founding partner of Paoli & Geerhart and was admitted to the California bar in 1989. He is a graduate of Cornell University and the UCLA Law School. Chuck has tried 20 cases to jury verdict. In addition to his active practice representing injured people, Chuck is a court appointed arbitrator and settlement mediator in the San Francisco Superior Court, and also mediates cases for the Bar Association of San Francisco's Early Settlement Program. Chuck Geerhart is a member of the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association.

A San Francisco resident since 1989, Chuck Geerhart grew up in the Washington, D.C., area where he attended public schools. He was an Eagle Scout and worked three summers as a staffer at Goshen Scout Camps in rural Virginia. He received a Naval ROTC full four year scholarship to attend Cornell University from 1977 81. At Cornell, Chuck majored in English literature and was a staff writer and columnist for The Cornell Daily Sun. This background in writing, both academically and as a journalist, prepared him well to write clear, concise and persuasive legal briefs.

Upon graduating from Cornell, Chuck was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy Supply Corps. After supply school in Athens, GA, he reported for duty as disbursing and food service officer on the USS Sylvania (AFS 2) homeported in Norfolk, VA. This tour from 1982 84 took Chuck on repeated deployments to various ports in the Mediterranean Sea. After his sea tour, Chuck was promoted to Lieutenant and served his last year in his four year commitment to the Navy as an aviation supply officer at Moffett Field Naval Air Station, Mountain View, CA.

After leaving the Navy, Chuck attended the UCLA School of Law, where he was a member of the Moot Court Honors Program and was a summer clerk at the U.S. Attorney's Office and several law firms.

After graduation from UCLA, Chuck passed the bar and moved back to the Bay Area to work for Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold, one the leading civil defense firms in California. There, he cut his teeth on a wide variety of defense cases, including groundwater contamination, construction defect, product liability, construction injury cases, and numerous automobile accident cases. He learned the law of product liability while defending The Stanley Works in automatic door cases and defending PG&E in a massive power plant explosion and asbestos release caused by the rupture of a defective product (a desuperheating steam attemperator). There were over 400 plaintiffs in this case.

In 1995, Chuck made the move to a smaller defense firm, Arnelle Hastie McGee, which at the time was the largest minority owned firm in California. He continued to handle civil defense cases, and became a partner of the firm. Much of his work at the Arnelle firm involved defending Ford Motor Company in product liability cases, including two trials. It was as a result of this work and subsequent work for plaintiffs that Chuck became an expert in product liability law.

In late 1997, Chuck Geerhart and Tom Paoli had a long talk about forming their own law firm. In early 1998, Paoli & Geerhart was born, handling mostly automobile and premises liability cases, with Chuck Geerhart continuing to do some defense work. In 1999, Chuck's practice became 100% representation of injured people. Here is his philosophy:

" I love representing individual people, and I could never go back to a defense practice. I look back now on my years as a defense lawyer as valuable training and absolutely necessary in showing me what it's like to represent companies and insurance interests. It's made me a better lawyer now, because I understand how the other sideB my opponentB thinks. I can get inside my opponents' heads and figure out where they are going with a case. My defense history also makes me incredibly grateful to be representing and helping injured people. It is so much more personally fulfilling than being a pen pal to faceless corporate interests. When I succeed for my clients now, I know I have made difference in a real person's life, rather than helping an insurance carrier or automaker save a few bucks."

Most of Chuck's roughly 20 trials have been for plaintiffs. In addition to work with Paoli & Geerhart, Chuck volunteers pro bono for the Bar Association of San Francisco's Legal Advice and Referral Clinic, which helps hundred of citizens who cannot afford legal advice each month at the main SF library.

Chuck also gives of his time as a court appointed arbitrator and settlement mediator in the San Francisco Superior Court, and also mediates cases for the Bar Association of San Francisco's Early Settlement Program. This makes him a better advocate for his own clients in mediations and settlement conferences.

Chuck Geerhart is a member of the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association (SFTLA). As a leader in the plaintiff's bar, Chuck helps plan programs and attends all major educational and training events run by SFTLA. He is a regular writer for the SFTLA magazine (see link to articles on this website).

Chuck lives with his wife Cathy and dog, Rolo, in San Francisco's Crocker Amazon neighborhood. In his free time, he hikes and jogs throughout the McLaren Park and San Bruno Mountain trails. He enjoys live music, especially classic rock and the jam bands of the 1960s. He's a news and pop culture junkie you don't want to get him started on these subjects. He and his wife also enjoy camping and backpacking.

 

 

Representative Clients


Gabriel
, a 24 year-old car dealership worker who suffered head trauma and mild brain injury in a fight with a co-worker.

Lisa, a 36 year-old single mother and auto parts store clerk who was driven from her job by a boss who sexually harassed her.

Shaheed, a 35 year old bakery salesman, who suffered multiple broken bones in a accident with a runaway truck that ran into him as he was driving his young nephew to school.

» LEARN MORE

 

Schedule a Consultation
If you have a question, or to schedule a consultation with one of our attorneys, please call us at (415) 498-2101 or request information.

 


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