1. I. INSURANCE LAW
Mr. Susolik is known and respected as one of the top insurance lawyers in the Western United
States. He has developed a reputation among insurance companies and defense counsel as a
feared and formidable adversary, combining insurance law expertise and knowledge with the
powerful skills of a master litigator and trial lawyer.
Mr. Susolik has been chair of the Insurance Department at Callahan & Blaine for the last 20
years. During that time, he has obtained over $1.0 Billion in policyholder benefits on behalf of
his clients, and has successfully resolved over 1000 bad faith lawsuits and disputes.
Among his many accomplishments in the insurance area, Mr. Susolik has been an adjunct
professor at USC Law School since 2001, where he teaches Insurance Law. Mr. Susolik is also a
contributing editor to the leading insurance book in California, the Rutter Guide treatise on
Insurance Litigation, where he edits the chapters on bad faith, duty to defend and insurance
litigation. Mr. Susolik was also chair of the Orange County Bar Association Insurance Law
Section for over 10 years.
Mr. Susolik is a frequent speaker on insurance and litigation issues to lawyers, business groups
and others, giving approximately 30 speeches and seminars on insurance law and litigation every
year, including his annual presentation at the State Bar Convention entitled "Insurance Law for
Litigators."
Mr. Susolik has been retained on many occasions as an expert witness on insurance law issues by
both insurance companies and policyholders. He is also frequently retained by attorneys to

2. provide expert insurance advice and consultation. Mr. Susolik is the author of many articles on
litigation and insurance issues and is a frequent contributor to periodicals, treatises and other
legal publications.
Mr. Susolik has wide expertise in the full spectrum of insurance bad faith and coverage litigation.
His core practice is maximizing insurance benefits for business and corporate policyholders,
from Fortune 500 companies to small business entities. He has represented hundreds of
corporations, partnerships, associations and other business organizations in complex insurance
disputes over the last 24 years. For example, Mr. Susolik has represented over 100 homeowners
associations in both insurance and litigation contexts.
In addition to his corporate insurance practice, Mr. Susolik also represents a broad spectrum of
professionals and individuals in complex insurance disputes, including doctors, lawyers,
accountants and directors. Mr. Susolik also has broad experience in the representation of
insurance industry professionals, including agents, brokers and insurance companies in disputes
within the insurance industry, including litigation between excess and primary insurers and
litigation against the Department of Insurance.
In addition, Mr. Susolik's is a nationally recognized expert in both first party and third party
insurance disputes. In the third party context, Mr. Susolik has successfully handled hundreds of
complex liability insurance disputes, including advertising injury claims, Cumis counsel, duty to
defend and recovery of attorneys' fees, wrongful failure to settle, reimbursement, rescission, and
many other third party insurance controversies.
In the first party context, Mr. Susolik has successfully resolved broad variety of first party

3. insurance disputes, including major property claims, landslides, fire claims, water damage, toxic
mold, pollution, life insurance, disability insurance, health insurance and many other first party
issues. For example, Mr. Susolik has successfully resolved numerous complex landslide disputes
on behalf of homeowners associations, including settlements of $8.5 Million and $6.0 Million in
recent years.
II. COMPLEX BUSINESS LITIGATION
Mr. Susolik has extensive expertise in a broad spectrum of commercial and business litigation,
including trade secret litigation, professional liability, intellectual property, employment law, real
estate, class action, securities law, shareholder derivative litigation, corporate disputes, directors
and officers liability, governmental liability, construction law and many other areas of
commercial disputes. The majority of Mr. Susolik's business litigation matters are on the
defense, and he has successfully obtained many significant judgments, dismissals, de minimis
settlements and even affirmative recoveries for defendants.
III. CATASTROPHIC PERSONAL INJURY
Mr. Susolik has extensive experience in complex personal injury litigation, both on the plaintiff
and defense sides. Mr. Susolik has handled catastrophic accidents involving automobiles, trucks,
motorcycles, bicycles, airplanes, buses, boats, industrial accidents, products liability and many
other complex scenarios. Mr. Susolik has obtained many seven and eight figure personal injury
settlements. For example, Mr. Susolik recently was part of a litigation team involving a truck
accident which resulted in a $28 Million settlement for the firm's client.

4. In addition, Mr. Susolik is frequently called upon to handle the defense of complex personal
injury cases for defendants, especially when plaintiffs' damages exceed available insurance
proceeds and clients have personal financial exposure. Mr. Susolik has successfully used his
defense and insurance expertise to resolve cases within insurance policy limits on many
occasions.
IV. MEDIATION AND SETTLEMENT
In addition to his extensive expertise in the trial and litigation of complex lawsuits, Mr. Susolik is
generally recognized as a leading expert in the mediation and settlement of complex litigation.
Mr. Susolik is able to use its extensive insurance expertise and complex litigation experience to
maximize the availability of insurance proceeds at mediation and settle cases successfully. He
frequently engages what is essentially a tripartite mediation: the complex business litigation
dispute is mediated simultaneously with the insurance coverage issues.
Mr. Susolik has successfully settled and resolved over 750 complex litigation matters in
mediation. In fact, Mr. Susolik may conduct more mediations and settlement conferences per
year than virtually any other attorney in California. In a typical year, Mr. Susolik will conduct
approximately 50 mediations and other settlement conferences on behalf of his clients. For
example, Mr. Susolik recently settled a bicycle accident case for $17 Million. The settlement
process involved 6 insurers and a public entity defendant, and comprised 6 days of complex
mediation.
V. CUMIS COUNSEL

5. The interdisciplinary nature of Mr. Susolik's practice is never more self evident than in the area
of Cumis counsel. Given the moniker of the "King of Cumis," Mr. Susolik has acted as Cumis
counsel in over 200 cases in the last 20 years alone.
In addition to aggressively handling the defense in a broad spectrum of complex litigation
scenarios, Mr. Susolik has extensive expertise in the area of Cumis law, having written
numerous articles in the area of Cumis and spoken extensively to lawyer and industry groups on
the subject of independent counsel. Mr. Susolik is generally recognized as one of the top Cumis
experts in the Western United States.
Combining his sophisticated litigation skills as defense counsel with his insurance law expertise,
Mr. Susolik is the paradigm Cumis counsel. Mr. Susolik is able to provide an aggressive and
comprehensive defense of the third party claims while at the same time maximizing the
insurance benefits available to the client. Equally importantly, Mr. Susolik understands how
important it is to communicate, cooperate and work with the insurance company in the defense
of the claim, even though the Cumis doctrine is ostensibly predicated on the concept of conflict
of interest.
Areas of Practice
· Complex Insurance Litigation, including Insurance Bad Faith and Coverage
· Complex Business Litigation
· Catastrophic Personal Injury
· Professional Liability, including representation of attorneys, accountants, brokers and agents

6. · Intellectual Property Litigation, including trademark and copyright
· Real Estate Litigation
· Trade Secret and Unfair Competition Litigation
· Digital and Internet Litigation
· Health Care Litigation, including representation of Hospitals, Medical Groups and Doctors
· Homeowner Association Litigation
· Labor and Employment Litigation
· Directors and Officers Litigation
· Governmental Liability
· Class Actions
· Construction Litigation
· Securities Law
· Directors and Officers Liability
· Appellate Practice
· Arbitration
· Mediation and Settlement