Mr. Griego is a trial lawyer experienced in complex civil
litigation and criminal defense. He has been honored by multiple
state and national legal organizations, including awards for
both California and National Trial Lawyer of the Year.
In 2010 Mr. Griego was part of the Janssen Malloy LLP legal team
which obtained the largest jury verdict in Humboldt County
history. In 1997, he began his legal
career at Kirkland & Ellis in Los Angeles, representing major corporations in
product liability, toxic tort, contract, intellectual property
litigation, and class action lawsuits. Mr. Griego relocated to
Humboldt County in 2001, and gained valuable trial experience
working as a Trial Deputy in the Humboldt County Public
Defenders Office before becoming a partner at Janssen Malloy LLP. Mr. Griego has successfully tried numerous civil and
criminal jury cases to verdict.
EDUCATION:
Mr. Griego attended the University of Arizona College of Law, graduating at the top of his class and with honors. (J.D., 1997, Summa Cum Laude (top 5%), Order of the Coif.) While in law school, Mr. Griego served on the law review and was elected Articles Editor for the Law Review where he selected and edited articles submitted from law school faculty throughout the country. While on the law review, Mr. Griego also received an award for publishing the Best Student Note for the law review. See "The Great Writ May Once Again Deliver Justice to Arizona's Most Deserving Prisoners - An analysis of Beam v. Paskett". In 1996, the Tucson Defense Bar selected Mr. Griego as the recipient of its Ethics Award, awarded to the student with the top grade in Legal Ethics.
RECOGNITION:
2011 PUBLIC JUSTICE NATIONAL TRIAL LAWYER OF THE YEAR
AWARD
Public Justice, America's Public Interest Law Firm, selected
Mr. Griego for its coveted National Trial Lawyer of the Year
Award at an awards ceremony in New York in 2011. The
recognition was based on Mr. Griego's trial work in the case
Lavender v. Skilled Health Group, Inc., which
resulted in a $677 million verdict against a corporate
nursing home chain that had understaffed its facilities
below the state required minimum staffing requirements. The
verdict is the largest verdict in Humboldt County history
and the largest recorded jury verdict in the country against
a nursing home operator. Mr. Griego and his colleagues who
tried the Lavender case are the only attorneys in
Humboldt County to have ever received this national honor.
2011 CONSUMER ATTORNEYS OF CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY OF THE YEAR
AWARD
Consumer Attorneys of California selects one case each year
for recognition based on the skill and work involved and the
impact that the case will have for consumers in California.
In a ceremony in San Francisco in November 2011 Mr. Griego
and his colleagues on the Lavender v. Skilled
Health Group, Inc. case were awarded the California
Attorney of the Year Award. Mr. Griego and his
colleagues at Janssen Malloy LLP are the only Humboldt
County Personal Injury attorneys to have ever received this
award.
2010 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA SUPER LAWYER
In 2011 Mr. Griego was named to the Northern California
Super Lawyers list as one of the top attorneys in California
for 2010. No more than 5% of the lawyers in the state are
selected by Super Lawyers. Super Lawyers, part of Thomson
Reuters, is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from
more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree
of peer recognition and professional achievement. The
selection process is multiphasic and includes independent
research, peer nominations and peer evaluations.
2009 CALIFORNIA LAWYER OF THE YEAR
In 2009, Mr. Griego was selected by California Lawyer
magazine for the prestigious CLAY award, recognizing the
California Lawyers of the Year. California Lawyer
magazine selected Mr. Griego for his extraordinary
achievement in the field of Employment Law in 2008 based
upon his representation of more than 1,000 rural workers,
claiming that they were denied overtime wages by being
misclassified as tulip harvesters. Mr. Griego logged
more than 600 hours for his clients and was able to secure
an award in excess of one million ($1,000,000) dollars for
the class. The award was handed out by the California
Supreme Court's Chief Justice.
2009 STREET FIGHTER OF THE YEAR
California Consumer Attorneys of California awarded Mr.
Griego the honor of Street Fighter of the Year in
recognition and appreciation of how small practitioners in
California use skill and determination to create a more just
society for California Consumers Regardless of Profit or
Personal Benefit. Mr. Griego is the only attorney in
Humboldt County to have received this award.
SUPERB 10/10 RATING FROM AVVO
Mr. Griego received a
"superb" rating of 10/10 from AVVO, a legal ratings site
for California Attorneys.
APPELLATE WORK:
Mr. Griego also has represented numerous patients in high profile elder abuse cases before the California Court of Appeal. In 2007, Mr. Griego successfully argued before the California Court of Appeal to preserve the right to jury trials for surviving spouses and children claiming elder abuse of their loved ones. The California Court of Appeal determined the case important enough to grant it publication, and it has now been cited frequently in court opinions, legal periodicals and motions before the Court of Appeal and California Supreme Court. See Fitzhugh v. Granada Healthcare and Rehabilitation Centers, LLC (2007) 150 Cal.App.4th 469.
COMMUNITY AND LEGAL SERVICES INVOLVEMENT:
Mr. Griego has served as the Humboldt County Bar Association's Treasurer since 2008 and also serves as a member of Legal Services of Northern California, where he performs pro bono work for indigent clients. Mr. Griego was elected to the Board of Governors for Consumer Attorneys of California in 2009. Mr. Griego is also the former president and a current member of the Humboldt County Criminal Defense Bar. He is a member of the California State Bar and admitted to the U.S. District Court for the Northern, Eastern, Southern, and Central Districts of California.
Email: pgriego@janssenlaw.com 