Scott Ritsema became a California personal injury lawyer to represent people, not corporations.
Scott is a partner at 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 helping them obtain the only form of justice available to them.
Throughout his career, Mr. Ritsema has brought hundreds of cases to settlement or verdict. He is a strong force in the courtroom and a compassionate listener to his clients.
Unique Understanding to Win Big Cases
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 2023.
Personal Injury Law – A Calling for Justice
For Ritsema, personal injury law practice is not just a job. It’s a calling. He realized the tough situations many clients face when they come to a personal injury lawyer.
“These are people who, without us and the civil justice system, have no recourse, no remedies,” he says. “It’s no exaggeration to say they put their lives and financial future in our hands.”
Some may view that as a lot of pressure, but for Ritsema, it’s a welcome challenge. Recently, Scott led a Bisnar Chase legal team that obtained a $30 million judgment for 25-year-old Lucas Vogt, who suffered a catastrophic brain injury in a motorcycle accident.
For Scott, satisfaction in these cases comes from providing a family with the means to deal with a catastrophic injury. Scott knows that successfully dealing with a personal injury case, especially one involving catastrophic injuries, can have an incredible and lasting impact on his clients.
His hope, in this case, was that Lucas Vogt would be able to have the best recovery the best quality of life under the circumstances, and that he would be able to maximize his time with his young daughter.
He also sees how many of the law firm’s catastrophically injured clients face significant physical, emotional, and financial challenges. The victims and their families suffer life-changing consequences after a traumatic event such as a catastrophic crash.
Mr. Ritsema has taken on some of the most complex defective and dangerous cases, including seat-back injuries and defective seat belts causing death.
Early Life and 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.