Bio

William P. Volk has had a distinguished career as a civil trial attorney for three decades. Representing both plaintiffs and defendants in a variety of interesting and diverse cases throughout California and Nevada, Mr. Volk has successfully handled litigation involving serious personal injuries/wrongful death, construction defects, product liability, business losses, defective drugs/supplements, class actions, multi-district litigation, mass torts, environmental claims, casino/hotel/nightclub security, assault and battery, breach of contract, professional malpractice, insurance coverage, defective medical devices and employment/wrongful termination. With over 56 jury trials, Mr. Volk has been lead counsel in major litigation and important appellate court decisions, including published decisions involving contractual indemnity (Time for Living, Inc. v. Guy Hatfield Homes (1991) 230 Cal.App.3d 30) and “Dram Shop” or liquor law liability (Cardinal v. Santee Pita, Inc. (1991) 234 Cal.App.3d 1676), as well as many unpublished appellate and Supreme Court decisions. Many of the cases also involved significant insurance coverage issues such as “coverage triggers,” horizontal and vertical exhaustion, excess and umbrella coverage, reformation, rescission, prior acts, consent to settle, “Montrose” endorsements, broad-form property damage, subsidence and soil movement exclusions, pollution exclusions, S.I.R.’s and deductibles. In 1982-83, Mr. Volk handled the defense of a target defendant in the MGM Hotel Fire Litigation, gaining valuable experience in handling mass tort litigation. He has since handled large class action cases involving defective drugs and supplements, including L-Tryptophan and “Fen-Phen,” as well as class actions involving defective residential plumbing systems and construction defects. In California, Mr. Volk was trial counsel for a defendant in Williams v. National University, wherein the plaintiff, a Ph.D. candidate who claimed to have “multiple personality disorder” with over one hundred different personalities, sued the university for slander when she was questioned as to whether she plagiarized other authors to write her thesis. Her allegation was that different personalities wrote different portions of her thesis. The plaintiff’s case was shattered while she was on the witness stand when the original source material was introduced and it was proven that she fabricated the claim. As a result of his trial experience and reputation, Mr. Volk was elected by his peers in 2003 to become a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), a nationally recognized professional trial lawyer organization in which he holds the rank of “Advocate.” Known as a dogged and aggressive cross-examiner, Mr. Volk has demonstrated trial techniques to other lawyers in ABOTA’s annual “Masters in Trial” program. Affiliations Admitted to Practice, United States Supreme Court Admitted to Practice, United States Claims Court Admitted to Practice, United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Admitted to Practice, United States District Court, District of Nevada Admitted to Practice, U.S. District Courts for the Central, Eastern and Southern Districts of California Admitted to Practice, State Bar of California Admitted to Practice, State Bar of Nevada Professional Organizations Member, Rank:Advocate, American Board of Trial Advocates Member, National Institute of Trial Advocates Member, American Arbitration Association Member, San Diego Bar Association Member, Clark County Bar Association Member, American Institute of Mediation Member, Utah State University Alumni Association Member, Southwestern University Law School Alumni Association Member, Pi Sigma Alpha, National Political Science Honor Society Professional Alternative Dispute Resolution ADR has been an important part of Mr. Volk’s legal practice for years. Beginning in the late-1980′s, he became a panelist for the American Arbitration Association specializing in the resolution of complex construction defect, breach of contract, personal injury, wrongful death and product liability claims. He has received formal ADR training through the American Arbitration Association, the San Diego Superior Court, the San Diego Municipal Court, the Clark County, Nevada, District Court and the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University. He served as a voluntary member of the Judge Pro Tempore panel of the San Diego Municipal Court, where he heard and decided hundreds of small-claims cases. He also volunteered his time as a settlement judge for the Superior Court and helped resolve many cases, which helped relieve the case burden of the Court. Because of his dedication to the ADR process, in 1995 he was awarded a citation for his voluntary service by the Clerk of the San Diego Superior Court, North County Branch. Mr. Volk is frequently appointed by the Clark County District Court, as well as privately retained by the parties, to mediate or arbitrate complex construction defect, business, personal injury, insurance, product liability and other interesting and diverse matters. He is an active member of the Arbitration Panel for the Court-Annexed Mandatory Arbitration Program of the Eighth Judicial District Court. Professional Presentations Mr. Volk has been an invited speaker in professional seminars sponsored by the National Institute for Trial Advocacy, the National Business Institute and has demonstrated trial techniques in the “Masters in Trial” mock trial programs sponsored by the American Board of Trial Advocates (Notably, Mr. Volk represented “Doc” Holliday in a mock trial of the criminal trial following the gunfight at the OK Corral, in which the presiding judge was Sr. U.S. District Judge, Lloyd D. George). Honors and Recognitions Peer-review rated “AV®Preeminent™” by Martindale-Hubbell. Included in the Registry of Preeminent Lawyers. Member, 1992-93 Oxford’s “Who’s Who of Extraordinary Professionals.” Named to “2013 Top Lawyers” by the weekly business publication Vegas, Inc. Presented award in 1995 for dedication to ADR by San Diego Superior Court, North County Branch.

William Patrick Volk

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