About Michael Lamphere

I was born and raised in the Greenbrae hills of Marin County, California, next to beautiful Mt. Tamalpais and the San Francisco Bay (see photo). I graduated from Redwood High School in 1981, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, with a minor in Business Administration, from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1985. I received my law degree (JD) from Santa Clara University School of Law in 1989. I am a member of the State Bar of California, the Marin County Bar Association, and am a former member of the Santa Clara, San Mateo & San Francisco Bar Associations.

I began my legal career with the law firm Ropers, Majeski, Kohn, Bentley, Wagner & Kane in Redwood City, California. I specialized in Appellate & Insurance Coverage/Bad Faith defense for two years before transferring to the firm’s San Jose offices to handle complex litigation in the areas of product liability, construction defect and severe personal injuries. In 1996, I joined the litigation firm of Shiver & Gulick in San Francisco which specialized in business and corporate law. At that time, I expanded my practice to include real estate matters including partition, easement & title disputes, and eminent domain.

Desiring to represent clients on a personal “one-to-one” basis, I opened the Law Office of Michael O. Lamphere in downtown San Francisco in 1996. I continued to specialize in general civil litigation. In 2000, I merged my law office with the Law Office of Paul O. Lamphere of Martinez, California, forming Lamphere Law Offices, LLP. Our new firm specialized in eminent domain and other real estate litigation, as well as all personal injuries, malpractice & insurance disputes. The firm combined 58 years of trial experience in the California State and Federal courts. In April 2003, Paul retired from the practice of law after 43 years, and the firm became the sole proprietorship, Lamphere Law Offices. I moved our offices to the current San Rafael location in 2015.

With 35 years of litigation experience, in over 25 California counties, I have developed a keen understanding of the court system, its judges and juries, and the hard work that is required to successfully resolve a civil dispute. I approach my clients’ cases with a time-tested formula: “Prepare” the case by listening to my client, understanding their concerns, marshaling all the facts, researching the law, and being better prepared than our opposition; “Fight” to convince our opposition and, if needed, a jury of the merits of my clients’ case, and “Succeed” by achieving a fair result that my clients will say protected their interests.